Boston Bruins
“We’ve all got to connect. We all have got to be like a family, and the guys are showing that right now.”
What a difference a season makes for the Boston Bruins.
The 2025-26 Bruins aren’t without their faults. But, the results submitted thus far from first-year coach Marco Sturm and a reworked roster stands as a welcome sight after last year’s disastrous showing.
Several critical factors have played into Boston’s 20-14-0 record so far this year — a resurgent power play, depth scoring, takeover performances from stars like David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, and Jeremy Swayman.
But, speaking ahead of Tuesday’s eventual 4-1 win over the Utah Mammoth, defenseman Charlie McAvoy harped on the role that culture and a team-wide identity has played in righting the ship of this Original Six franchise.
“I [want to] tread lightly on this, because I don’t want to take a shot at last year or anything, because there’s a lot of guys that aren’t here anymore that I love deeply,” McAvoy said during morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. “But I think the chemistry this year, it feels a little different. We were able to sort of water that seed a little more.
“I know last year, we were right on the road, you know, we didn’t get to do some of the bonding stuff to get to get to know each other. And then before we know it, you know, [Jim Montgomery] was fired. … This year has just been a little bit different. We were able to kind of learn from the mistakes maybe of last year, and find a way to get this team as cohesive and as close as we can. And I think that it’s helped us in this first half here a lot.”
One can look at Tuesday’s victory over Utah — Boston’s fifth in its last six games — as further validation for the buy-in put on display by this Bruins club.
Yes, the Bruins’ big guns like Geekie (two goals), Pastrnak (two assists), and Swayman (20 saves on 21 shots) led the charge in the Bruins’ latest win.
But, the Bruins also received more secondary scoring courtesy of third-period tallies by Casey Mittelstadt and Mikey Eyssimont.
Boston floundered last season due to a porous defensive structure. But, the Mammoth weren’t able to generate much on Tuesday, landing just 21 total shots against Swayman while struggling to achieve easy passage through the neutral zone.
For Mittelstadt — who saw the Bruins go 5-11-2 after arriving at the trade deadline — the shift in Boston’s approach beyond the X’s and O’s has been evident.
“I think as a team, we’ve really found an identity,” Mittelstadt said. “I think last year, when I got here, we lost a lot of guys who were really key people in this room and key people on the ice. And I think maybe we lacked a little bit of an identity. But, Marco’s come in firm and strong on that and I think the way he wants to play fits the personnel we have as well.”
Back in the summer, Sturm mapped out the vision of the Bruins being a physical and stingy defensive club whose grinding approach would allow them to accrue points at a steady rate.
There have been some surprises along the way, especially when it comes to Boston’s offense punching above its weight.
But, Sturm believes that the culture and identity forged by this ragtag roster has been hard to miss.
And, when it comes to cultivating that cohesion on the ice, Sturm took a page out of one NFL team’s playbook as far as the tone required to building a winning roster.
And no, it wasn’t “The Patriot Way.”
“If you look at even some other sports, it’s everything,” Sturm said of Boston’s chemistry. “I follow a lot of other sports and championship teams. Even coaches — Philadelphia Eagles, that was my, I don’t know ‘project’, but I was reading and looking up a lot of those teams.
“I like their coach [Nick Sirianni], I like the chemistry they had, and I like their comments and everything. That’s so important. We’ve all got to connect. We all have got to be like a family, and the guys are showing that right now.”
Despite hailing from Bavaria, Sturm said that he’s long been a football fan — especially when it comes to studying the cultures and environments built up by coaching staffs across the NFL.
Sturm’s deep dive on Sirianni and the Eagles started after taking over as Bruins head coach, with team president Cam Neely sending both Sturm and general manager Don Sweeney a video of Sirianni addressing his players and preaching the principles that helped them win a Super Bowl last February.
“Only players and the [Eagles] organization saw it. Never got out to the public. I don’t know where Cam got it from, but I saw it and that got me to start to dig in more and more and more, and that’s why I was impressed,” Sturm said. “But also now I’m not surprised anymore at how good the Eagles are and why they won a championship.”
Sirainni’s message resonated with Sturm and his staff, as they showed it to the Bruins’ dressing room ahead of Boston’s season opener against the Capitals on Oct. 8.
The preachings of buy-in, accountability, and a team-wide emphasis on entrenched principles ring true for winning teams, regardless of whether or not they take to the ice, court, gridiron, or any other type of playing surface.
But, as the Bruins continue to see the wins pile up under this reworked identity, Sturm stressed that his vision of building a hard-working, competitive roster only became tangible as a result of the players adhering to that same mentality.
“It’s a combination of everyone. I can do a lot of things, but if you don’t get the buy-in from the guys. … Us coaches, we’re in one room, and yes, we deliver messages and do this and do that, but it’s the guys, too,” Sturm said. “It’s our leaders. Starts with our leadership. They’re doing a tremendous job overall. Our young guys follow. We want to keep that tradition alive here. What was missing a little bit in the past. It’s been fun.”
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