• All-Centennial Team

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    Stanley Cup Champs

    The Bruins have Fired Head Coach Jim Montgomery


    Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

    I'm not exactly sure where to start here, but the Bruins are bad... like really bad at this game called hockey. They've lost four of their last five games and five of their previous seven games. There's plenty of blame to go around. After losing 5-1 last night to the Columbus Bluejackets, it seemed all but certain something was going to happen. Today, the B's made their first change of the year and I don't expect it to be their last.

    Head Coach Jim Montgomery has reportedly been fired. This was the "easy" solution, but I don't see how it changes much. I have not been in the camp of wanting to fire Monty, as I don't believe their problems stem from poor coaching. Did he have some blame? Certainly, but so do the players, and, most importantly, the front office. As I said before, firing Monty is taking the easy way out. It doesn't address that the two players they signed this offseason have been underperforming, and Nikita Zadorov has done more harm than good on the ice. It also doesn't change that the Bruins lost 7, maybe 8, if you count Ullmark, contributing starters from last year.

    With that in mind, I understand it. For the first time last night, I thought that something had to be done. The Edmonton Oilers screwed every single struggling coach/team last year. They started out extremely poor, fired head coach Jay Woodcroft, and went on a ridiculous run of wins. They then went on to play in the Stanley Cup Finals, ultimately losing to the Florida Panthers in seven games. People will use them as an example of why firing head coaches is a good thing, for years to come. I've already seen it. "It'll give this team the spark they need." Maybe so. I'm not stubborn enough to rather be right than watch this team be great. If the Bruins go on to have a great season that includes a deep playoff run, I'll eat it. I'll gladly be wrong here, but the question is, is firing Monty more likely to resemble what happened with the Oilers last year, or will it be more similar to the last coach who was fired from the Bruins, who went on to win the Stanley Cup the following year?