EXCLUSIVE: Bruins are closing in on a deal to appoint new head coach, deal is 100% as…

A Kraken era officially ended with Wednesday’s departure of assistant coach Jay Leach for Boston, leaving no remaining members of former coach Dave Hakstol’s original season bench staff. Leach, 44, rejoined the Bruins organization he’d previously spent several years playing and coaching for, becoming an assistant under head coach Jim Montgomery and newly named associate coach Joe Sacco. That leaves incoming Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma needing an assistant specializing in defensive work in addition to the extra power play coaching spot on staff he’d been looking to fill.

The Kraken’s defensive units run by Leach were consistently among the best aspects of the team. In fact, Leach was invited to interview for several head coaching opportunities elsewhere while with the Kraken. And prior to Bylsma being hired to replace recently dismissed head coach Dave Hakstol, general manager Ron Francis interviewed Leach for that vacancy as well. “Yeah, I did interview him,” Francis said Wednesday. “He did a good job for us.”

Francis also confirmed Leach interviewed for two head coaching positions the past two offseasons – reported to have been with the Bruins before Montgomery’s hiring in 2022 and the New York Rangers last year before Peter Laviolette being chosen. “There were at least two (interview invites) he chose not to do,” Francis added. The decision to allow Leach, who was still under contract with the Kraken, to make what equates to a lateral move to Boston was largely due to family reasons. “His family is there and it was important he be close to them,” Francis said.

Leach played for Providence College in nearby Rhode Island and a couple of years for the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in that same city – where he was also the AHL team’s head coach starting in 2017 up until the Kraken hired him three years ago. Part of Leach’s journeyman 70-game NHL career as a defenseman with five teams saw him play two games for Boston in 2005-06. “Jay was a very successful coach with the Providence Bruins where he greatly impacted our player development system, and he also brings valuable experience as an assistant coach from the Seattle Kraken,” Bruins GM Don Sweeney said in a written statement. “We believe Jay will integrate quickly and complement our current staff as he comes back to the Bruins to work with our defense corps.”

The Bruins promoting Sacco, who’d worked with Boston’s defensive units, from assistant to associate coach created the opening Leach filled. During Leach’s time working with Kraken defensemen, Vince Dunn blossomed into a premier two-way talent, Will Borgen became an everyday mainstay, Adam Larsson extended his “iron man” streak nearly three more seasons and prospect Ryker Evans broke into the NHL. Leach leaving marks the final departure of Hakstol’s original bench staff, with goalie coach Andrew Allen let go after the inaugural season while Paul McFarland was dismissed last month and is now head coach of the junior level Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen. Assistant coach Dave Lowry and goaltending coach Steve Briere, who both joined before the team’s second season, remain with the squad and are expected to be a part of Bylsma’s staff. Francis reaffirmed the Kraken won’t look to fill the two coaching vacancies until after Bylsma finishes coaching the Coachella Valley Firebirds in their Calder Cup championship series that starts Friday on the road against the Hershey Bears.