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The Boston Bruins are heading to the playoffs, and Marco Sturm does not want the credit for it.
“I’m a team player…” he started to say on Tuesday when asked if he was proud of himself. But then he answered the question by adding he was not sure what to expect, but the players made it easier to navigate.
“I didn’t know what to expect pretty much early on, coming in[to] this league,” he added. “A lot of things were new, so I was curious too, which way it’s going to go. But again, [the] guys made it very easy for me. Maybe not off the ice, but as soon as I’m around a rink, I’m a very confident guy. I always believe in myself. I know I’m a good coach and can push some buttons… One guy can’t do it. You always need the whole team to do it.”
At the beginning of the season, Cam Neely said that the Boston Bruins were going to be a “tough out.”
The message landed within the locker room.
“I remember our opening speech, or opening day at Warrior training camp, Cam was the first guy,” Marco Sturm said after the Bruins closed their regular season on Tuesday. “And you all know Cam. He’s very direct and very honest, and he set the tone, I think, very clearly right away. Followed by Don and then me. I think the message was very clear, and I was the guy who had to transfer it to the ice, and deliver it to the guys, and after that, the guys took over.”
One season in, the Bruins are a 100-point team and headed to the postseason, something that not many saw at the beginning of the year.
“It’s paramount,” Swayman said about Sturm on Tuesday. “We definitely wouldn’t be here without him. He’s a strong leader, and he really believes in his own process. He knows what works, and I think he did a great job of communicating to us what he wants, and it takes time. And I think he had a lot of great patience with a lot of us and understanding that sometimes we need a little more details in certain situations.”
“A ton of credit goes to Marco and all of our coaching staff for really understanding when to chime in and teach us a new system and really buy in.”
Swayman, like Sturm, has played a massive role in the Bruins’ bounce-back season. He went from 22-29-3 with a -9.1 goals saved above expected to a 31-18-4 record with the second-best goals saved above expected (28.8).
Sturm likes to say he played “outstanding” after games, but he upped it to the “best goalie in the league” in March.
Sturm’s working relationship with GM Don Sweeney has been a positive one, and one that he enjoys because he has a voice.
“I mean, every franchise is a little different, every GM is a little different, the way they work with the head coaches,” Sturm said on Tuesday. “The one thing I like about [Sweeney] is I’m always involved. For example, in LA, it was not always that same way. What I mean is [that] by free agency and at the draft, I was at the table and communicated with the scouts. So I felt involved right away, and that’s why maybe certain players ended up in Boston.”
The history between Marco Sturm and Bruins right winger Viktor Arvidsson has been hard to miss. Arvidsson played for the Kings while Sturm was an assistant coach to Todd McLellan. Don Sweeney traded a fifth-round pick for the Swedish winger, and he scored 25 goals during the regular season.
Arvidsson is the first Bruin to score 25 in his first year since Jarome Iginla had 30 in 2013-14.
“There was a constant communication,” Sturm added. “I think he knows exactly what I want, what I need, and what’s good and what’s bad. So, I think that’s huge. I know a lot of franchises don’t have that.”
Sturm also said he loves working with younger talent. He has utilized his past with the Ontario Reign (AHL) to work with the youth of Boston’s roster, including Marat Khusnutdinov, 7th Player Award winner Fraser Minten, and, recently, James Hagens.
Hagens was not going to get called up until Sturm was ready, Sweeney said after Hagens signed an ATO in March. He was called up on April 8 and made his debut on April 12.
Minten, 21, was named the 7th Player after a fan vote. He made the team out of training camp, even though Sturm said he initially thought about playing him in Providence (before camp).
“Look at him now. He went from that to playing with David Pastrnak,” Sturm said. “That’s hard to do. And that’s why he’s a special player.”
He also took credit when Alex Steeves was called up in November, and did the same when Riley Tufte was brought up.
In a perfect world, Sturm is a candidate for the Jack Adams trophy. However, for much of the season, the trophy was a three-man race between Lindy Ruff (BUF), Jon Cooper (TBL), and Jared Bednar (COL), with Dan Muse (PIT) making a last-minute effort.
Sturm is not the type of coach to let that hang over his head, especially with a first-round set to start this weekend.
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The post Marco Sturm Guides Bruins Back to Playoffs in First Season appeared first on Boston Hockey Now.
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