BOSTON — Last summer, before Marco Sturm had ever coached a game for Boston, Cam Neely sent the new Bruins coach a video.
Sturm only elaborated a little on the specifics. But it was an internal video from the Philadelphia Eagles. From a video for a team from the City of Brotherly Love, Sturm naturally drew lessons in fostering cohesion within the roster.
He began studying coach Nick Sirianni and reading about what the Eagles did to help build their chemistry and culture en route to last year’s Super Bowl championship.
“In team sports, (chemistry) is everything,” Sturm said after Tuesday’s win over Utah. “I follow a lot of other sports and championship teams and coaches. The Philadelphia Eagles — that was my project. I was reading and looking up a lot of those teams.
“I like the coach and I liked the chemistry they had and the comments and everything. We all have to connect,” he continued. “We all have to be like a family and the guys are showing me that right now.”
Sturm, who is from Germany, is a fan of American football. But hadn’t connected to the Eagles specifically before that.
“I saw it and it got me to dig in, more and more and more,” he said. “I was impressed and now I’m not surprised at how good the Eagles are and that they’ve won championships. I saw the coach. The owner. The players. The mix of everything.”
Sturm said he even showed his players a clip from it.
“I showed a little before Game 1 in Washington,” he said. “I loved it.”
Sturm said the Bruins players’ willingness to buy in has been the most critical.
“I can do a lot of things, but if you don’t get the buy-in from the guys,” he said, trailing off. “It starts with our leadership. They’re doing a tremendous job overall. Our young guys follow. We want to keep that tradition alive here that was missing a little bit in the past. It’s been fun.”