The first coaching change of the 2024-25 NHL season was made on Tuesday as the Boston Bruins canned Jim Montgomery for the team’s underwhelming 8-9-3 start.
Taking over as interim head coach will be Joe Sacco, the Medford, Massachusetts native and Boston University alum who has served as an assistant for the Bruins since 2014. Sacco posted a 130-134-30 record over four seasons with the Colorado Avalanche between 2009-20 and 2012-13.
The Bruins are in the midst of a three-game losing streak that ultimately resulted in the end of Montgomery’s tenure behind the bench in Boston. They were pounded on the road 7-2 by the Dallas Stars, they came home and lost 3-2 in overtime to the St. Louis Blues, and were then hammered 5-1 at home by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Without structure (league-leading 101 team penalties), special teams success (league-worst 11.75 power play percentage), or goaltending (.888 team save percentage) to fall back on, the Bruins needed something to change, and axing the coach was the most simple answer.
Over two full seasons and the first quarter of this season as head coach of the Bruins, Mongomery compiled a sparkling 120-41-23 record. He led Boston to a record-setting 65-12-5 performance during the 2022-23 regular season and was named Jack Adams Award winner. The Bruins followed that up in 2023-24 with a 47-20-15 record after their top two centres, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, retired in the off-season.
Despite those impressive regular season results, the Bruins didn’t do anything in the playoffs during Mongomery’s time in Boston, which likely played a role in why he took the fall for the team’s poor start. The Bruins blew a 3-1 lead in the first round to the Florida Panthers after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2023 and they were taken down again by the eventual Stanley Cup champions in 2024, this time in the second round.
Which other NHL coaches might be on the hot seat? The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to a disappointing 7-10-4 start but it’s difficult to blame two-time Stanley Cup winner Mike Sullivan for the struggles of one of the oldest rosters in the league. The Detroit Red Wings appear to be on their way to another lost season with a 7-9-2 record and Steve Yzerman might opt to move on from Derek Lalonde.
Gary Bettman
Jun 21, 2019; Vancouver, BC, Canada; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speaks before the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

NHL commissioner says there have been no talks yet with NHLPA about changes to the salary cap

Gary Bettman poured some water on the idea that the NHL is going to see a larger-than-expected increase to the salary cap heading into the 2025-26 season. Last weekend, Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada that there was talk and optimism around the NHLPA that there could be a significant change in the next year or two.
“Basically we have two paths to follow here,” Friedman said. “No. 1 is they keep the cap at $92.5 (million) and then there is a huge jump the year after in 2026-27. Or, what the players say they’ve kind of been told about is the possibility the cap moves higher next year, probably around the $95-97 (million) area.
Now there’s no confirmation of which one is going to happen but I’m hearing that it’s definitely going to be discussed and that there is some optimism that they can find a way to do it.”
When asked about a potential increase to the salary cap, the NHL’s commissioner said that there hadn’t been any talks between the league and the Players’ Association. Bettman added that “Anything is possible” but also said the numbers Friedman talked about weren’t “anywhere close to accurate.”
“I don’t know where that came from,” the commissioner told reporters in Ottawa, where he was making a stop on his own tour around the league. “Any change would require an agreement between us, the league and the players’ association in terms of how it’s computed and we haven’t had those discussions.”
The NHL’s salary cap for the 2024-25 season is at $88 million. There have only been a few increases since a significant portion of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons and the planned revenue were lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceiling was locked at $81.5 million for three seasons until it was upped to $82.5 million in 2022-23 and $83.5 million in 2023-24.
Last summer, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to raise the salary cap by $4.5 million to $88 million, the largest increase since before the pandemic. The amount set as the salary cap each year depends on the league’s revenue for the previous season, so we’ll get a better idea of what the ceiling will be for the 2025-26 season in the spring.