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Bruins Coaching Search Update: Montgomery, Vellucci, Cronin

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David Quinn may well be a frontrunner to become the next head coach of the Boston Bruins but the coaching search is still ongoing.

As first reported by Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, the Boston Bruins have interviewed Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Mike Vellucci, and an NHL source close to the situation has told Boston Hockey Now, that the Bruins were quite impressed with him.

Another source has told BHN, that in addition to Quinn, the former Boston University and New York Rangers bench boss, being a frontrunner to coach the Boston Bruins, former University of Denver head coach Jim Montgomery was also flown in for a second interview this past weekend.

“I know everybody’s money is on Quinn right now, and they could very well be right, but I’m told Montgomery is a frontrunner as well,” the source told BHN.

As reported by BHN last Friday, the Boston Bruins also interviewed former Northeastern and current Colorado Eagles (AHL), head coach Greg Cronin. The same source above said that Cronin impressed the team interview panel of Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, team president Cam Neely and director of player development and player personnel advisor Jamie Langenbrunner. However, as of Wednesday morning, Cronin had not been invited back for a second interview.

With the Stanley Cup Final now over, there is rampant speculation that the Tampa Bay Lightning will lose one of their assistant coaches in Derek Lalonde and Jeff Halpern.

“Boston, I think they’re beginning their second round of interviews this week. I don’t know if they’re going to talk to any of these guys [from Tampa], but it wouldn’t surprise me,” Elliotte Friedman speculated in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast.

One potential NHL head coach candidate that hasn’t and likely won’t be interviewing with the Boston Bruins is former Bruins center Marc Savard. Savard, who is fresh off coaching the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) to within one win of the 2022 Memorial Cup in his first season as head coach of the Spitfires. In an exclusive interview with BHN recently, Savard said that he has been contacted by multiple teams about assistant coach gigs but right now he’s focused on getting a head coaching job in the NHL. A source later confirmed to BHN that Savard had not been contacted by the Bruins for either jobs that they have open.

“I am extremely happy with where I am now,” said Savard, who served as an assistant coach for the St. Louis Blues during the 2019-20 season. “We’ve got a great setup here, my family likes it a lot and we’ve got a great thing going with the team here. I’m getting calls and that’s great but at this point I’d be more interested in a head coaching job.

If it was a perfect situation, I’d be an assistant but I’m happy where I am now so it’s gotta be the right fit for my family and me to move again.”

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