Boston Sports Journal has officially named Joe McDonald as their fulltime hockey writer. It is a paywall site but I know a few of you have signed up.
https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com...ason-workloads-rask-chara-talk-young-d-sucks/
Cassidy is hoping Khudobin can start 22-27 times.
On Chara
Joe makes this promise
https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com...ason-workloads-rask-chara-talk-young-d-sucks/
Cassidy is hoping Khudobin can start 22-27 times.
On Chara
McDonald: Many thought Zdeno Chara, at this point of his career, would become a third-pairing guy. He even hinted at that a few seasons ago. What type of conversation will you have with him?
Cassidy: Well, I will have a longer conversation with him, but we had our meeting at the end of last season and I’m surprised he ever said that because that doesn’t sound like him – at all. He wants as much responsibility as you’re willing to give him. He trains for it. He takes pride in that part of it and he’s been very vocal about that. He works his ass off all summer and all winter so he can play all those minutes in all situations.
We’ll do what’s best for the team and if Zee’s capable of keeping his minutes up there then he’ll get them, if that’s best for the team. If some of these other guys push him and can play and can eat up a few of his minutes in certain situations then we’ll do that, because that’s probably better in the long run. I say probably because I see some guys play a lot of minutes all season and they’re able to sustain it and if anybody can do it, it’s Zee. I’m not going to be one of those guys who says, ‘Well, he’s not going to be any good if he plays more than 20 minutes.’ I’ll never be the guy saying that. But, if is play on the ice deteriorates because of that. to the point where I believe it. then we will have a conversation. He was one of our steadiest, best defensemen again last year. He contributed 10 goals, only one on the power play. He was a big reason why we were the top team on the penalty kill and he played his shutdown minutes. We were one of the best puck-possession teams in terms of defending, and he deserves his fair share of credit for that. He also brought a young kid along in Carlo and taught him the value of shutting down the other teams’ top lines. There are so many positives there and he’ll get the minutes that he’ll get and we’ll see where those end up.
McDonald: Health-wise, will everyone be ready for camp?
Cassidy: As far as I know, yes. Everyone’s on schedule from what I’ve been told, so there won’t be any surprises there on my end.
Joe makes this promise
Personally, after three seasons as a national hockey writer, I’m back to my roots as a Bruins beat writer. You can plan on enjoying breaking news, analysis and feature stories on both the Bruins and P-Bruins.
It’s tough to compare the entire hockey community with any other sport. There’s nothing like hockey fans and I will feed off your passion and bring you the best possible Bruins coverage. I want to hear your feedback – good and bad – during the season. In fact, in true hockey fashion, let’s do it over a libation either in Boston, or when the Bruins are on the road.
Can’t wait to get going for you.
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