BOSTON — Don Sweeney said he’s begun the process of looking for the next coach of the Bruins and that interim coach Joe Sacco remains part of the process.
Sweeney revealed those details and a handful of others about the team’s coaching search, which is in its early stages.
Sweeney lays out basic requirements
Sweeney left a lot of wiggle room in what he’s looking for.
“In terms of the criteria, communication with players nowadays is paramount,” he said. “Structure, detail, being organized is paramount.”
Sacco still part of the process
Sweeney said he has spoken to Sacco about the team’s plans going forward.
“He’ll be part of the final group of coaches that we get down to because I think he’s earned and deserves that,” Sweeney said.
Like it has consistently, the Bruins brass praised the team’s initial performance under Sacco, before pointing out that things went south after that, with injuries and other inconsistencies before the trade deadline.
Denver coach unlikely to be a candidate
David Carle, the University of Denver’s wunderkind coach, wasn’t mentioned by name, but Sweeney said that some experience in the NHL was important for the next coach.
“It should include some form of NHL exposure,” Sweeney said. “I’m going to take the process and identify the criteria that we have in place. The person who comes into this door is gonna have success. We’re gonna set them up for that, we’re gonna work with that. Having NHL experience is part of that. They don’t have to be currently an NHL coach. But exposure to the league is important.”
Carle, who is likely to be a hot name among coaching searches, has never been a player or even an assistant coach in the NHL.
Tortorella seems unlikely, too
Attempting to read between the lines in things that Sweeney and Bruins management say during this offseason figures to be a sport in and of itself.
But Sweeney said he wanted a coach who was good at communicating with young players. That’s been a very public problem from John Tortorella, who is looking for a job after the Flyers fired him.
Offensive leadership matters
Sweeney said the Bruins’ next coach – and the phrasing here doesn’t bode well for Sacco — needs to evolve the team’s offense.
“I want a coach that’s going to evolve a little bit offensively, and again, that’s part and parcel with being able to communicate with sometimes younger players and their stubbornness or their inexperience,” he said.
Still, prioritizing defense is critical.
“If you don’t defend the National Hockey League, you don’t have sustained success, however you want to do it. … That’s part of winning hockey. It just has to be. It’s going to be part of our fabric. We’re going to get back to that,” he said. “The structure has to be there. It has to be part of the fabric of what a coach believes in, but I do understand that the players coming into the league are offensively driven and they need to understand that that it’s O.K. to play with that offensive creativity, but it has to be within the confines of what your team and the structure and dictate is going to be successful.”
Ideal timing might not be actual timing
Sweeney said in a perfect world, the team would have a coach in place ahead of the July 1 start of free agency. But if the Bruins decide on a coach who is part of the staff of a team that goes deep in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, that could force patience upon them.
“Timing might be that coaches that we identify are still part of the NHL Playoffs,” he said. “When you get permission could present some challenges.”
More Bruins content
Read the original article on MassLive.