The Boston Bruins, a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, has had 29 head coaches in its team history. 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. It is an Original Six team, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks. Its home arena is the 17,565-person capacity TD Garden, where it has played since 1995, after leaving the Boston Garden.

Art Ross served three terms as the Bruins head coach. 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, with Mike Sullivan taking over as head coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 12, 2015.

Statistically, Tom Johnson was the most successful head coach, with a winning percentage of .738. He is followed by Harry Sinden, who, averaging his two terms, had a winning percentage of .689. 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. Claude Julien took over after Dave Lewis was dismissed in 2007. Bruce Cassidy succeeded Julien on February 7, 2017, and served as head coach until his firing on June 6, 2022. On June 30, 2022, the Bruins named Jim Montgomery head coach, replacing Cassidy. 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. On June 5, 2025, the Bruins announced that they had hired former player Marco Sturm as their new head coach. Sturm is the first European coach in franchise history, being from Germany.

Key #Number of coachesGCGames coachedWWinsLLossesT/OTTies or overtime lossesWin%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 PlayoffsChampionships/awards wonRef. GC W L T/OT Win% GC W L T 1 * 1924–1934 430 214 161 55 .497 31 14 12 5 Stanley Cup championship (1929) 2 *† 1934–1936 96 48 36 12 .563 6 2 4 0 * 1936–1939 144 89 39 16 .674 18 9 9 0 Stanley Cup championship (1939) 3 † 1939–1941 96 58 20 18 .698 17 10 7 0 Stanley Cup championship (1941) * 1941–1945 198 84 90 24 .485 21 9 12 0 4 † 1945–1949 230 102 88 40 .530 25 8 17 0 5 1949–1950 70 22 32 16 .429 — — — — 6 * 1950–1954 310 117 130 63 .479 40 16 23 1 7 * 1954–1961 460 172 203 75 .455 34 15 19 0 8 1961–1962 84 16 55 13 .268 — — — — * 1962–1966 266 73 157 46 .361 — — — — 9 *† 1966–1970 296 136 105 55 .552 28 18 10 0 Stanley Cup championship (1970) 10 *† 1970–1973 208 142 43 23 .738 22 15 7 0 Stanley Cup championship (1972) 11 1973–1974 104 72 23 9 .736 21 11 10 0 12 1974–1979 400 231 105 64 .658 55 31 24 0 Jack Adams Award winner (1976) 13 1979–1980 73 40 20 13 .637 — — — — *† 1980 7 6 1 0 .857 10 4 6 0 14 1980–1985 376 204 126 46 .604 34 15 19 0 *† 1985 24 11 10 3 .521 5 2 3 0 15 1985–1986 93 42 38 13 .522 3 0 3 0 16 † 1986–1989 227 115 86 26 .564 37 17 19 1 17 1989–1991 160 90 49 21 .628 40 23 17 0 18 1991–1992 80 36 32 12 .525 15 8 7 0 19 1992–1995 216 120 73 23 .609 22 7 15 0 20 † 1995–1997 164 66 78 20 .463 5 1 4 0 21 * 1997–2000 254 105 103 46 .504 18 8 10 0 Jack Adams Award winner (1998) 22 2000–2001 74 33 34 7 .547 — — — — 23 2001–2003 155 76 65 14 .577 6 2 4 0 24 † 2003 9 3 3 3 .500 5 1 4 0 25 2003–2006 164 70 79 15 .543 7 3 4 0 26 2006–2007 82 35 41 6 .463 — — — — 27 2007–2017 759 419 246 94 .614 97 57 40 — Stanley Cup championship (2011)Jack Adams Award winner (2009) 28 2017–2022 399 245 108 46 .672 73 36 37 0 Jack Adams Award winner (2020) 29 2022–2024 184 120 41 23 .652 19 9 10 0 Jack Adams Award winner (2023) 2024–2025 60 24 30 6 .400 — — — — 30 † 2025–present 82 45 27 10 6 2 4 —

Notes A running total of the number of different coaches of the Bruins—anyone with multiple terms as head coach is only counted once. The Jack Adams Award has been issued since the 1973–74 season.

References

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