John Gruden back to where it all started with Bruins

The last time John Gruden was a member of the Boston Bruins, the building that is now known as TD Garden was brand new with nothing but a parking lot in front of it, the team practiced at a much derided facility in Wilmington and the city was still engulfed in the massive face-lift known as the Big Dig.

Yes, things have changed just a wee bit since Gruden — hired as an assistant on new coach Jim Montgomery’s staff — was a Bruin player from and farmhand from 1993-96 and he’s looking forward to re-familiarizing himself with what is a much different city and organization.

“You always wish it could have been longer, but I was there for three years whether it was in Providence or Boston. But it’s always nice to come back full circle-wise,” said Gruden on a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday. “To get this opportunity from Jim and Don (Sweeney) and the Bruins’ organization, it’s nice. It’s exciting for me, my family, my wife with how much it’s changed over the years in being back with New York (islanders) and my son actually played some tournaments, with 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 opportunity to go back to where it started.”

And Gruden is acquainted with more updated aspects of the Bruins. Early in his coaching career when he was with the US National Team Development program, Gruden – who will be running the B’s defense under Montgomery – worked with current B’s Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk, Connor Clifton and newcomer Connor Carrick. He hopes that will give him a bit of a leg up as he starts his new job.

“There are a few players I’ve crossed paths with and I think any time you get a chance to work with young players, especially at that age where they were at that point in their lives and their hockey careers, you hopefully leave a good lasting impression, which I hope I did,” said Gruden. “Whenever we see each other when we cross paths in the rinks I always say hi and vice versa. It’s exciting to work with a few of them that I already crossed paths with and just to keep building on where they are, move forward and have fun with it.”

The 52-year-old Gruden is coming off a four-year run on Barry Trotz’ Islander staff, where he helped the Isles become a top 10 defensive team. He’ll be taking over a similarly effective D corps with the B’s, but one from which more offense needs to be coaxed.

“A lot of it has to do with the type of system Jimmy wants to implement. When he hired me, we obviously talked about that stuff,” said Gruden. “I do believe that one of the points he made and he’d like to get done is get a little more active but without losing that ability to defend because that’s Boston’s MO. You can still do both and grow the offensive part to get the D more involved to get the puck to the forwards and take some ice when it’s available, but not force it…. There’s some familiarity with playing against Boston while coaching in New York but it’s exciting to try and build on something that’s already there with Jimmy’s vision.”

While he said he spoke to Montgomery about tweaking the defensive system, he wasn’t yet ready to say whether the B’s would be switching from the Bruins’ zone defense to a man-to-man concept. But he did share some ideas about what he’d like to see in the offensive zone.

“There are always times to just get pucks to the net when teams are out of structure and there’s someone at the net-front,” said Gruden. “But other than that, it’s always good to get some movement with three high up top and get the D moving a little bit more laterally and create some confusion to the D-zone coverage, whatever the D-zone coverage the other team is playing. But you have to create some movement, some puck movement amongst the five in the offensive zone to create. That’s something that will be a challenge for us but hopefully it will be exciting for the players as well and the defenseman especially.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/s1v7UCT