Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy is generally pretty honest with the media, and he doesn’t shy away from publicly criticizing players who aren’t playing well or playing the right way.
Cassidy has already done so a couple times this season, most recently saying in his postgame press conference on Tuesday that Taylor Hall wasn’t playing “winning hockey” when asked why Hall had been benched late in the third period.
In the past, Cassidy has defended his public comments by saying he almost never tells the media anything he hasn’t already told the player directly.
Still, it is fair to wonder if there are players who don’t like it or don’t respond well to it. Former Patriots tight end Jermaine Wiggins has said numerous times on The Greg Hill Show that he doesn’t like the way Cassidy calls out players and thinks he unfairly singles out certain guys.
On Thursday morning, weekly guest Mike Milbury agreed with Wiggy to an extent. While Milbury, who coached the Bruins from 1989-91, isn’t completely against publicly criticizing players, he does think Cassidy may be doing it too often.
“If you start to use this as one of your principal tools as a coach, you are going down the wrong path,” Milbury said. “You can take back ice time. You can privately yell at them. But if you start publicly scolding people, it is pretty much the last arrow in your quiver that you’re gonna fire. Because it will turn people off. The best tool for a coach is communication, is words. It’s the best thing you have.
“I don’t know if he did or didn’t, after he sat [Hall] down for a good portion of the game, but that’s the time when you better go right back at him and whisper in his ear, ‘I still love you, but these are things you have to do better.’ You’re right to be on it. It’s not a good pattern I’m starting to detect from Cassidy, and it’s unusual for him because I haven’t seen it in the past.”
Listen to the full interview below:
NHL Analyst Mike Milbury Joins The Greg Hill Show: Thoughts On Bruce Cassidy Sitting Taylor Hall "If You Start Publicly Scolding People...it Will Turn People Off"
Cassidy has already done so a couple times this season, most recently saying in his postgame press conference on Tuesday that Taylor Hall wasn’t playing “winning hockey” when asked why Hall had been benched late in the third period.
In the past, Cassidy has defended his public comments by saying he almost never tells the media anything he hasn’t already told the player directly.
Still, it is fair to wonder if there are players who don’t like it or don’t respond well to it. Former Patriots tight end Jermaine Wiggins has said numerous times on The Greg Hill Show that he doesn’t like the way Cassidy calls out players and thinks he unfairly singles out certain guys.
On Thursday morning, weekly guest Mike Milbury agreed with Wiggy to an extent. While Milbury, who coached the Bruins from 1989-91, isn’t completely against publicly criticizing players, he does think Cassidy may be doing it too often.
“If you start to use this as one of your principal tools as a coach, you are going down the wrong path,” Milbury said. “You can take back ice time. You can privately yell at them. But if you start publicly scolding people, it is pretty much the last arrow in your quiver that you’re gonna fire. Because it will turn people off. The best tool for a coach is communication, is words. It’s the best thing you have.
“I don’t know if he did or didn’t, after he sat [Hall] down for a good portion of the game, but that’s the time when you better go right back at him and whisper in his ear, ‘I still love you, but these are things you have to do better.’ You’re right to be on it. It’s not a good pattern I’m starting to detect from Cassidy, and it’s unusual for him because I haven’t seen it in the past.”
Listen to the full interview below:
NHL Analyst Mike Milbury Joins The Greg Hill Show: Thoughts On Bruce Cassidy Sitting Taylor Hall "If You Start Publicly Scolding People...it Will Turn People Off"
