Boston Bruins
“He is a wonderful trainer and communicator who has completed an incredible job creating gamers all through his teaching profession.”
The Boston Bruins wasted little time in changing Jay Leach on Marco Sturm’s teaching workers, =asserting the hiring of Matt McIlvane on Thursday night.
McIlvane, 40, served as head coach of the San Diego Gulls — the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Geese — for the final three seasons. Over that stretch, San Diego posted a file of 88-97-31, with the Gulls incomes their first Calder Cup playoff berth since 2021-22 this previous season.
The Naperville, Illinois native additionally spent 4 seasons (2019-23) as head coach of EC Purple Bull Salzburg within the ICE Hockey League — profitable back-to-back league championships in 2022 and 2023.
McIlvane and Sturm have crossed paths earlier than, past their clashes as AHL head coaches out on the West Coast.
Throughout the 2018 Winter Olympics, McIlvane was an assistant coach for Sturm on Staff Germany and helped lead the crew to a silver medal in the course of the worldwide match in PyeongChang.
“We’re excited to welcome Matt, his spouse Megan, and their kids Mason and Mila to Boston,” Sturm mentioned in a press release launched by the crew. “I’ve had the privilege of working with Matt via the German Nationwide Staff, and I’ve come to know him as an excellent coach and particular person.
“He is a wonderful trainer and communicator who has completed an incredible job creating gamers all through his teaching profession.”
McIlvane now joins Chris Kelly (Assistant Coach), Steve Spott (Assistant Coach), and Bob Essensa (Goaltending Coach) on Sturm’s teaching workers coming into the 2026-27 season.
Whereas McIlvane’s actual position on Sturm’s workers has not been introduced, the writing seems to be on the wall that he’ll take over Leach’s earlier duties in Boston.
Leach — who recently became head coach of the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack after his contract was not renewed by Boston — ran Boston’s protection and penalty kill in the course of the 2025-26 marketing campaign.
Final season, the Gulls ranked eighth within the AHL by way of penalty-kill share (83.5 p.c).
As noted by Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub, San Diego was additionally simply considered one of three groups within the AHL that had a number of defensemen put up double-digit targets this previous 12 months.
Contemplating that Boston ranked 18th within the NHL final season in targets scored by D-men (36), it wouldn’t be a lot of a shock if encouraging a extra shot-first mindset on the backend stands as a tweak for Sturm and the Bruins transferring ahead.
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