List of Boston Bruins head coaches
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The Boston Bruins, a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, has had 29 head coaches in its team history.[1] The franchise is a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The franchise was founded in 1924 and entered the NHL as the first American-based expansion team, playing its initial seasons at the still-active Boston Arena.[2][3] It is an Original Six team, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks.[1] Its home arena is the 17,565-person capacity TD Garden, where it has played since 1995, after leaving the Boston Garden.[1]
Art Ross served three terms as the Bruins head coach.[4] Ross, Lynn Patrick, and Milt Schmidt have all been inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Harry Sinden, Gerry Cheevers, Tom Johnson and Frank Patrick are Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, and spent their entire coaching careers with the Bruins. Cooney Weiland, Dit Clapper, Terry O'Reilly, Steve Kasper and Mike O'Connell also coached only for the Bruins,[5][6][7][8][9] with Mike Sullivan taking over as head coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 12, 2015.[10]
Statistically, Tom Johnson was the most successful head coach, with a winning percentage of .738.[11] He is followed by Harry Sinden, who, averaging his two terms, had a winning percentage of .689.[12] The worst head coach statistically was Phil Watson, who, with a winning percentage of .268, only won 16 out of the 84 games he coached.[13] Claude Julien took over after Dave Lewis was dismissed in 2007.[14][15] Bruce Cassidy succeeded Julien on February 7, 2017, and served as head coach until his firing on June 6, 2022.[16] On June 30, 2022, the Bruins named Jim Montgomery head coach, replacing Cassidy.[17] Following an 8–9–3 start to the 2024–25 season, Montgomery was fired, and replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach Joe Sacco.[18] On June 5, 2025, the Bruins announced that they had hired former player Marco Sturm as their new head coach.[19] Sturm is the first European coach in franchise history, being from Germany.[citation needed]
Key
| # | Number of coaches[A] |
| GC | Games coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Losses |
| T/OT | Ties or overtime losses |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| * | Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame |
| † | Spent entire professional head coaching career with the Bruins. |
| *† | Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame and spent entire professional head coaching career with the Bruins. |
Coaches
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2025–26 season.
| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Championships/awards won[B] | Ref. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GC | W | L | T/OT | Win% | GC | W | L | T | |||||
| 1 | Art Ross* | 1924–1934 | 430 | 214 | 161 | 55 | .497 | 31 | 14 | 12 | 5 | Stanley Cup championship (1929) | [4] |
| 2 | Frank Patrick*† | 1934–1936 | 96 | 48 | 36 | 12 | .563 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | [20] | |
| — | Art Ross* | 1936–1939 | 144 | 89 | 39 | 16 | .674 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | Stanley Cup championship (1939) | [4] |
| 3 | Cooney Weiland† | 1939–1941 | 96 | 58 | 20 | 18 | .698 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 0 | Stanley Cup championship (1941) | [21] |
| — | Art Ross* | 1941–1945 | 198 | 84 | 90 | 24 | .485 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 0 | [4] | |
| 4 | Dit Clapper† | 1945–1949 | 230 | 102 | 88 | 40 | .530 | 25 | 8 | 17 | 0 | [22] | |
| 5 | Georges Boucher | 1949–1950 | 70 | 22 | 32 | 16 | .429 | — | — | — | — | [23] | |
| 6 | Lynn Patrick* | 1950–1954 | 310 | 117 | 130 | 63 | .479 | 40 | 16 | 23 | 1 | [24] | |
| 7 | Milt Schmidt* | 1954–1961 | 460 | 172 | 203 | 75 | .455 | 34 | 15 | 19 | 0 | [25] | |
| 8 | Phil Watson | 1961–1962 | 84 | 16 | 55 | 13 | .268 | — | — | — | — | [13] | |
| — | Milt Schmidt* | 1962–1966 | 266 | 73 | 157 | 46 | .361 | — | — | — | — | [25] | |
| 9 | Harry Sinden*† | 1966–1970 | 296 | 136 | 105 | 55 | .552 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 0 | Stanley Cup championship (1970) | [12] |
| 10 | Tom Johnson*† | 1970–1973 | 208 | 142 | 43 | 23 | .738 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 0 | Stanley Cup championship (1972) | [11] |
| 11 | Bep Guidolin | 1973–1974 | 104 | 72 | 23 | 9 | .736 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 0 | [26] | |
| 12 | Don Cherry | 1974–1979 | 400 | 231 | 105 | 64 | .658 | 55 | 31 | 24 | 0 | Jack Adams Award winner (1976) | [27] |
| 13 | Fred Creighton | 1979–1980 | 73 | 40 | 20 | 13 | .637 | — | — | — | — | [28] | |
| — | Harry Sinden*† | 1980 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | .857 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | [12] | |
| 14 | Gerry Cheevers*† | 1980–1985 | 376 | 204 | 126 | 46 | .604 | 34 | 15 | 19 | 0 | [29] | |
| — | Harry Sinden*† | 1985 | 24 | 11 | 10 | 3 | .521 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | [12] | |
| 15 | Butch Goring | 1985–1986 | 93 | 42 | 38 | 13 | .522 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | [30] | |
| 16 | Terry O'Reilly† | 1986–1989 | 227 | 115 | 86 | 26 | .564 | 37 | 17 | 19 | 1 | [31] | |
| 17 | Mike Milbury | 1989–1991 | 160 | 90 | 49 | 21 | .628 | 40 | 23 | 17 | 0 | [32] | |
| 18 | Rick Bowness | 1991–1992 | 80 | 36 | 32 | 12 | .525 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | [33] | |
| 19 | Brian Sutter | 1992–1995 | 216 | 120 | 73 | 23 | .609 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 0 | [34] | |
| 20 | Steve Kasper† | 1995–1997 | 164 | 66 | 78 | 20 | .463 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | [35] | |
| 21 | Pat Burns* | 1997–2000 | 254 | 105 | 103 | 46 | .504 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | Jack Adams Award winner (1998) | [36] |
| 22 | Mike Keenan | 2000–2001 | 74 | 33 | 34 | 7 | .547 | — | — | — | — | [37] | |
| 23 | Robbie Ftorek | 2001–2003 | 155 | 76 | 65 | 14 | .577 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | [38] | |
| 24 | Mike O'Connell† | 2003 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | .500 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | [39] | |
| 25 | Mike Sullivan | 2003–2006 | 164 | 70 | 79 | 15 | .543 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | [9] | |
| 26 | Dave Lewis | 2006–2007 | 82 | 35 | 41 | 6 | .463 | — | — | — | — | [40] | |
| 27 | Claude Julien | 2007–2017 | 759 | 419 | 246 | 94 | .614 | 97 | 57 | 40 | — | Stanley Cup championship (2011) Jack Adams Award winner (2009) | [15] |
| 28 | Bruce Cassidy | 2017–2022 | 399 | 245 | 108 | 46 | .672 | 73 | 36 | 37 | 0 | Jack Adams Award winner (2020) | [41] |
| 29 | Jim Montgomery | 2022–2024 | 184 | 120 | 41 | 23 | .652 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 0 | Jack Adams Award winner (2023) | [42] |
| — | Joe Sacco | 2024–2025 | 60 | 24 | 30 | 6 | .400 | — | — | — | — | [43] | |
| 30 | Marco Sturm† | 2025–present | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | .610 | 6 | 2 | 4 | — | [44] | |
Notes
- A A running total of the number of different coaches of the Bruins—anyone with multiple terms as head coach is only counted once.
- B The Jack Adams Award has been issued since the 1973–74 season.