Insider Hints at Bruins’ Internal Problems After Brad Marchand’s Altercation

The tension between Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery and captain Brad Marchand became a hot topic on Sunday following the team’s 2-1 overtime loss to the new Utah Hockey Club. The defeat has left Boston looking at a 3-2-1 record through their first six games of the season but fans and hockey insiders are more worried about what happened on the bench than what’s going on inside the rink.

Cameras showed a fiery bench exchange during the Bruins’ game against Utah Hockey Club in a confrontation that involved Montgomery snapping at Marchand and making physical contact with the team captain. The heated exchange raised eyebrows both within the organization and among NHL insiders, including Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Even though Marchand’s turnover leading to a goal by Utah was later rendered nil as there was an offside on the play, Montgomery still had a strong reaction to it.

Friedman labeled the altercation “jarring” during Monday’s episode of the “32 Thoughts” podcast. “You know, it was… it was jarring,” Friedman said. “I would say, you don’t see coaches yell at players like that on the bench too much anymore.” Friedman pointed out that some coaches prefer to direct their frustrations at younger or lower-ranked players, not team captains with 16 years of NHL experience and more than 1,000 games under their belts, like Marchand.

Host Kyle Bukauskas agreed with Friedman. “There is that line that can’t be crossed,” Bukauskas said. Friedman emphasized that any physical gestures between a coach and a player can cross a line and that this altercation could have internal consequences within the locker room.

“In this day and age, there isn’t supposed to be contact,” Friedman said. “If it’s a regular occurrence, you’ve really got a breakdown in communication between player and coach.” Montgomery didn’t talk about the incident after the game, but he commented on Utah being quicker and more determined than the Bruins on Sunday. “I thought they started faster than us,” Montgomery said. “I didn’t think we managed pucks very well because of their sticks.”

Boston fans would definitely hope that’s all there is to the confrontation between Montgomery and the captain of the Bruins as Marchand approaches the end of his contract next July without an extension being in the works.