Bruins
“You wish you can fix it overnight, but you can’t. So you’ve got to be patient.”
Less than a month after being tabbed as the 30th head coach in Bruins franchise history, Marco Sturm already feels at home.
And it’s not just because he’s rediscovered his affinity for Dunkin’.
But as he sat at the nearest coffee outpost — just a stone’s throw away from the Bruins’ facility at Warrior Ice Arena — the 46-year-old coach was served a reminder of the environment he once embraced as a player, and now rejoins as a bench boss.
“Good luck this season, Marco,” a man said in passing as he walked out of the store, caffeinated fuel in hand.
“Thank you,” the first-year head coach replied before turning back to his coffee.
It’s not the first time he’s received well wishes on the street since being tasked with righting the ship in Boston after a disastrous 2024-25 campaign.
“You’re in that market again,” Sturm said with a smile.
In an exclusive interview with Boston.com last week, Sturm touched on multiple topics over a cup of Dunkin’, including expectations for the 2025-26 season, Boston’s offseason moves, and much more.
Boston.com: Starting off with the most important question of the week, what’s your go-to Dunkin order?
Sturm: I think you can see it already here. Just black coffee. It used to be cappuccino, but then it got too sweet. So I’m sticking with black coffee, a little bit of half and half. I also have really, really, really good memories of a toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese.
It’s my kids’ favorite, and usually Dad had a bite or two as well, because it was that good.
Have you been able to take a breather since being hired?
Still working — in a good way. It was a lot going on, especially when I got hired — did the media tour. And even when I went back, I almost felt like an agent or GM. I was on the phone most of the time, not just with media. I also had to find an assistant coach, talking to all the players. I reached out to everyone. Just talking to a lot of different people. And then leading toward the draft, I think it was great for me for Don and the scouts to let me in their meetings, so I got to know the young kids coming up. That’s why I was even more excited to get a guy like [James] Hagans, because I feel like I knew him already, because I did my homework a few days before, and he’s going to be a great fit for us and this organization.
Free agency the last few days, it’s been crazy. So yeah, it didn’t slow down. We met with all the coaches here every day for the last three days, so that was nice. I think starting next week, I think things will slow down. We have our team now, for the most part, and also the coaching staff. So I think now it’s just ‘Okay, calm down a little bit’ and then I’m going to attack — about our system, about our group, about our players, and then we go from there.
You’ve mentioned the allure of coaching an Original Six franchise. But, what is it about this market and this fanbase that has you excited to jump back in?
We just laughed about it — two seconds ago, where the guy just came up and he’s like, ‘Good luck, Marco’. But that is exactly it, right? I’ve been through it as a player. The fans here and the people are so passionate. But I was talking to [Pavel] Zacha today — that also made me a better player, right? That pushed me to be a better player, that pushed me to be also, I think, a better person. It taught me a lot of things.
Even when things are going bad, it’s hard, but you learn something out of it. And I think those guys right now in the locker room went through it last season. Now this summer, I think these guys learned a lot, and I think it’s just going to help us moving forward. But to answer your question, I think this is it. The passionate fans and the organization, too. You can see, with our signings [Tuesday], it brings back old memories. The old Boston culture. We wanted to refresh it again, and we need it moving forward.
When you look at the additions made by the team on Tuesday, what type of message do those moves send about the type of identity this team needs to embrace?
For me, right away, it’s grit. It’s hard to play against. It’s again, like I said, going back to our identity. Back to the standard we want to play as the Boston Bruins. I think that identity, we definitely will have [it]. I think that’s something I think the fans and everyone else can appreciate, and they will see it with the way we’re going to play.
There’s still a lot of work to do. Don’t get me wrong, right? What I experienced, even in L.A. You wish you can fix it overnight, but you can’t. So you’ve got to be patient. But I thought Don and his staff did a tremendous job, and I’ve been around them the last four days. There were a lot of discussions with other teams and players — could have gone somewhere else, but I’m really happy the way we ended and now I’m looking forward to working with this team, also giving some young guys an opportunity, because that’s what I like to do.
A few of the players Boston brought in have some ties to the Kings. Did you have any input as far as offseason targets and does that familiarity with someone like Viktor Arvidsson help?
No, I didn’t bring the names up. They did. Let’s start that way, right? It just turned out I had them and we were in the same organization, funny enough. And that helped, especially with Arvy. He had a no-move clause, and he did it, not just because he wanted to come to Boston and have a great opportunity, but also the relationship I had with him in the past.
[Tanner] Jeannot, he’s just a typical Boston Bruins guy. Reminds me of all of those old players we had here. He knows what it takes, and he will also take care of the room, [he’s a] great teammate, and also take care of the guys on the ice. And that’s what we needed.
It sounds like — I was here in the past — but it sounds like that got lost a little bit, and that’s what we wanted to attack to be a really competitive group again. Not just in games, but also in practices and on the ice and off the ice. And it’s starting with me too, right? I’m gonna set the tone every day, and I think that was part of what Don liked about my hiring, too — that I’m not a player, but I do that as a coach as well.
Do you feel you have the personnel in place to consistently generate offense this season?
Again, I’m not going to lie. It’s going to be hard, right? I mean, going back to what I just said, I wish we would have everything, but there is always a path to it. We did that. I believe you always have to build a foundation first, and you can’t look ahead. I know you like to. But I think we’re in a really good spot right now with our core guys. I think we have that foundation now. Now my job is to build that foundation into the way we want to play, right, and we still want to have a good defensive identity.
But also, how can we score more goals? And I think that’s a little bit of combination of stuff I’m going to bring at five-on-five. I think special teams will be huge, right? The power play, I think, shouldn’t be excused, because we do have good pieces, right? We have good players to have a successful power play, and we need them, right? Because the five-on-five, it will be hard. So that’s why they’re special teams. It’s going to be a big part of our game.”
This team has taken more of a quality over quantity approach with its shot selection over the last few seasons. After bringing in a few more shot-heavy forwards like Arvidsson, do you believe that the team’s offensive approach needs to be tweaked to encourage a greater shot volume?
Yeah, no, absolutely. I’m a guy and you can look at my Ontario [Reign] stats with my teams. There’s a lot of volume to it, but I also know, because I’ve been a player, you’ve got to know who you are, too, right? If you have a guy like [David Pastrnak] and [Morgan Geekie] and Elias [Lindholm] — that one line, they’re not just throwing pucks to the net. But they’re good at it, and they can do it, right?
I want them to have that mindset — and I want them to make plays as well. There’s some other guys, it’s going to be different, right? And those guys, [Michael] Eyssimont and these guys, they’ve got to understand who they are and what they have to do. And I will tell them that. But overall, I am very, very direct, and I think that part was missing here as well, right? And I want to hunt, I want to get pucks back, and I want to do it again. So to do that well, you’ve to shoot some pucks as well.
When you look at the teams you’ve had both in Ontario and Los Angeles, do you see some parallels between those groups and the type of team you’re looking to build here?
No, absolutely. And believe it or not, I think LA is very similar to Boston. Right now, if you look at the roster we had five years ago, that bigger rebuild, I would say, yeah. And again, it took us at least four years to get to this point. We are not there. But again, I see a lot that’s the same, absolutely. And I think that helps me a lot with where we’re at. Again, what I learned, you have to be patient sometimes.
You’ve got to know who you have, what kind of team you have, and as long as you see progress during that stretch, I think we’re going to be in good shape. But at end of the day, how we became a good team in LA is playing good defense, right? That just helps, and we still found ways to create offense. We’re not elite. We’re not like Vegas and whatever. We’re just not like that. But there are certain ways we have to improve to obviously win more hockey games.
Bringing in a new assistant coach in Steve Spott — what has his input been and what do you feel like he can bring to help spark this power play?
I’m going to tell you this, it was actually not that easy to find the right guy. Not just for me, I think for my players. That, for me, is the most important thing. Who can help out my players the most. Obviously, the power play, that’s going to be huge. But again, I look at the big picture, and I think he checks all the boxes in the way he likes to play, the way he likes to run things, the teams he played he coached: Vegas, especially Dallas, San Jose.
Those are my type of teams in the style they play. So if you put everything together, I think it’s just a good match. His experience on top of it. I think he’s just going to help me and our coaching staff moving forward. I’m really excited to have him on board.
As far as tweaking other areas of this team’s game — be it defensive structure or the neutral zone — have you made any decisions yet?
Yeah no, not like 100 percent, but I think this week, talking to my coaches, we attacked a few areas. For example, the neutral zone. We attacked that this week, just kind of focusing on that and where we can improve on that. Again, in my in my head and my mind, it’s already almost set, the way I want to play. I know that. But again, I’m always very open with my staff. I want to make the right choice for this team. But I also had to wait — who do we actually end up with?
I think that’s something I learned, too, is you can’t just — I can’t just play like the Florida Panthers. Do I want to play like that? Yes. But you also have to know what kind of personnel you have, and that’s why we took time this week and talked more about the neutral zone. I think the D zone and some other areas will follow up in the next weeks or so.
What type of opportunity will be afforded to younger players like Fraser Minten and Matt Poitras going into next season?
I think it’s really important. Again, I love working with those guys. I think I’m a guy where I will give them everything I can. I will teach them, I will push them. But they also will dictate where they’re gonna go. For me, that’s the player and that’s on them. And again, if they play good enough, then I don’t have a problem with playing them. I want them to have success.
But if not — maybe they’re not ready yet, and maybe they have to learn the hard way. Hopefully we do have some spots available. And I think it sounds like some of the guys have a really good opportunity. I really hope they grab it, because I want them to grab it. I want that competition in our lineup, especially with those young guys. I’m a big believer in that we want to play a fast-paced game, and you kind of need those young legs too, so hopefully some guys will come through.
Looking further down the line, what do you see from James Hagens and the next wave of talent in the system?
For me, that’s so exciting. From what I heard, it’s the first time in a long time we have a lot of good, young people here at our rink, especially right now at Dev Camp. Having a player like Hagens, it just helps, right? It helps us as a coaching staff, looking forward to something really special. Talking to players — the first thing that comes out of their mouth is, “What about that Hagens?” So you can tell the excitement from not just me and the organization, but also from the players that they know they’re gonna have something to look forward to and some good players to play with in the future.
There’s always some other guys, too. You get [Will] Moore and some other guys, BC guys it feels like — more and more. But you never know. There’s always a surprise. But at least we have some now, and we know, even for next year and in the years to come, I think there’s some talent coming up. It’s going to take time, but you need those, especially in the long run.
What has been the message to the returning players in terms of your vision and what you’re trying to build here and what has been their reception?
Every one of them that I talked to — they’re very, very excited. I think for them, it feels like a fresh start. They’re still very bitter and pissed about the season they had last year. Having a long summer, they’re not used to this, but I think it’s helpful, like we talked about. But again, having a new voice, part of a new staff, just a new mindset. I think that’s something that they look forward to.
We didn’t really talk about the X’s and O’s. But I just want to make sure they’re going to use this summer and come back in really good shape. I think that’s something — we have to be elite in this league, especially if you’re not a top team. You gotta, at least in that category, you have to stay ahead and be ahead of some other teams. And that was really a little bit my message — the excitement, but also the work ethic you need from those guys in the summer to come back in really good shape.
You mentioned during your initial press conference about how you embraced coaching after retirement. Where does that motivation and drive come from?
Sturm: I’m gonna tell you a funny story, and I don’t even know if I told it. Our home is in Florida. Shawn Thornton — Thorty works for the Panthers, and he wrestles with my old neighbor in Florida. I didn’t know that. Long story short, he invited him over, and we spent time and and all my neighbors were saying, “I can’t believe, Marco, you’re a coach.” Because they only know me as the neighbor and being a family guy, that Marco Sturm.
I asked Thorty that, and he said, and I think he was bang on. He said, “Not even a question, because he’s always been a leader.” I was just smarter than some other guys. I was a quiet leader, but I knew what it took and I just got the job done. And I think that’s it. I think that leadership, wanting to be that leader. Wanting to be the guy. I think that’s something I noticed right away when I started coaching. This is me. I never thought I would be a coach, but here I am.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
