By: Belle Fraser \/ Boston Bruins.com<\/p>\n
Sept 17, 2025<\/p>\n
BOSTON – Everything started to fall into place for Marco Sturm.<\/p>\n
After three seasons as the head coach of the Ontario Reign in the American Hockey League, Sturm had the urge to take the next step in his career. It happened to coincide with the Boston Bruins\u2019 search for a new leader behind the bench.<\/p>\n
And, on Wednesday, as Sturm stood at Warrior Ice Arena to open the first day of training camp, it all felt right to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, a lot of people ask me, \u2018When were you ready?\u2019 It just clicked. And I felt it. I think after year two, and especially this summer, I felt it. I felt this is the time,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cTiming is everything, and I couldn\u2019t have ended up in a better spot with Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sturm enters the 2025-26 season as the 30th head coach in Bruins\u2019 history; he earned the title on June 5. He brings a fresh vision \u2013 rooted in defensive responsibility, strong transition, and offensive urgency \u2013 to a team that will look for players up and down the roster to rise to the occasion.<\/p>\n
General manager Don Sweeney and Sturm alike want the younger players to make a push through the next few weeks of training camp and preseason competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a competitive environment and we know that and we want it to be that way, but we also want to make sure that collectively we have to operate as a team from day one,\u201d Sweeney said. \u201cThe younger players walking into camp \u2013 they just have to realize, if they\u2019re good enough, we can\u2019t keep them out of the NHL. We are not trying to keep players out of the NHL.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sturm has a proven track record of helping prospects reach their full potential and take the next step. Before earning the head coach role for the Reign in the AHL, Sturm was the assistant coach for the Los Angeles Kings from 2018-22. He will lean on both of those experiences, he said, while forming the Bruins\u2019 roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve worked with all the young kids the last three years, so I want them to have success,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cI am going to do everything I can to put them in a good spot. I want them to push some other guys and maybe some more veterans, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of this effort, the Bruins did not sign anyone to a Professional Tryout this year. Instead, they will solely look internally to fill the needs in their lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad a lot of discussions. We decided we\u2019re not going to bring anybody in at this time,\u201d Sweeney said. \u201cI think that is a little bit of our determination of some of the players that we really want to see in some situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sweeney also said David Pastrnak will not skate for the first couple of days of training camp. The forward got \u201ca little tendonitis\u201d in his last training block, and the team decided to precautionarily hold him out this week. Pastrnak is still on the ice and expected to practice next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s already another opportunity for some other guys,\u201d Sturm said of Pastrnak\u2019s absence. \u201cWe didn\u2019t sign a PTO because of that reason. There will be opportunities. That is what I am most excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Sturm builds relationships with new faces on the roster, he already has familiarity with two: Tanner Jeannot (who signed a five-year contract with the Bruins on July 1) and Viktor Arvidsson (traded to Boston from Edmonton the same day). Both overlapped with Sturm in the Kings\u2019 organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really happy Don signed them,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cBecause I know how important they are, not just as a player but also as a person and a leader in our locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boston\u2019s training camp will feature a mix of veterans like Jeannot and Arvidsson, as well as an influx of players trying to turn a corner. It will be up to Sturm to decide on the opening-night roster. Sweeney said collaboration \u201cis an everyday event,\u201d but he has his full trust in Sturm\u2019s vision for the next era of Bruins hockey.<\/p>\n
On-ice sessions will begin Thursday at Warrior Ice Arena and lead into the Bruins\u2019 first preseason game on Sunday at TD Garden against the Washington Capitals. Sturm\u2019s countdown is finally over.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a day I was looking forward to for a long time,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cI am really happy and excited about that \u2013 to get things going tomorrow. And do what I love to do. Go on the ice with my players, with my staff, and get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By: Belle Fraser \/ Boston Bruins.com Sept 17, 2025 BOSTON – Everything started to fall into place for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-150390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}