Boston Bruins make Marco Sturm the NHL's first German coach – DW – 06/05/2025
Marco Sturm has finally reached his goal since retiring as a player in 2013 — becoming head coach of a team in the National Hockey League, the sport's top league.
It's not just another team in the NHL either; the Bruins are an Original Six team and the winner of six Stanley Cups, the last having come in 2011.
These factors make it a particularly coveted job and the Bruins interviewed several candidates before settling on Sturm.
'Preparation and passion'
"Marco impressed us at every step with his preparation, clarity, and passion," Bruins GM Don Sweeney said in a statement.
"His path — playing for multiple NHL teams, coaching internationally, and leading at both the AHL 8 [American Hockey League] and NHL levels — has shaped a well-rounded coach who's earned this opportunity."
Sturm said he was "incredibly honored" to be named the 30th head coach in the Bruins' more than a century of history.
"Boston has always held a special place in my heart, and I know how much this team means to the city and to our fans. I've felt that passion as a player, and I can't wait to be behind the bench and feel it again," Sturm said.
"I'm excited to get to work and do everything I can to help this team succeed."
'A new direction'
With the Bruins, Sturm takes over a team looking to bounce back next season after having missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
"We're embracing a new direction with Marco behind the bench and are confident his energy, standards, and commitment to a competitive, hard-nosed brand of hockey reflect exactly what Bruins hockey should be." Sweeney said.
On the positive side, the fact that they have nine first or second-round picks in the NHL Entry Draft over the next three years, means a big part of Sturm's job promises to be developing talented youngsters, which he sees as his strength.
"I love working with young players, and if you look closely at my resume, transitions are my strength," Sturm told the SID news agency last month.
"That was the case with the (German) national team and also in my work as a coach for the (Los Angeles) Kings' farm team," he added, referring to the AHL's Ontario Reign, where he spent the past three seasons as head coach in the development league.
Strictly speaking, Sturm is not the first German to coach an NHL team. That was Canadian-born Ralph Krueger, who coached both the Edmonton Oilers and the Buffalo Sabres. However, Sturm is the first German-born coach who learned the game in the country.
From DEL rookie to solid NHL career
Sturm spent his first two professional seasons as a player with Landshut, then with Germany's top flight, the DEL, before joining the San Jose Sharks in 1997 — a year after they had made him the 21st overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft.
The centerman would go on to play 17 seasons and more than 1,000 games (including playoffs) in the NHL — including five years in Boston — before wrapping up his career in the DEL in 2013.
Marco Sturm spent five seasons as a player in Boston Image: picture-alliance/Icon SMI/M. Tureski
Less than two years later, Sturm got his first major head coaching job, which may have looked like a slightly daunting task. When Sturm took over in 2015, the German men's national team had been in the doldrums for some time, with the lowlight being a 12-4 drubbing at the hands of Norway at the World Championship three years earlier.
German renaissance
With Sturm came a breath of fresh air, remotivating players who had seemed to be reluctant to play for Germany under a couple of his predecessors. Prior to the 2015 Worlds, then-Germany coach Pat Cortina had 22 players refuse his invitation, albeit some due to injury.
This changed under Sturm, suddenly players were motivated to wear the black, red and gold again — and the results followed. Sturm led Germany to the quarterfinals of the World Championship in 2016 — for the first time in five years. His greatest success would come less than two years later, when Germany surprised the hockey world by winning the silver medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Marco Sturm (right) turned the German men's hockey team around, winning Olympic silver in 2018 Image: Peter Kneffel/dpa/picture-alliance
At that point Sturm looked set to lead Germany into the next few World Championships and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, particularly since he had signed an extension with the national team just ahead of Pyeongchang. Then came the call from across the pond that would take him back to his adopted home, the United States.
With another of his former teams, the Los Angeles Kings floundering early in 2018-19, the coaching staff were given their walking papers. Sturm was brought in as an assistant.
The right path
After his three-plus seasons in Los Angeles, though, Sturm decided that being an assistant in the NHL wasn't enough to prepare him for his goal of being a head coach in the world's top hockey league. So, in the summer of 2022 he took the head coaching job with the Ontario Reign.
"I have goals, and I am convinced that this path will unlock many opportunites for the future," Sturm told the regional German daily Straubinger Tagblatt at the time.
The German coach looks back on a successful period with the Reign, having guided them to three winning seasons, posting a winning percentage of over .600 in the last two – even if playoff success eluded him.
Getting the Bruins back into the playoffs will be his first order of business in Beantown.
Edited by: Matt Pearson
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