BruinDust
Registered User
- Aug 2, 2005
- 24,281
- 21,610
The problem is the team as constructed should have a been a playoff team. They were in 1st place and then let it all slip away. Almost every beat writer in town said they were a playoff team, some of us believed they were a playoff team a few weeks after the deadline. The players and coaches let the playoffs slip away during the last couple of weeks of the season. If anyone is at fault, it's the players and the coaches, I don't see how the blame can be on one and not the other.
2014-2015
Christopher Breen
Chris Casto
Steve Eminger
Joe Morrow
Zach Trotman
David Warsofsky
Frankie Simonelli
Linus Arnesson
Bryce Aneloski
Yann Sauve
Tommy Cross
Drew Mackenzie
Ben Youds
Ian White
2015-2016
Brett Bellemore
Colin Miller - (acquired from LAK)
Matt Irwin
Max Iafrate
Which of these defensemen Cassidy coached the last two seasons do you think are NHL-caliber defensemen that were part of the system (not Colin Miller)? I would say Trotman, Morrow, Warsofsky, and Cross. Apart from Trotman who can potentially have 2nd-pairing potential, the guys I listed are bottom pairing defensemen or 7D. The rest of the guys I listed will potentially be career AHLers. So isn't this more of a testament on prior drafting and how bad it was rather than blaming a coach who has to development defensemen to reach their ceiling to be #5D/6D/7D? That doesn't factor in the big club's availability of roster spots. Two years ago the Bruins had Chara, Hamilton, Krug, Seidenberg, McQuaid, and Kevan Miller and Bartkowski who both were developed in Providence prior years. This last season guys like Trotman and Morrow got shots but both weren't able to seize the opportunity and earn a spot. I think the bolded has to do more about drafting more than anything else.
Agree.
But he's had a part to play, regardless. Wasn't there complaints in Providence that the D weren't playing Julien's system and thus struggled to grasp it when called up to the NHL?
Is it mostly his fault? No.
But he's had a hand in it, without question.
I would say the same about the forwards.
When a franchise fails to develop players through it's minor league system, everyone shares the blame, even the coach of the minor league team the last half-decade.
It's not just a lack of talent issue.