Marco Sturm is losing a voice from his staff. The Boston Bruins are parting ways with assistant coach Jay Leach, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

The report dropped Thursday afternoon. Leach's contract is up, and per the reporting, it won't be renewed by the organization.

That's a clean break, not a reassignment. For a staff that just wrapped a 45-27-10 season under a first-year head coach, it's also a real signal.

Sturm took over behind the bench last June. His debut campaign produced 100 points and a 4th-place finish in the division.

Leach has been part of that bench. Now he's the first piece moving out of it.

Boston ended the schedule on a high note, riding a W2 streak after a 4-0 win over New Jersey. The l10 finished 5-3-2.

Don Sweeney signals a staff shakeup in Boston

The home barn was the difference all year. The Bruins went 29-11-1 at TD Garden and just 16-16-9 on the road.

That kind of split usually points to systems work, special teams structure, and bench management. All three sit on the assistant coach's desk.

GM Don Sweeney rarely lets these decisions leak before they're final. When Pagnotta reports a contract won't be renewed, it's because the page has already turned.

The bigger question now? Who Sturm wants beside him to fix the road numbers and squeeze more out of a group that scored 272 goals but coughed up 250.

Boston needs sharper details. The penalty kill, the breakouts, the third-period leads that slipped on the road. Those are the buckets a new assistant inherits.

There's no replacement named yet. There's also no rush, with the offseason barely underway and the front office working a clean slate behind Sturm.

For Leach, the runway opens up. Assistant coaches with NHL bench time tend to land somewhere quickly, and his name will move fast on the carousel.

For the Bruins, the message is louder than the move itself. After one year, Sturm is already reshaping his room.