Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love and Ontario Reign head coach Marco Sturm are finalists for the Boston Bruins head coaching position, a league source granted anonymity to discuss conversations regarding hockey operations personnel told The Athletic.
The Bruins are holding in-person interviews in Boston this week after conducting a preliminary round of phone and Zoom conversations.
Love, 40, just concluded his second season as one of Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery’s assistants. Carbery interviewed for the Bruins position in 2022; it went to Jim Montgomery.
Before Washington, Love was the AHL head coach for the Stockton Heat and Calgary Wranglers, the Calgary Flames’ affiliates.
Sturm, 46, just finished his third season leading the Reign, the Los Angeles Kings’ AHL club. He was a Kings assistant for the four previous seasons. Sturm logged 302 career games for the Bruins after arriving from the San Jose Sharks in the Joe Thornton blockbuster.
That Love and Sturm have advanced to in-person interviews signals how the Bruins are thinking about the position. Neither has NHL head coaching experience. Sturm was a finalist last year with the Sharks, who hired Ryan Warsofsky. Love may be under consideration by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Seattle Kraken, the other clubs with vacancies.
General manager Don Sweeney has said that NHL head coaching experience is not a requirement. He may be looking for a younger coach who can grow into the position as the Bruins rebuild.
Love has been in charge of Washington’s defense. The Capitals allowed 2.79 goals per game in 2024-25, eighth-lowest in the NHL. Sturm trained under the Kings’ philosophy of defensive-zone structure and airtight goaltending under Todd McLellan, John Stevens and Willie Desjardins, the head coaches during his time in L.A.
Love and Sturm have been in development positions in the AHL. Before being hired by the Flames, Love was the head coach for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.
“Evolve offensively, especially with younger players, and integrate them,” Sweeney said in his year-ending news conference about the qualities he’s pursuing. “But if you don’t defend in the National Hockey League, you don’t have sustained success.”
Other finalists are unknown. Sweeney noted earlier this offseason that interim coach Joe Sacco would be part of a final group of coaches.