By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter / X @RyanJBosworth
On Thursday, June 5th, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney finally announced the hiring of their next bench boss, Marco Sturm. After an extensive search, which many would consider too long, the Bruins can now continue to their next step in their retool and focus on the upcoming National Hockey League Entry Draft.
Back when the 2024-25 season concluded, Bruins’ top brass held an end-of-season press conference, and Sweeney confirmed they had begun or were about to begin a coaching search.
What came to follow that was several coaches throughout the league shifting from organization to organization. Names like Mike Sullivan, Rick Tocchet, and Peter Laviolette were options to assume the Bruins’ bench boss position, but Boston wasn’t rumored to be heavily in the mix on any of these coaches.
Boston’s decision to hire Sturm instead of a coach like Sullivan or Tocchet may not seem like the wise choice, but when looking at the big picture, it was.
A trend throughout the NHL is hiring ‘retread’ coaches. What that means is an organization fires its coach, and that coach is picked up by a different organization in the league. It’s extremely common throughout the league, and that’s not a knock on the organizations that hire those coaches. The Bruins have been there before. However, in this instance, the Bruins are in a pivotal position and they needed to make the right hire, and hiring a retread coach wasn’t the right choice; Sturm was.
When looking at Sturm’s track record, it fits the bill with what the Bruins need to improve on, while also allowing Sturm to have areas to grow and improve himself. Sturm was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Kings, head-coached Team Germany, and most recently was the head coach of the LA Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Ontario Reign.
During his introductory press conference, Sturm specifically mentioned improving the power play and bringing in an additional assistant coach with power play experience. He was able to construct a successful power play while he was an AHL head coach, but he hasn’t yet done it at the NHL level, and bringing in the right coach to support that goal will compliment the team’s ability to get back to a successful number in terms of the power play.
Arguably, his best season with Ontario was the 2023-24 campaign, where he built his power play unit to a percentage of 21.8%, which was first in the Pacific Division (AHL) and built a strong record of 42-23-7.
Another major aspect of Sturm’s coaching versatility is his ability to work with and develop young players, and Sweeney specifically noted that in Sturm’s introductory press conference, stating “The player development part of it was
certainly a big part of those conversations, and how you do integrate the players and when they’re going to be ready and having connectivity with your minor league program, and how that relates to the development they’re doing there.”
Coming from an AHL head coach role, he has direct experience working with those players who are still developing. He played a role in developing players like Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, and Alex Turcotte. Tom Calautti wrote an article focusing on Sturm’s ability to develop young players and how that was a major factor in his hiring in Boston.
As Sweeney noted in Sturm’s introductory press conference, “He’s been part of player development, so he knows that path and what it takes to make those steps, so he can challenge whoever it’s going to be. Pick a player, whether it’s [Matt] Poitras or whether it’s [Fraser] Minten. It doesn’t matter. Take that player in those situations. He’s learned from whether it’s over in Germany or whether it’s actually implementing that in LA and then stepping back to see them take the jump.”
While some may have been hesitant about the Sturm hire, he comes to Boston with the right mentality. He’s grounded in hard work, straightforward communication, and accountability. That’s just what Boston needs right now, and pairing that with his strength to develop younger players, it’s clear the Bruins made the right choice in choosing Sturm to lead from behind the bench.
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