Rumor: Bruins have 3 names on their 'coaching wish list.'

The Boston Bruins stunned many in the hockey community this week when they made the decision to fire long time head coach Bruce Cassidy who was one of the many people who were surprised by the move.

Regardless of what you may think of the decision the reality now is that the Bruins must move forward with their search for a new boss behind the bench, and it sounds like the Bruins may already have a short list of leading contenders. Although I would suspect that the Bruins will do a thorough investigation, Bruins correspondent Shawn Hutcheon is now reporting that there are 3 names that may be leading the pack.

On Saturday, Hutcheon revealed that the Bruins had 3 names on their wish list and unsurprisingly former New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz was one of those names. Trotz is arguably the hottest free agent head coach in the NHL at the moment and no doubt every team in the league that is in need of a coach would love to bring him in.

One of the other names on that list was that of current Seattle Kraken assistant coach Jay Leach. Leach is currently working under head coach Dave Hakstol in Seattle but he has significant ties to the Bruins organization so to see his name pop here does make some sense. Leach joined the Providence Bruins, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Boston Bruins, back in 2016 and began working as that organization's head coach during the 2017 - 2018 season where he would remain until he was hired by the Kraken. There were reports that the Bruins considered bringing Leach up to the NHL level after his success in Providence, but he would depart for Seattle before that came to pass.

Last but not least we have something of a curious addition on the list in the form of former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn. Quinn's 3 year tenure as head coach of the Rangers is not remembered fondly and for that reason some may be surprised to see him in the conversation here, but Quinn was highly touted prior to his fumble in New York. Quinn was a highly successful collegiate head coach and considering he had that success with the Boston University hockey program, he also has strong ties to the Boston area. It would come as very little surprise if some of those ties included a connection to the Boston Bruins.

This will likely prove to be one of the most important decisions of general manager Don Sweeney's tenure at the helm of the Boston Bruins organization. There was a clear sentiment following the announcement of Cassidy's termination that Sweeney should have been the one to go in lieu of Cassidy, and although fan perception rarely lines up with how a team views a situation internally, Sweeney has to be treading on thin ice at this point.

If this next coaching hire doesn't work out for him, Sweeney may find himself running out of leeway.