Jim Montgomery Has Confidence in His Bergeron Replacement

Montgomery has his first two lines pretty much mapped out, at least tentatively. He expects to pair Pavel Zacha with David Pastrnak, with James van Riemsdyk most likely getting the first look at left wing on that line. He expects the other top line will be Charlie Coyle centering Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk.

«I think (Zacha's ceiling) is significantly higher,» he said. «Not only is he physically prepared, more importantly I believe he's ready for this mentally for the kind of minutes, the responsibility of having to be played in all situations — which he did really well last year — but they're going to be more important minutes. But I just think he's mentally ready. He believes that he can do it. That's the biggest step for a player. I have a lot of confidence that our top two lines will be very good because I believe Charlie Coyle knows he can do the job and will do the job and Pavel Zacha does too.»