REPORT: Joe Sacco Out of Running For Bruins Head Coaching Job

We don’t yet know who the next coach of the Boston Bruins will be, but we do know that it won’t be Joe Sacco.

According to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, the Bruins have informed Sacco he will not return as the team’s head coach moving forward.

“I’m under the impression he was told he won’t be staying,” Friedman said on Monday’s episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast.

Sacco took over as the interim coach of the Bruins this past season after the club fired Jim Montgomery in mid-November. Although the team missed the playoffs and had a  25-30-7 record under Sacco, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney immediately named him as a finalist for the vacant head coaching position at the conclusion of the season.

Friedman’s wording is interesting as it appears to indicate that Sacco won’t be back with the Bruins as an assistant, either, seemingly ending his decade-long run behind the Boston bench. Sacco, a native of Medford, first joined the Bruins back in 2014 and served under their previous three head coaches in Montgomery, Bruce Cassidy, and Claude Julien.

READ MORE: Bruins Close To Naming Next Head Coach, But Still Have Hoops To Jump Through

Friedman speculated that Sacco may fit in with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are now in need of a new assistant coach after Lane Lambert was hired by the Seattle Kraken last week.

As for the remaining candidates the Bruins are considering, it’s believed they are down to their final two, and a decision is likely to come early this week.

The team held in-person interviews last week with assistant coach Jay Leach, as well as head coach of the AHL’s Ontario Reign, Marco Sturm, and Washington Capitals assistant Mitch Love. Former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft has also interviewed for the position.

Boston is one of two teams still with a head coaching vacancy, as the Pittsburgh Penguins are also reportedly nearing the end of their search as well.

Whoever the Bruins hire will be their third head coach in the last five years.

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