With message duly received, former Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy continues winning ways with Vegas - The Boston Globe
Cassidy, whose Vegas Golden Knight will visit TD Garden on Monday, said in a phone interview that he has kept GM Don Sweeney’s farewell words in mind.
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Bruce Cassidy, abruptly dismissed as the Bruins coach in June, will be back at TD Garden Monday night, with his Vegas Golden Knights nipping at the back tips of the Devils’ and Bruins’ blades for the No. 1 spot in the NHL overall standings.
In his span of six seasons behind the Black-and-Gold bench, Cassidy directed the club to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, rolled up a franchise-best .672 points percentage, then was kicked curbside by Don Sweeney some three weeks after the general manager told him he would be back in Boston for 2022-23.
Sweeney’s public explanation for the move: messaging. Cassidy was outta here because the players, in the GM’s opinion, weren’t picking up what he was putting down — be it due to tone, timing, content, or frailty of ego.
Cassidy, whose Knights carried a .700 winning percentage (17-7-1) into Saturday night’s matchup in Detroit, said in a phone interview this past week that he has kept Sweeney’s farewell words in mind.
“I do,” said the earnest Cassidy. “That was Donny’s conversation with me . . . what he was discussing with me was, ‘The message is fine, and usually is. You’re a good coach, you see the game well, and you understand what a player needs to do . . . It’s how you message certain players who didn’t receive it as well as they should.’ "
In end-of-season exit interviews, we must presume, enough players made clear to Sweeney that they didn’t like what Cassidy told them, or how the message was conveyed, and that led to the change. Presume is the key word. Sweeney never was that specific with the media, and no player under Cassidy’s watch has subsequently stepped up to own it.
The message came through loud and clear to Sweeney. Cassidy then was handed his ticket out of town — one he immediately cashed in for a lucrative, long-term deal as Peter DeBoer’s successor in the desert. We can only presume that winger Jake DeBrusk was among those rubbed wrong. Shortly after Cassidy was gone, so too was DeBrusk’s trade request.
“That was some of the feedback,” said Cassidy, noting the words Sweeney literally delivered to his doorstep. “So going forward, I said, ‘OK, I’ll have to make sure I’m very mindful of the new players I am dealing with and make sure.’ . . . You know some players just want it honest and direct to the point so they can fix and get on with the game. Other guys, you’ve gotta sit them down, walk through it.”
The Knights have embraced Cassidy’s message and methods.
Every move has its wrinkles, on professional and personal levels. Cassidy said daughter Shannon and son Cole, both middle-schoolers, struggled initially with the transition. Both have done better of late, Shannon building out her social circle after departing a school she loved in the Boston area, and Cole immersing more into the year-round baseball culture in Las Vegas.
“Just the normal stuff that maybe people don’t realize,” mused Cassidy. “I say this with players . . . like part of last year, I think with [Linus] Ullmark and [Nick] Foligno, both with young kids, a move affects your family. Sometimes that can get into how you play or perform, so I’ve lived that this year.”
After 14 years with the Bruins organization, the majority of that time spent coaching Providence, Cassidy initially found himself checking his old team’s fortunes on a daily basis.
“I have a lot of good friendships in that locker room with players, trainers, medical people, so it’s not like I am sitting there, hoping the whole thing will burn down,” he said. “I’m not that person.”
