As my colleague Jesse Courville-Lynch reported on May 28, the Boston Bruins have officially named Marco Sturm as the 30th head coach in franchise history.
Sturm, 46, spent the last three seasons behind the bench of the AHL’s Ontario Reign. It always felt like a matter of when—not if—he’d get a shot at an NHL job. During his time with the Reign from 2022 to 2025, he posted a 119-80-11-6 record and led them to the playoffs in all three years.
A former NHLer himself, Sturm suited up for 938 games between 1997 and 2012. He scored 242 goals and added 245 assists for 487 points while playing for San Jose, Boston, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Florida.
He was originally selected in the first round of the 1996 NHL Draft by the Sharks and spent eight seasons there before being dealt to the Bruins in 2005-06 as part of the Joe Thornton trade.
Now, the German native returns to Boston—but this time with a new challenge. After the Bruins moved on from several veterans at the March 7 trade deadline, including long-time forward Brad Marchand, they’re clearly shifting into a rebuild. It’ll be on Sturm to help guide them through it and try to bring some of that AHL success to the NHL level as the team looks to get back into the playoff mix.
