The Boston Bruins made the decision Tuesday to fire head coach Jim Montgomery just 20 games into the 2024-25 season.

Montgomery coached the Bruins to a 120-41-23 record during his tenure, including a historic 65-win season in his first year that earned him the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top head coach.

This situation is not unique. Coaching changes have historically occurred early in the season and in some cases have been beneficial to the franchise.

Here are four examples of NHL teams who fired their head coach and the club made a deep playoff run or even won the Stanley Cup in the same season.

EDMONTON OILERS, 2023-24
The Oilers entered the 2023-2024 season with a 3-9-1 record under Jay Woodcroft.

Like Montgomery, Woodcroft had lost just 41 games in the regular season during his tenure at the helm but failed to get the Oilers into the season. He was fired on November 12.

Edmonton replaced Woodcroft with Kris Knoblauch and the five-time Stanley Cup-winning franchise finished the season with a 46-18-5 record and a trip to the finals against the Florida Panthers.

Although the Oilers fell short of the ultimate goal of winning a title, the team certainly benefited from the coaching change.

ST. LOUIS BLUES, 2018-19
In reality, every Bruins fan knows the outcome of this coaching change.

After missing the playoffs in 2018 and getting off to a 7-9-3 start, the Blues fired head coach Mike Yeo and replaced him with Craig Berube on November 19.

Berube’s start wasn’t great, finishing the calendar year at 6-6-1, but after Jordan Binnington was recalled from the AHL, the club went on a 30-10-5 run to end the season.

From there they went all the way to the Stanley Cup, winning two series in six games and the other two in seven games, capturing the Blues’ first title in franchise history.

LOS ANGELES KINGS, 2011-12
The Kings didn’t get off to a terrible start, but Los Angeles nonetheless fired Terry Murray after a 13-12-4 start to the season and replaced him with interim coach John Stevens.

Stevens had a modest 2-2-0 record before the Kings hired Darryl Sutter as the new coach on December 17. Sutter would coach the Kings to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference that season, finishing 11-4-3 in the league. stretch.

The team became a defensive juggernaut, capturing the Stanley Cup in just twenty games through four rounds of the playoffs.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS, 2008-09
The Blackhawks wasted absolutely no time in firing Denis Savard after a 1-2-1 start to the 2008-09 season.

The club hired Joel Quenneville as Savard’s replacement and the results weren’t great at first. Chicago went 6-1-3 in their first ten games under Quenneville, but rallied to finish the season with an overall record of 46-24-12 and 104 points.

The Blackhawks lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals. Quenneville would lead Chicago to a Stanley Cup championship the following season.