By: Andrew Patten | Follow me on Twitter / X @a_patten11
On November 24th, 2024, less than two full years after leading the Boston Bruins to the best regular season record in National Hockey League history, the team fired head coach Jim Montgomery after Boston started the year 8-9-3. Longtime assistant coach Joe Sacco took the reins for the remaining 60 games, and while the change initially gave the team a spark, things fell apart, leading to a fire sale at the trade deadline and Boston missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
A new voice was needed behind the bench. One that had a vision for how to get a Bruins team, in the early stages of a retool, back into playing competitive hockey and not being seen as General Manager Don Sweeney, “an easy out.” After a long coaching search, Boston landed on a familiar name to the organization and fanbase – Marco Sturm.
In Sturm, the Bruins added a coach with multi-level bench experience. He retired as a player in January 2014 and was hired by the German Ice Hockey Federation 18 months later to serve as both head coach and general manager of the Men’s National Team. Under his leadership, they won the 2015 Deutschland Cup and rode that momentum into qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics, where they earned a silver medal.
Sturm’s overseas success drew attention from the Los Angeles Kings, who hired him as an assistant coach in November 2018. After four NHL seasons, he became head coach of the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Ontario Reign. Over three seasons as bench boss, Sturm helped develop players like Quinten Byfield and Jordan Spence, gaining a reputation for turning young talent into reliable performers—something Boston needed.
He was officially named the 30th head coach in Bruins history on June 5th, 2025, tasked with helping guide Boston back to perennial playoff status while advancing the development of key young players like Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov. It was an assignment that both the organization and fans knew wouldn’t happen overnight. But as faith would have it, the turnaround actually wouldn’t take long.
Sturm’s first three games as the Bruins’ head coach went well, defeating the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and Buffalo Sabres. But after that, Boston would lose their next six, which was capped off by a 7-5 defeat at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks. It was the first time as the leader of a National Hockey League club that Sturm was put in a spot where he needed to speak up and perhaps rattle the cage of his team. That’s what he did, and it grabbed the attention not only of his players but also of fans.
After his message to the team went viral, the Bruins were off and running. It helped spark Boston’s unforeseen playoff push as the team sits in the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference with 92 points. The Bruins, with eight games left, currently have a 90.9 percent chance of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Players have bought into the system, and some have blossomed into foundational pieces of the Bruins’ present and future.
It’s a credit to Marco Sturm in his first year to help a team that some thought could finish last in their conference into one that will be playing meaningful hockey in April. It’s a job done so well that it should have him in consideration for the Jack Adams Award, which goes to the league’s best head coach. But outside of Boston, little has been mentioned about his candidacy. Why is that?
The biggest reason is perhaps Boston’s division foe, the Buffalo Sabres, has also been one of the biggest surprises in the league. The Sabres are poised to end their 14-year playoff drought and are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. The Bolts’ performance this season has put their bench boss, Jon Cooper, in the running for the award as well. Then there’s fellow first-year head coach Dan Muse with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
They were also expected to be one of the bottom teams in the Eastern Conference, but have pulled a rabbit out of their hat, sitting third in the Metropolitan Division. Former Bruins’ head coach Rick Bowness took over a floundering Columbus Blue Jackets squad in January and has them in the thick of the playoff race. Out in the Western Conference, Joel Quenneville has the Anaheim Ducks sitting in first place in the Pacific Division. Jared Bednar has led his Colorado Avalanche squad to the best record in the league this season.
The competition for the Jack Adams Award this year is stiff, and that could be the biggest reason why we haven’t heard Marco Sturm’s name mentioned as much as a finalist. But make no mistake, the job he’s done this year has been phenomenal and has been a worthy case. It’ll be up to the voters to decide if he’s done the best job of the bunch this season.
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