Bruins appear to hone in on next coach

While nothing has been finalized yet, Jim Montgomery appears to now be the favorite to become the next coach of the Bruins, according to league sources.

David Quinn and Jay Leach had been perceived as front-runners at the outset of the coaching search, but the 53-year-old Montgomery’s candidacy has gained steam after the last couple of days. As of Thursday evening, there has been no announcement from the Bruins that GM Don Sweeney has finished his search that is now over three weeks old.

Montgomery’s coaching abilities are highly regarded. In his three years as head coach of the Dubuque Fighting Saints, he won the USHL championship twice. In his five years at Denver from 2013-18, he amassed a 12556-26 record. Montgomery then took a Dallas Stars team that had missed the playoffs the previous two years, took them to the postseason, and won a series. At the time of his firing the next year, the Stars were one of the NHL’s hottest teams at 18-8.

With the Bruins, Montgomery would have his work cut out for him. The B’s are neither a Stanley Cup contender nor a tear-down project, at least not yet. The expected return of Patrice Bergeron will help, they have a very good 1-2 punch on the back end with Charlie McAvoy (when healthy) and Hampus Lindholm and there’s hope that Jeremy Swayman will take the next step to become an elite goaltender.

But there are holes and question marks. David Pastrnak is scheduled to become a UFA next summer and some clarity on his desire to remain a Bruin is needed. Like McAvoy, Brad Marchand is expected to be out until Thanksgiving after surgery on both hips. Matt Grzelcyk will also miss time at the start of the year

Yes, there are challenges. And now it could be Montgomery’s task to overcome them.