Marco Sturm’s first year behind the Bruins bench ended up looking a lot like the kind of debut Boston fans could live with: a surprise hire that quickly started making sense.
When the Bruins went hunting for a new coach last spring, the search came with the kind of pressure general manager Don Sweeney would have preferred to avoid. Hiring a second coach in three years is never the ideal path, and it only turned up the heat on a front office already trying to steer a team through change. Then Boston landed on former forward Marco Sturm, a choice that caught plenty of people off guard at the time.
One season later, the move looks a whole lot smarter.
Adam Proteau of The Hockey News ranked NHL head coaches and placed Sturm in the middle of the pack, but the real takeaway was how well his description of Boston’s season lined up with what Bruins fans saw unfold. The 2025-26 season opened with very few people penciling the Bruins in as an Eastern Conference playoff team.
After the first month, it looked like Boston was headed for a long winter. Then the calendar flipped to January, the team found its footing, and the Bruins finished with 100 points and the first Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Boston’s playoff run didn’t last long. The Bruins were eliminated by the Buffalo Sabres in six games. Still, the season gave Sturm and his staff something important to work with: a foundation.
Proteau put it plainly when he wrote, "The Sabres beat the Bruins, but given that Boston is transitioning to a new era, Sturm did the best he could with a roster that’s still a major work-in-progress,''
He added, "Sturm had a terrific first season as Bruins coach, and he’s trending upward on this list because he’s already had notable positive results.''
That’s the heart of it. Sturm got results, and he got them with a roster that still needs help.
Boston’s offseason so far hasn’t brought many changes that clearly lift the ceiling of a group many already see as flawed. For now, Sturm has done the part he can control: install his system and make it work.
If the Bruins add more talent, his rise could keep going just as fast as his team’s did once the season turned.
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The bright spots matter here, especially with David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman viewed as bargains relative to market value and the salary cap. Not every deal has aged well, with Elias Lindholm among the contracts drawing less favorable review, but the larger takeaway is that Bostons cap picture is not nearly as bleak as it can feel from the outside, and Sweeney may deserve a little more credit for keeping the books in better shape than the narrative suggests. [Read more 🡒]