Gruden is Back Where it all Began

BOSTON - When John Gruden heard that Boston was looking for an assistant coach to oversee its defensemen, he jumped at the opportunity. Gruden immediately reached out to Bruins general manager Don Sweeney and asked for the phone number of new head coach Jim Montgomery.
And after several conversations with Montgomery and Sweeney, the Minnesota native is back in Boston - where his professional hockey career began nearly 30 years ago.

"I heard when Jim got the job. I had texted Sweens - I lost Jimmy's old number - 'can you please give it to me if it's available, I know you guys are looking for a defensemen coach,'" Gruden, who will take the place of Kevin Dean, recalled from his home in Rochester Hills, Michigan, on Thursday morning.
"Jimmy called me right away and then the process took 10 days, couple weeks. He went through his due diligence. We spent lots of time on some Zoom calls. I talked to Don - again, it was a lengthy process. They came to the conclusion that I would be the best guy for the job. I'm very excited to work with Jim and the rest of the staff and be back with a great tradition and organization."
Gruden, who spent the last four seasons (2017-22) as an assistant with the New York Islanders under Barry Trotz, has never coached with Montgomery but has always appreciated his work from afar.
"We've crossed paths. I have a lot of respect for him and what he's done at every level that he's coached. He's a winner," said Gruden, whose stint with the Islanders was his first coaching experience at the NHL level. "He's a great guy to be around the time that I've spent with him at rinks. I'm excited for the opportunity to work with Jim and the rest of the staff."

The 52-year-old said he has already schemed with Montgomery around adding more offense to the blue line, an area of improvement that Boston's new bench and the club's brass has talked about focusing on since the end of the 2021-22 season. One way to do that, Gruden stressed, was creating more movement in the offensive zone, particularly among the two defensemen along the blue line.
"We obviously talked about that stuff," said Gruden. "I do believe one of the points that [Montgomery] made, he wanted to get them a little bit more active but without losing that ability to defend. That's Boston's MO - you can still do both and grow on the offensive part to get the D more involved to get the puck to the forwards and take the ice when it's available, but not force it.
"I'm obviously very familiar playing against Boston, coaching in New York. It's exciting just to try to build on something that's already there with Jimmy's vision and the other staff. It's exciting. We're looking forward to that challenge."
It will help Gruden that he already has some familiarity with Boston blue liners Matt Grzelcyk, Charlie McAvoy, and Connor Clifton, all of whom came through the United States National Team Development Program during the time that he was an assistant coach there from 2011-15.
"There are a few players that I've crossed paths with," said Gruden. "I think anytime you get to work with young men, especially at that age, where they were at that point of their lives and their hockey careers, you hopefully can leave a good lasting impression - which I hope I did that.
"Even when I see them around, when we cross paths in the rink, I always say hi and vice versa. It's exciting to work with a few of them that I've already crossed paths with and to keep building on where they're at and move forward with it and have fun with it."
Gruden said he always aims to impart upon those he coaches what he learned during his own career, which began with the Bruins when he was drafted by the Black & Gold in the eighth round of the 1990 NHL Draft out of Ferris State. After playing 92 games over parts of six NHL seasons with Boston, Ottawa, and Washington, Gruden transitioned to coaching with the USNTDP, helping Team USA to gold medals at both the 2012 and 2014 U-18 World Junior Championships.
He then went on to spend three seasons as a head coach in the OHL, one with Flint and two with Hamilton, the latter of which he led to a Robertson Cup championship in 2017-18.
"I have no regrets for my playing career. You can't change that. But I do believe it gave me the opportunity to still play 10 years in a lot of good leagues," said Gruden, whose professional career spanned the NHL, AHL, and IHL from 1993-2004.
"Again, of course, every kid, you start in the NHL, you want to play in the NHL your whole career. Doesn't always work out that way. I think it's how you handle it and how you can learn from it. I think it's made me appreciate the game that much more and put me in this position.
"I've coached this long now and to bring that to someone - these pro hockey players are very proud players. They are very good at their craft and they always want to learn to get better. That's the exciting part.
"But I have no regrets as far as my playing career. I think it's helped me, my path, with the adversity to get to where I am now. It's very exciting. It's always a challenge; nothing's easy, but you've got to work hard at it."

And now, some 30 years later, Gruden gets to return to where his journey began.
"It's always nice to come back full circle-wise," said Gruden, who played 59 games with Boston and 118 with Providence from 1993-97. "To get this opportunity from Jim and Don and the Bruins organization, it's nice. It's exciting for me, my family, my wife, and how much it's changed over the years.
"Being back with New York - and, actually, my son [Jonathan, a Penguins forward prospect] played in some tournaments [in Boston], how big and how beautiful the downtown is and the changes to the practice facility and so forth. It's a really exciting time for us to get this tremendous opportunity to go back to where it started."