TheBoston Bruins, a professionalice hockey team based inBoston, has had 29head coaches in its team history.[1] The franchise is a member of theAtlantic Division of theEastern Conference of theNational Hockey League (NHL). The franchise was founded in 1924 and entered the NHL as the first American-based expansion team, playing its initial seasons at the still-activeBoston Arena.[2][3] It is anOriginal Six team, along with theToronto Maple Leafs,Detroit Red Wings,New York Rangers,Montreal Canadiens andChicago Blackhawks.[1] Its home arena is the 17,565-person capacityTD Garden, where it has played since 1995, after leaving theBoston Garden.[1]
Art Ross served three terms as the Bruins head coach.[4] Ross,Lynn Patrick, andMilt Schmidt have all been inducted to theHockey Hall of Fame.Harry Sinden,Gerry Cheevers,Tom Johnson andFrank Patrick are Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, and spent their entire coaching careers with the Bruins.Cooney Weiland,Dit Clapper,Terry O'Reilly,Steve Kasper andMike O'Connell also coached only for the Bruins,[5][6][7][8][9] withMike Sullivan taking over as head coach for thePittsburgh Penguins on December 12, 2015.[10]
Statistically, Tom Johnson was the most successful head coach, with a winning percentage of .738.[11] He is followed byHarry Sinden, who, averaging his two terms, had a winning percentage of .689.[12] The worst head coach statistically wasPhil Watson, who, with a winning percentage of .268, only won 16 out of the 84 games he coached.[13]Claude Julien took over afterDave Lewis was dismissed in 2007.[14][15]Bruce Cassidy succeeded Julien on February 7, 2017, and served as head coach until his firing on June 6, 2022.[16] On June 30, 2022, the Bruins namedJim Montgomery head coach, replacing Cassidy.[17] Following an 8–9–3 start to the2024–25 season, Montgomery was fired, and replaced on an interim basis by assistant coachJoe Sacco.[18] On June 5, 2025, the Bruins announced that they had hired former playerMarco Sturm as their new head coach.[19] Sturm is the first European coach in franchise history, being from Germany.[citation needed]
| # | Number of coaches[A] |
| GC | Games coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Losses |
| T/OT | Ties or overtime losses |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| * | Elected to theHockey Hall of Fame |
| † | Spent entire professional head coaching career with the Bruins. |
| *† | Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame and spent entire professional head coaching career with the Bruins. |
Note: Statistics are correct through the hiring of Sacco during the2024–25 season.
| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Championships/awards won[B] | Ref. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GC | W | L | T/OT | Win% | GC | W | L | T | |||||
| 1 | Art Ross* | 1924–1934 | 430 | 214 | 161 | 55 | .497 | 31 | 14 | 12 | 5 | Stanley Cup championship (1929) | [4] |
| 2 | Frank Patrick*† | 1934–1936 | 96 | 48 | 36 | 12 | .563 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | [20] | |
| — | Art Ross* | 1936–1939 | 144 | 89 | 39 | 16 | .674 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | Stanley Cup championship (1939) | [4] |
| 3 | Cooney Weiland† | 1939–1941 | 96 | 58 | 20 | 18 | .698 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 0 | Stanley Cup championship (1941) | [21] |
| — | Art Ross* | 1941–1945 | 198 | 84 | 90 | 24 | .485 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 0 | [4] | |
| 4 | Dit Clapper† | 1945–1949 | 230 | 102 | 88 | 40 | .530 | 25 | 8 | 17 | 0 | [22] | |
| 5 | Georges Boucher | 1949–1950 | 70 | 22 | 32 | 16 | .429 | — | — | — | — | [23] | |
| 6 | Lynn Patrick* | 1950–1954 | 310 | 117 | 130 | 63 | .479 | 40 | 16 | 23 | 1 | [24] | |
| 7 | Milt Schmidt* | 1954–1961 | 460 | 172 | 203 | 75 | .455 | 34 | 15 | 19 | 0 | [25] | |
| 8 | Phil Watson | 1961–1962 | 84 | 16 | 55 | 13 | .268 | — | — | — | — | [13] | |
| — | Milt Schmidt* | 1962–1966 | 266 | 73 | 157 | 46 | .361 | — | — | — | — | [25] | |
| 9 | Harry Sinden*† | 1966–1970 | 296 | 136 | 105 | 55 | .552 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 0 | Stanley Cup championship (1970) | [12] |
| 10 | Tom Johnson*† | 1970–1973 | 208 | 142 | 43 | 23 | .738 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 0 | Stanley Cup championship (1972) | [11] |
| 11 | Bep Guidolin | 1973–1974 | 104 | 72 | 23 | 9 | .736 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 0 | [26] | |
| 12 | Don Cherry | 1974–1979 | 400 | 231 | 105 | 64 | .658 | 55 | 31 | 24 | 0 | Jack Adams Award winner (1976) | [27] |
| 13 | Fred Creighton | 1979–1980 | 73 | 40 | 20 | 13 | .637 | — | — | — | — | [28] | |
| — | Harry Sinden*† | 1980 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | .857 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | [12] | |
| 14 | Gerry Cheevers*† | 1980–1985 | 376 | 204 | 126 | 46 | .604 | 34 | 15 | 19 | 0 | [29] | |
| — | Harry Sinden*† | 1985 | 24 | 11 | 10 | 3 | .521 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | [12] | |
| 15 | Butch Goring | 1985–1986 | 93 | 42 | 38 | 13 | .522 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | [30] | |
| 16 | Terry O'Reilly† | 1986–1989 | 227 | 115 | 86 | 26 | .564 | 37 | 17 | 19 | 1 | [31] | |
| 17 | Mike Milbury | 1989–1991 | 160 | 90 | 49 | 21 | .628 | 40 | 23 | 17 | 0 | [32] | |
| 18 | Rick Bowness | 1991–1992 | 80 | 36 | 32 | 12 | .525 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | [33] | |
| 19 | Brian Sutter | 1992–1995 | 216 | 120 | 73 | 23 | .609 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 0 | [34] | |
| 20 | Steve Kasper† | 1995–1997 | 164 | 66 | 78 | 20 | .463 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | [35] | |
| 21 | Pat Burns* | 1997–2000 | 254 | 105 | 103 | 46 | .504 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | Jack Adams Award winner (1998) | [36] |
| 22 | Mike Keenan | 2000–2001 | 74 | 33 | 34 | 7 | .547 | — | — | — | — | [37] | |
| 23 | Robbie Ftorek | 2001–2003 | 155 | 76 | 65 | 14 | .577 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | [38] | |
| 24 | Mike O'Connell† | 2003 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | .500 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | [39] | |
| 25 | Mike Sullivan | 2003–2006 | 164 | 70 | 79 | 15 | .543 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | [9] | |
| 26 | Dave Lewis | 2006–2007 | 82 | 35 | 41 | 6 | .463 | — | — | — | — | [40] | |
| 27 | Claude Julien | 2007–2017 | 759 | 419 | 246 | 94 | .614 | 97 | 57 | 40 | — | Stanley Cup championship (2011) Jack Adams Award winner (2009) | [15] |
| 28 | Bruce Cassidy | 2017–2022 | 399 | 245 | 108 | 46 | .672 | 73 | 36 | 37 | 0 | Jack Adams Award winner (2020) | [41] |
| 29 | Jim Montgomery | 2022–2024 | 184 | 120 | 41 | 23 | .652 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 0 | Jack Adams Award winner (2023) | [42] |
| — | Joe Sacco | 2024–2025 | 60 | 24 | 30 | 6 | .400 | — | — | — | — | [43] | |
| 30 | Marco Sturm | 2025–present | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
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The Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday fired coach Mike Johnston and replaced him with Mike Sullivan.
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