Is it a matter of time until the Bruins FIRE Montgomery? | Bruins Beat

26 comments

1. Well, clearly something has to change. I've been a fan since the Orr days, and I'm hard pressed to think of another Bruins team that has been so disappointing. Seems to me that the B's are in rebuilding mode, even if nobody wants to admit it. I'd go so far as to say, major changes are needed on and off the ice, from the front office right on down.

2. They can allow Sweeney to fire Monty and move onto his 3rd coach in 5 years (which is always a sign of bad management in any sport), however, that won't change anything about the lack of high end talent on the big club roster and across the organization

   Can we also stop this narrative that the Bruins are just now struggling?

   Boston was one of the worst teams in the NHL from February – May of last year
   Boston was .500 from January – May of last year
   Boston was absolute garbage at 5×5 from January of May last year

   Boston is crap at 5×5 this year
   Boston is now a below .500 team on the year almost a quarter of the way through the year

   As for this ridiculous notion that the St. Louis comeback was something to build on

   STL is one of the NHL's dumpster fires. They are now 3-8 in their last 11 games. They have the worst power play in the NHL and hadn't scored a single PP goal at home until the put two up on the Bruins.

   Thus Boston, an average to bad team, beat one of the NHL's worst team

   Before the STL game the Bruins had gone 4-1-1. Guess what they beat one good team, the rest of the wins and the tie were against teams that won't qualify for the playoffs

   The Bruins are now 4-7 against teams within the current playoff structure and you don't want to look at the 5×5 metrics and goal differentials in those 11 games

   This is not anything new Bruins homers. They have stunk for a while now and they haven't been a real Cup threat most years under Don Sweeney despite regular season win totals because their low goal, low talent, defense and goal tending first approach gets hammered in the post season when they face nothing but the good teams

   Proof?

   The Bruins have failed to win more than one playoff round 8 of the last 9 years
   The Bruins have won ONE lousy 2nd round series in almost 10 years of Sweeney being GM, ONE!!!

   Anyone also notice that the last two years now that the roster is mostly Don Sweeney's guys and not led by the Hall of Fame core he inherited in Bergeron Krejci Marchand Chara Rask Pasta and Krug that the talent level on this team has fallen off a cliff

   Only Pasta is still in his prime, Marchand is nearly toast and the rest of that core is retired or has moved on

   Not a single one of those guys were originally drafted, signed as a UFA or traded for by Don Sweeney, they were other Bruins GMs guys

   Frederic and Coyle are fine when the are supported by Bergeron Krejci and healthy and younger Marchand, Taylor Hall

   They can be in bottom 6 roles, play against guys they can win battles against and be effective in those types of roles

   However, what happens when you try turning Coyle Geekie Brazzeau Johnson Frederic Koekpe and the litany of their other bottom 6 guys into Top 6 guys and expect they can produce like Top 6 guys…..

   Um, you get the dumpster fire that is the Bruins offense today

   One top line guy in Pasta
   Three 2nd line guys in a near aged out Marchand, an inconsistent & soft Zacha and a wish they could take that deal back, Elias Lindholm

   Then it's a gaggle of bottom 6, two way types that have and will never score consistently because they are bottom 6 guys

   This is a talent problem Bruins homers and Sweeney Apologists, bottom line, end of story

   Sure the coaching could be better and the Bruins can't possible be this rotten, but they also aren't very good either and even if they make the playoffs, there is ZERO chance this team advances as they have less talent than at any point in Don Sweeney's tenure as GM

   Sweeney is going to hold onto Monty because he needs his fall guy. Other GMs would have already canned Monty to try and get a spark but as usual Sweeney is more concerned about his job and saving his ass than winning, so if possible, he won't fire Monty until at leas the mid way point and if he can get away with it, not until after the season is over so he can make him his excuse and fall guy

   Then he'll hire another coach, claim they need to get more skilled and faster and then he'll sign some more big, slow guys while he overpays as many average UFAs as he can because that's what Don Sweeney thinks is "roster construction"

   It's hard when you can't just lean on Bergeron Chara Krjeci Rask Krug and much younger and better version of Marchand

   Just ask Don Sweeney

3. The answer is yes.

4. Yup time to move on

5. Coaching staff is failing

6. Fire Neely and Sweeney. Sweeney cannot find talent.

7. Fire Montgomery and commit to the rebuild. Time to lower everyone's expectations for this season but we can't do nothing to fix it. Quarter of the way through the season and nothing is changing

8. OK, enough. Montgomery is A problem with all the line juggling. But the biggest issue is lack of talent. That's on the GM. He's done nothing but recruit a majority of college players and that's what they are, a college team. Spending big money on E. Lindholm and Zadorov, neither is worth the money they are being paid.

   The team is filled with 3rd and 4th line players. Only one top line player, Pasta. Marchand, Lindholm and maybe Zacha are 2nd liners. The balance are 3rd and 4th liners. There is no help in the minors. Speaking of minors, why is Poitras there? Playing against weaker competition isn't going to help him.

   Hey, Sweeney, if a player wants too much money, DON'T SIGN HIM!

   DeBrusk has 3 G, 6 A for 9 pts in 15 games. That would put him 3rd in scoring for the Bruins. Plus he was a great penalty killer. So Mark, take a hike, DeBrusk is missed in this lineup. Go back to watching minors and college.

   Come on, I said Swayman was worth no more than 6 to 6.5 mil at the high end, so tell me again how he was worth over 8. That's 2 million extra that could have been put to better use. Don't sign Zadorov, you didn't need him. That's another 5 million. That would have given 7 million to spend on a decent winger. Sweeney has had a bad habit of over paying for players. The Coyle and Carlo contracts come to mind.

9. Fire the Management that signed off on Swiss Cheese Swayman's bloated contract ..

10. It is a ream with too many bottom 6 players and a poor farm system. Thank You, Don Sweeney. They need a real GM, Sweeney needs to go.

11. Frederick, Geekie – this is who they criticize? These clowns are such jock sniffers. The problem with the team is that their best players are playing like trash. Have some balls and criticize McAvoy, Coyle, Pasta, Carlo, Zacha, Swayman.

    Coyle is on pace for an 18 point season.

12. No it’s not a bad year it’s a bad team!!!!

13. I don't feel sorry for the Bruins. The fire non nonsense Cassidy for a lame duck coach and promote premadonna players self centered/ self focused players like Pasternak. They had opportunities and declined to get other players that were available last year. Then overpaid. This is the result.

14. Team has tuned Monty out.monty show some fire after carlo dirty hit.he doesn't care anymore disgusting.wake up Monty & the team

15. This team is so average 2 signings r a bust.not sure the bruins make playoffs .not good

16. Swayman a bust so far

17. Elias take the money 💰 so disappointing

18. Trouble in the locker room

19. No it is not time to fire Montgomery.
    He’s not the problem.
    The players are.
    Fire Don Sweeney and Cam Neely..

20. put swayman on waivers

21. Bad trading and terrible drafting. Cant win with 3rd, 4th liners and the “stars” are playing like crap and they are ok with it. In the system we have Lysell who is expected to be a future star. He is in his 20s and hasn’t cracked the line up. He is not a future star. More Sweeneys fault but Monty is collateral damage.
    Sell sell sell

22. It's tough for the club to follow the leaders when the leaders are playing well below form. Due to his holdout, Swayman has to use these regular season games as his training camp. They're playing like they're under a cloud of impeding doom and no one wants to be the one who triggers it.

23. Yes, and package Sweeney away with him

24. It ain't the coach.
    It's lack of guts.
    One of the heaviest teams in the league and they check with sticks not bodies.
    Grow a pair Bruins.

25. You two didn't see Monty yaaaaaaaaawning on the bench? He shows NO fire and neither do his players. He needs to go along with the rest except for Essensa. It's tough to clean house mid season but Montgomery has lost the room. He's got zero answers. Could it be the lack of a defensive system? None of these guys are on the same page.

26. I'd fire Sweeney first for handing that ridiculous contract to a run of the mill goaltender.