By: Eamonn McLean | Follow me on Twitter/X @EamonnMcLean44
It’s official. First-time National Hockey League Head Coach Marco Sturm will guide the 2025-2026 edition of the Boston Bruins. The hiring represents a milestone for both the Bruins & Hockey in Germany. Sturm will be the 30th Head Coach in B’s history, and the first German bench boss in league history.
Sturm faces a tall task to begin his NHL Head Coaching career. Boston is coming off a disastrous 2024-25 season that saw the Bruins finish with the fifth-worst record league-wide. After trading Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers, the team is currently without a captain, too. Sturm will need to help guide Boston’s new leadership group as they enter a new era of Bruins hockey.
To right the ship, first, Sturm must fix the B’s special teams units. Boston’s power-play was successful only 15.2% of the time, a dismal success rate that ranked fourth-worst in the NHL. There was even a significant gap between the Bruins and the fifth-worst power play, which belonged to the New York Rangers, who scored 17.6% of the time.
Their penalty kill wasn’t much better either, as they killed only 76.3% of opponents’ power plays, ranking 24th in the league. Boston’s struggles in these categories contributed to their lackluster 2.71 goals per game (27th in the NHL) and their 3.30 goals allowed per game, the seventh most in the league.
While a lot of the Bruins’ path back to contention lies in the hands of General Manager Don Sweeney and President Cam Neely, perhaps the quickest way to get things back on track next season will be by fixing Boston’s power play and penalty kill. While Boston’s roster may lack depth at the moment, it does possess the high-end star power necessary to have successful special teams units.
Boston has perhaps the best right-wing in the world at the moment in David Pastrnak. Pastrnak has put up three straight 100-point seasons and is the exact type of player that you should be able to build a successful power play unit around. He’ll need help, though. Provided he’s extended, Morgan Geekie formed some solid chemistry along with Elias Lindholm, who is coming off of a solid World Championships with Team Sweden. Can those two help out the top unit? Or will management spend in Free Agency, a class which currently includes Mitch Marner, Nikolaj Ehlers, Brock Boeser, and John Tavares, amongst others? Trades could also be a possibility. Names like Marco Rossi, Jason Robertson, Drake Batherson, and JJ Peterka have surfaced in recent weeks. Boston will have options to improve their forward group this summer.
As for the penalty kill, the Bruins will hope for bounce-back campaigns for several players, mainly Jeremy Swayman. It’s often said that you need your Goaltender to be your best penalty killer, and for the Bruins, unfortunately, that was not the case last year. However, Swayman had a stellar World Championships, finishing with a 7-0-0 record, a .921% save percentage, and a 1.69 goals against average. If he can build on that, the Bruins penalty kill should be in good shape. Getting both Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm back from injury should help this team too.
Who will be coaching these units remains to be seen. Joe Sacco will not be returning to the Bruins, as he is headed to the New York Rangers to coach under Mike Sullivan. While nothing is official yet, there have been rumors that Chris Kelly may also not be returning to Boston. Finally, despite not getting the Head Coaching job, Jay Leach is expected to return to the Bruins next year according to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff although nothing has been confirmed. Regardless of who is tasked with coaching these units, signficant improvement is a must for the Bruins, and Sturm, to turn things around.
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