Connect with us

Boston Bruins

Sources: Bruins Interview Greg Cronin For Head Coach Job

Published

on

Anaheim Ducks

Multiple NHL sources have confirmed to Boston Hockey Now that former Northeastern head coach and current bench boss for the Colorado Eagles (AHL), Greg Cronin, interviewed to become the next head coach of the Boston Bruins.

One source confirmed that Cronin was at Warrior Arena, the practice facility for the Boston Bruins, for the interview Thursday. That would go in line with what an NHL source close to the situation confirmed to BHN on Thursday:

‘I know that they were bringing in at least one coach for his first interview today and another one, potentially two tomorrow,” the source told Boston Hockey Now late Thursday morning. “I think at some point next week, they will start to trim it down. Obviously they’d like to get this done by the draft but that’s not set in stone.”

Note: Out of respect for the coaching candidates and the interviewing process, the source declined to reveal who the candidates interviewing Thursday and Friday were.

Well, we now know that the candidate the Boston Bruins brass interviewed Thursday was Cronin who hails originally from Arlington, MA but currently resides in Colorado where he has coached the AHL affiliate of the 2022 Western Conference Champion Colorado Avalanche.

Ironically, an NHL executive pumped Cronin’s tires to BHN last Saturday and suggested the Boston Bruins interview him for their open head coaching post.

“Honestly, he’s a name I’m surprised that we don’t hear more of when these jobs open up,” the NHL executive opined to BHN last Saturday. “In terms of development and working with younger players, his resume speaks for itself. You see all the same names mentioned when it comes to that. …David Quinn, Nate Leaman, Jay Leach. …what have they done that Cronin hasn’t?”

Greg Cronin, who is currently the head coach of the Colorado Eagles, the AHL affiliate for the Colorado Avalanche, was starting to garner interest around the league for open head coach and assistant posts and clearly there is interest from the Bruins as they try to find the right coach to replace Bruce Cassidy who is now the new head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Beyond growing up in Arlington, MA, attending and playing high school hockey at Arlington Catholic and BB&N, Cronin played collegiate hockey at Colby College before beginning his coaching career as an assistant there in 1987-88. He then moved on to the University of Maine where he was an assistant coach and mentored by the late, great UMaine head coach Shawn Walsh.

Cronin served as an interim head coach for the Black Bears from 1995-97 before moving on to help launch the USA Hockey National Team Development Program with Jeff Jackson and Bob Mancini in 1997-98. That program has gone on to be a steady feeder for NCAA Hockey and of future American-born NHLers. Cronin also represented USA Hockey as an assistant at the World Juniors twice (winning a silver medal in 1997), and on three World Championships teams.

Cronin spent the next six seasons in the New York Islanders system; first as an assistant with the Islanders for five seasons and then as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for two seasons. From there he went on to become head coach of Northeastern and in six seasons, Cronin helped put them back on the map in the Hockey East and nationally.

Following his tenure behind the bench for the Huskies, Cronin became an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs for three seasons. He was on the losing side of one of the most famous wins in Boston Bruins history, Game 7 of the 2013 Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Cronin would return to the Islanders for four seasons before becoming head coach of the Eagles in 2018-19. He’s had a winning record in three of his four seasons in Colorado and led them to the playoffs twice.

As reported here and by multiple news outlets before, former Providence Bruins head coach and Seattle Kraken assistant coach Jay Leach, former Boston University and New York Rangers head coach David Quinn, former University of Denver and Dallas Stars head coach Jim Montgomery, current Boston Bruins assistant coach and Colorado head coach Joe Sacco, and former Providence Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Spencer Carbery have interviewed for the job. We can now add Cronin to that list and more candidates were scheduled to interview on Friday.

According to more than one source, this coaching candidate list will be pared down by the Boston Bruins hockey operations staff next week.

Copyright ©2023 National Hockey Now and Boston Hockey Now. Not affiliated with the Boston Bruins or the NHL.