{"id":214700,"date":"2025-09-10T05:21:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T05:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214700\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T05:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T05:21:12","slug":"sitting-down-with-bruins-coach-marco-sturm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214700\/","title":{"rendered":"Sitting down with Bruins coach Marco Sturm"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s ahead for the Bruins and their fans is not a total rebranding of the B, but more a restoration project, with the German-born Sturm hired in June to be the new-age bench boss<\/a> charged with getting the Original Six franchise back in touch with its old ways after only one Stanley Cup title over the last 53 years.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDay 1, it will be about going back to our foundation,\u201d mused Sturm, who turned 47 on Monday. \u201cWhat is our identity? That\u2019ll be the message, more than anything else, not systems or philosophy. For that day, it\u2019s going to be, \u2018OK, who are we?\u2019 I\u2019m not saying that got lost here, but we have to get our standard back on the right track again. That\u2019s the key.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Bruins of September 2025 are in a spot quite similar to when Sturm, then a high-charged winger, first arrived on Causeway Street 20 years ago in the swap that sent Joe Thornton to the Sharks. Mike Sullivan was the Bruins\u2019 coach, until Dave Lewis replaced him months later, until Claude Julien replaced Lewis the following summer.<\/p>\n

\"MarcoMarco Sturm (center) scored 106 goals, including in overtime of the Winter Classic at Fenway Park in 2010, during parts of five seasons with the Bruins from 2005-10.Jim Davis\/Globe Staff\/Boston Globe<\/p>\n

In a span of 1\u00bd seasons, Sturm played for three coaches here, and the underlying need then, as now, was for the franchise to regain its identity as well as to put more pucks in the net. Meet the d\u00e9j\u00e0-vu-all-over-again Bruins, albeit with Sturm lacking the luxury of a 6-foot-9-inch Zdeno Chara being hired on as the backline\u2019s block of cornerstone granite.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it\u2019s going to be a grind, especially this season with the Olympics [wedged into a three-week block of February],\u201d said Sturm, adding more detail to what he\u2019ll say to his guys on Day 1 of camp. \u201cWe\u2019re going to need everybody, and we\u2019re going to need their best, every damned day.\u201d<\/p>\n

After missing the playoffs last season for the first time since 2015-16, the Bruins Sturm has inherited have the goaltending and defensive corps to compete for a playoff spot. The new coach was particularly encouraged on Monday after meeting with Hampus Lindholm<\/a>, just back in town over the weekend. The smooth-skating Swedish defenseman has fully recovered from the fractured kneecap that cost him three-quarters of last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, knock on wood,\u201d said Sturm, smiling wide as he tapped knuckles on his office desk, \u201cwe should be OK on D and in net.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremy Swayman, refreshed and recharged after backing Team USA<\/a> to the gold medal at the World Championship this past spring, returns as the No. 1. Groomed and paid to be the franchise stopper, he\u2019s expected to be just that after slumping to 22-29-7 in last season\u2019s protracted train wreck that too often crashed into his net.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the offense that remains the biggest question, and potentially, the biggest bugaboo. <\/p>\n

Other than bringing in Tanner Jeannot<\/a> and Mikey Eyssimont<\/a> as needed agitators and a solid center support component in veteran returnee Sean Kuraly, general manager Don Sweeney was unable to trade for or purchase top-six scoring talent. <\/p>\n

It was clear in talking to Sturm that he\u2019s well aware that offense could be a soft spot, one that new assistant coach Steve Spott<\/a>, an accomplished power-play architect, could help alleviate. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith Spotter . . . it was not easy, I would say, to find the right guy. A lot of coaches reached out to me [as applicants],\u201d said Sturm. \u201cBut deep down I was looking for the right guy, the right fit. Not just for me but for the coaches, the organization, and most importantly for the guys I have in the room. He just stood out.\u201d<\/p>\n

In part what made Spott \u201cthe perfect fit,\u201d said Sturm, was a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that reflected Spott\u2019s success working with high-end forwards such as Thornton and Tomas Hertl in San Jose, and Mikko Rantanen in Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we have guys here like Pasta [David Pastrnak] and others, and that\u2019s important,\u201d added Sturm. \u201cHe\u2019s very detailed and a good communicator . . . and he had other opportunities, too, and he chose to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Otherwise on offense, Sturm will be pitching opportunity, particularly to youngsters. He named Matt Poitras and Fraser Minten as prime examples of hopefuls who\u2019ll be given their looks. <\/p>\n

As a player, he lived that, too. A 19-year-old Sturm made the Sharks\u2019 varsity in his first NHL training camp in the fall of 1997, winning over tough-as-nails coach Darryl Sutter with his tireless legs, IQ, and the sheer want to land full-time work in the world\u2019s top league.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care if it\u2019s an 18-year-old or a 40-year-old, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d offered Sturm. \u201cIf you play the right way and if you play through the lineup, I will give you the ice time, right? I always say the same thing: It\u2019s up to the player. If you played good enough, and if you are going to show me, if it\u2019s Matty or a Minten who plays really well in exhibition, you will play. That\u2019s how I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The puck is about to drop and, yes, there are jobs for the taking. For those interested, see the new boss behind the bench \u2014 the guy who grew up in BMW\u2019s factory town (Dingolfing) who says he\u2019s ready to steer the Bruins out of the ditch.<\/p>\n

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s ahead for the Bruins and their fans is not a total rebranding of the B, but more…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":214701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[32072,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-214700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-bruins","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115178326262025459","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}