As he stood at the Warrior Arena podium on Tuesday, Marco Sturm felt good as first training camp as the Bruins head coach was officially over.
His team was scheduled to board its flight and head south for Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. opener against Washington at Capital One Arena.
But beyond the personal milestone, Sturm was enthusiastic about how much his team had progressed in the preceding weeks.
“I thought camp went well. There was a lot of new things we brought in, not just on the ice, off the ice, too,” he said. “My players, my staff, everyone was pulling together and that shows me that we are on the right track. Everyone’s really excited. You could see in today’s practice.”
While Bruins management has repeatedly expressed confidence in this team and its potential to rebuild quickly after missing the playoffs last year, Sturm laid out realistic expectations for the early going.
“We’re still going to make mistakes. We’re just not there yet. We can’t fix everything overnight. We know that,” he said. “But as long as we’re going to continue to get better every day, I’m fine with it.
“I want to see growth, right? I want us to see us to come together,” he added later. “I’m not going to say we got to make the playoffs or we got to be in a playoff spot in November with this and that. No. I want to see us to grow. … We all want them to play and get that identity back. Not just one day, not just one period. Very, very consistent. That’s my goal right now. That’s it.”
David Pastrnak echoed his new coach.
“There’s always goals. Some of it stays in the room. But we expect much better for us,” he said. “We’re going to be very competitive and very hard to play against every night.”
After last year’s disappointment, the Bruins players seemed to embrace Sturm’s coaching.
“I think it’s been a really good camp. I think we’ve worked really hard and been able to accomplish a good amount,” Charlie McAvoy said. “We’ve leaned on each other and pushed each other. Every day is an opportunity to get better and we’ve used it as such.”
Nikita Zadorov agreed.
“He brought new energy for us,” Zadorov said. “I thought camp was really good. In my 13-year career, probably one of the best camps I’ve seen. Guys worked their butts off. It was really exciting. It was like fresh air for us. So far I like what I see. It starts real tomorrow.”
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