Safe to say Cassidy has worked out far better than anyone could have expected.
A year after Bruins hire, Bruce Cassidy says, ‘We’re in a good place’
Going into tonight’s game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Cassidy had posted an incredible 50-19-9 record as the bench boss. His team had just one regulation loss in its previous 22 games and were in position to draw within a point of the Tampa Bay Lightning — with a game still in hand — for not only the Atlantic Division lead but the race for the Presidents’ Trophy.
It has been a run that has surprised even the most optimistic Bruins fans.
“It’s been a lot of hockey games, a lot of wins, that’s the good news,” said Cassidy. “That’s how you keep your job and have a few more anniversaries. The team’s going well right now. We’re in a good place. The vision we had when I sat down with Donnie was we wanted to win now but we wanted to incorporate the youth into our lineup. We didn’t know which players it would be. We had a good idea, but we wanted to get some in there and see if they could handle it. That was the big ‘if’ going into it, if they could handle it. And they have. We’ve seen the emergence of Charlie (McAvoy), (Danton) Heinen, (Jake) DeBrusk, now (Matt) Grzelcyk. (Sean) Kuraly I should put in there. So we’ve solidified that energy.
“And we wanted to get our core group back to playing like Stanley Cup champions that they are. So I think we’re getting there. We’re getting our identity again, being hard to play against. The Bruins have always had that. Then part of that vision with those young guys was to be a faster checking team and a faster attacking team. We’re working on that every day, but I think we’ve seen those two areas of our game emerge fairly successfully.”
A year after Bruins hire, Bruce Cassidy says, ‘We’re in a good place’
Going into tonight’s game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Cassidy had posted an incredible 50-19-9 record as the bench boss. His team had just one regulation loss in its previous 22 games and were in position to draw within a point of the Tampa Bay Lightning — with a game still in hand — for not only the Atlantic Division lead but the race for the Presidents’ Trophy.
It has been a run that has surprised even the most optimistic Bruins fans.
“It’s been a lot of hockey games, a lot of wins, that’s the good news,” said Cassidy. “That’s how you keep your job and have a few more anniversaries. The team’s going well right now. We’re in a good place. The vision we had when I sat down with Donnie was we wanted to win now but we wanted to incorporate the youth into our lineup. We didn’t know which players it would be. We had a good idea, but we wanted to get some in there and see if they could handle it. That was the big ‘if’ going into it, if they could handle it. And they have. We’ve seen the emergence of Charlie (McAvoy), (Danton) Heinen, (Jake) DeBrusk, now (Matt) Grzelcyk. (Sean) Kuraly I should put in there. So we’ve solidified that energy.
“And we wanted to get our core group back to playing like Stanley Cup champions that they are. So I think we’re getting there. We’re getting our identity again, being hard to play against. The Bruins have always had that. Then part of that vision with those young guys was to be a faster checking team and a faster attacking team. We’re working on that every day, but I think we’ve seen those two areas of our game emerge fairly successfully.”