BOSTON — Firing the coach is not the last move the Bruins have available to them if the team’s struggles continue.
Don Sweeney said if things don’t improve, everyone is on notice, including himself.
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Speaking at a Wednesday press conference at Warrior Arena the day after the Bruins fired Jim Montgomery and installed Joe Sacco as the team’s interim head coach, Sweeney said he’ll use whatever methods he has available to prod the team back to toward its high standard of play.
He said he hoped Sacco, who’ll get a long chance to prove himself, will spur the team back to consistent winning ways. But if that doesn’t work, roster spots are at risk.
“You can debate whether or not that’s just going to come back online because you have a new voice, and if it doesn’t and we need to make personnel changes, that’s going to fall on me,” he said. “Organizationally it’ll be the same way if there needs to be organizational changes.”
The organizational changes he’s referring to could be himself. Sweeney assembled the roster, including struggling high-priced free agents Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov. If the team doesn’t turn things around, he could be in the crosshairs next.
“We’re always on notice. It’s a results-oriented business…That’s just what you accept when you take the job, you know that you’re on notice,” he said. “When you make recommended changes, (ownership or upper management) can say no… and you might be the change. So you face that. You make decisions based on your experience level and what you need to do from your hockey club. And that’s how I that’s how I do the job. I’m appreciative that, in this case, that they still let me make that decision.”
