Bruins Seeking These Qualities In Next Head Coach Of Franchise

The Bruins held an end-of-season news conference at an unideal time, and they hope to find the next person to help lead them to their goals.

CEO Charlie Jacobs, president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney addressed reporters Wednesday following a disappointing season. Boston missed the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons, and it will put its focus on retooling the roster to compete for Stanley Cups.

The top priority for the offseason is finding the next bench boss. Interim head coach Joe Sacco will be part of the search, and Sweeney and his team will look for other candidates who fit their needs.

” … We’ve already started that process, knowing who is available, and narrowing that down as I go through some checkpoints of hitting the criteria,” Sweeney told reporters, as seen on NESN. “Communicating with players nowadays is paramount. Structure, detail, being organized is paramount. You can’t have it and survive. I want a coach who’s gonna evolve a bit offensively, and again, that’s part and parcel with being able to communicate with sometimes younger players and their stubbornness and inexperience. …”

Sweeney added that the head coach has to be the extension of “driving internal competitiveness.” The Bruins general manager admitted that the offense needs to be better, especially the power play. Boston finished 29th in power-play percentage. However, Sweeney stressed what the B’s foundation should be.

“I’ve had the good fortune of working with three — and counting Joe — four different coaches from what they value, and I do believe in the league, you do need to continue to evolve.” Sweeney said. “I referenced that, evolve offensively, especially with younger players and integrating them. But if you don’t defend in the NHL, you don’t have sustained success. … That’s part of winning hockey. It just has to be, and it’s going to be part of our fabric. We’re going to get back to that.

“Now, we have to continue to evolve offensively, as I referenced the scoring deficiencies that we had this year. Our power play, in particular, put a lot of pressure on our team that you had to be perfect. … The structure has to be there. It has to be part of the fabric of what a coach believes in, but I do understand that the players coming into the league are offensively driven, and they need to understand that it’s OK to play with that offensive creativity, but it has to be within the confines of a team and a structure that dictate in order to be successful.”

Sweeney didn’t offer a definitive timeline for when the Bruins would name a head coach, but he admitted the ideal time would be before the NHL draft and free agency. An extensive search will be conducted and the next head coach will be given the task to get Boston back on track to where they need to go.