Boston Bruins
Montgomery’s Big Contract Gamble Failed Before Firing
Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney revealed today that he talked about a contract extension with Jim Montgomery before firing him.
As Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney spoke with the media on Wednesday, he revealed an interesting bit of news before giving the reason behind his decision to fire Jim Montgomery as head coach. Saying the two sides had contract extension talks before the season, talks fell apart. Furthermore, the fact that Montgomery was not under contract for a longer period likely contributed to the Bruins’ decision to move on.
Sweeney didn’t say that had Montgomery been extended he would have kept the coach. However, logically, it’s safe to assume the organization might not have been so quick to dump a bench boss with a fresh new deal. Typically, if a team is locked into a coach on a new two, three, or five-year deal, franchises don’t want to pay two salaries if they can avoid it. But, because Montgomery wanted more money and talks fell apart, he didn’t have a new extension and the team wasn’t committed.
Sweeney said he had to change course. He noted that it’s not in his nature to just flippantly. He explained:
“In Monty’s case, we had entered into extension talks, couldn’t find a deal based on what we had offered, and then with the underperformance of the team reared its head for 20 games, I had to make a decision.”
Is Sweeney on the Hot Seat in Boston Now?
Sweeney said that the decision rests with him and the team will either turn things around of there will be “continued changes across the board.”
Sweeney has now fired three different coaches, all of whom either were Jack Adams winners or Stanley Cup winners. These were fantastic coaches and at some point, this lack of success is going to be about the roster that was built. These coaches were able to win with other rosters. Why can’t Sweeney’s teams find a way to be more successful?
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