As Camp Commences, Montgomery Impressed by his Surroundings

BOSTON - Jim Montgomery listened intently as he sat in the front row of Zdeno Chara's retirement press conference on Tuesday morning. As the longtime Bruins captain spoke in depth about the culture that he and his teammates tried to cultivate across his 14 years in Black & Gold, Boston's new bench boss was making sure to store away every word.
So, when time came to address his new club on Wednesday morning as training camp opened with off-ice testing in Brighton, Montgomery had Chara's words in mind.

"Like Zdeno talked about [on Tuesday] - the culture here, how to work, the accountability, the compete that we're looking for from everyone," Montgomery said of his expectations of for camp. "I think if you get the opportunity to be on the same line as a Charlie Coyle or you get to be on a D pairing with Brandon Carlo…you get an opportunity with those types of guys that have been with the Bruins for a while, this is the way we go about our business, this is the way we compete, this is the way we do things. We do it right."
During his short time around the facility, Montgomery has observed the significant standard to which the players hold each other, as well as the expectations that exist within the walls of Warrior Ice Arena. As such, the vibes around the rink have helped ease his transition and create a familiar feeling that he likened to his days as a player at the University of Maine and his coaching stint at the University of Denver.
"Excited. Surprisingly really comfortable just because of the culture that exists here," Montgomery said of how he's feeling as camp commences. "The fiber of work, compete, and accountability that is echoed from the top - from Cam [Neely] to [Don Sweeney] to [Patrice Bergeron] to [Brad Marchand] - it's true of every player I've met, it's special to be here. That makes you really comfortable. And that's your own beliefs as well."

While speaking with his players and team staff on Wednesday morning, Montgomery established his foundations for success, which included "effort and execution" as the most important pillars, values that fall right in line with those that have been in place in Boston for some time.
"The message was about the opportunity - and that was echoed by Cam and Sweens as well, about the opportunity on the back end with two guys injured and with Marchy out, the opportunities there, which everybody looks for in camp," said Montgomery. "Then I talked specifically about being prepared and being on time. We have a lot of people here to help. Ask questions. We're in it together."

Pastrnak Talks Continue

Sweeney, once again, provided an update regarding the negotiations with David Pastrnak on a contract extension, while reiterating the organization's intentions to lock up the winger for years to come.
"I don't think there's a concern. David would be the only one, ideally, to speak to that," said Sweeney. "In a perfect world as we referenced, to try and be aggressive, to have him sign long-term and be a lifelong Bruin has always been our goal. I think David shed a little light in terms of where he was at personally and we respected that.
"I've had conversations, I'm going to continue to have conversations. Ideally, I'd like to get it done at the earliest point possible. Hopefully he feels the exact same way in his camp…outside of that, I'm not gonna comment on anything outside of that. Ultimately, that's what we'd like to do."

Wait, There's More

• Montgomery said that in addition to Marchand, Matt Grzelcyk, and Charlie McAvoy, Providence Bruins forward Matt Filipe (lower-body) would be the only player not on the ice to start training camp.
• Sweeney said there remains one outstanding offer to a player regarding a PTO (Professional Tryout Agreement). "We've put out a couple PTOs, we've got one that's sort of pending…hasn't made a decision yet," said Sweeney. "And a couple others that chose other teams for whatever their own personal reasons are."
• Montgomery anticipates that left shot blue liners Jakub Zboril and Mike Reilly will get the first cracks at flipping to their off side to fill the open spot on the right side of Boston's defense with McAvoy sidelined. "Those two in particular have the ability to play the off side as well as Grizzy when he gets back," said Montgomery. "We're not too concerned about not having three righties."
• For Saturday's preseason opener against Philadelphia, Montgomery expects to go with "a younger lineup with opportunity going to a lot of players who already did well in the Rookie Camp as they continued to progress during the first two days of practice. I think you can expect to see [Fabian] Lysell and a couple of our first round picks the last couple years get that opportunity. Then we're gonna have a couple of veterans play more games than other veterans."