Bruins New Head Coach Joe Sacco Shocks the NHL With His First Controversial Move
The Boston Bruins made a shock call this past week, and now new interim head coach Joe Sacco's first move is also a very surprising one.
After an 8-9-3 start to the 2024/25 campaign, the Boston Bruins shocked the NHL world by moving on from head coach Jim Montgomery, who had an impressive 120-41-23 record in his three years with the Bruins.
In his place, they named assistant Joe Sacco as their interim head coach after just one head coaching role in his career where he posted a 130-134-30 record with the Colorado Avalanche between 2009 and 2013.
However, the 55-year-old has wasted no time in making his mark on the team, as he has officially named his starting goaltender for the first game under his reign in Boston and it's not Jeremy Swayman.
Instead, the new head coach has turned to Joonas Korpisalo, who has posted a .901 save percentage and a 2.74 GAA in the seven games he has appeared in this season.
While many believed it was a move that needed to be made, to do so ahead of your first game as head coach takes guts, but it's the right call; as Swayman has struggled early in the year.
Despite inking a rich deal worth $8.25 million until the end of the 2032 season, the 25-year old has struggled, posting a 5-7-2 record, 3.47 GAA and .884 SV% this year, ranking him 46th in the NHL in that latter stat.
That isn't the type of production that the organization expected when they traded Linus Ullmark to make Swayman the unquestioned No. 1 in town.
After losing four of his last five starts this month, his role as the starter has now clearly come into question.
With his current salary cap hit, Swayman is among the five highest-paid goaltenders in the league, and thus far his production doesn't reflect that, and after taking plenty of criticism, Korpisalo has clearly been the much better goaltender in Boston this season.
Sacco has yet to commit to Korpisalo being their starting goaltender moving forward, but to bring him in on day one of his reign as head coach shows that Swayman's spot in the net isn't as secure as he thought.
For now, though, this shows that a shakeup in Boston has indeed arrived.
Though the team has struggled early in the year, perhaps the move to Sacco, who can clearly make the tough call will be exactly what they need but only time will tell.
