Marco Sturm comes to Bruins with track record of international hockey success

Marco Sturm has never been an NHL head coach before, but he has a real chance to succeed with the Bruins -- because he's succeeded as a head coach elsewhere.

The next time Sturm loses his job as a coach will be the first. He brought immediate success to Team Germany, leading the team to a Deutschland Cup win in his first season as their head coach and GM in 2015. Three years later, Germany earned a silver medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. In between, Germany reached the quarterfinals in the IIHF World Championship in consecutive seasons from 2016-17.

Sturm parlayed his international accomplishments into a coaching career in the NHL. He broke in as an assistant for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2018-19 season, and later moved to the AHL to become the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. Sturm has since coached the Reign to a 119-80-11 record, with playoff appearances in each of the last two seasons.

A specialist in the defensive areas of the game, Sturm's main job was to coach the Kings defense. In his most recent NHL season, the Kings ranked 10th with 2.83 goals allowed per game. His background ostensibly gave him an advantage in interviews with Bruins GM Don Sweeney, who specifically mentioned the Kings' tough defensive style as something the B's want to emulate going forward.

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"Throughout this process, our goal was to identify a coach who could uphold our strong defensive foundation while helping us evolve offensively," Sweeney said in a statement on Sturm's hire. "We were also looking for a communicator and leader -- someone who connects with players, develops young talent, and earns the respect of the room. Marco impressed us at every step with his preparation, clarity, and passion."

How exactly will the Bruins evolve offensively? More simply put, how will they score, period? Because offensive hockey and power play production have not been strong suits for Sturm, and those are going to be the major questions for him entering his first season as Bruins head coach.

But Sturm at least should breed confidence that he will restore the Bruins to a stout defensive game, and his track record of leading teams to unexpected success would suggest that he can get everyone pulling in the same direction. Even with roster upgrades this offseason, the Bruins may need to be greater than the sum of their parts in order to get right back into the playoff picture.

Sturm is a guy who's proven able to do that at other levels, which makes him a reasonable bet to do the same in the NHL.