The Boston Bruins have named Bruce Cassidy head coach for the 2017-18 season, removing the interim status he had been working under since the firing of Claude Julien. Cassidy led the Bruins to an 18-8-1 record after the switch, getting them into the postseason but falling at the hands of the Ottawa Senators. The Bruins scoring woes under Julien disappeared, and Cassidy’s systems seemed to reinvigorate the team.
He’ll now be tasked with trying to rebuild relationships with certain players, as both Frank Vatrano and Ryan Spooner spoke out against their former head coach after his departure. While neither may represent a key player going forward, removing discontent from the locker room is always done one way or another. The Bruins will have to decide whether to commit long-term to some of their young restricted free agents, or move certain players for improvements elsewhere.
With the biggest task of the offseason being David Pastrnak’s next contract, the Bruins will be hard-pressed to really free up any additional cap space. So much of their salary is tied up in the big-4 up front—David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Backes—and their no-longer-elite goaltender Tuukka Rask. While Marchand’s deal may be one of the best of last summer, Backes especially looks like he may be an anchor to the team’s cap structure for years to come.
When did Rask become “not so elite”? The guy had no defense in front of him for most of the year. Not to mention he was pretty good in the playoffs considering 4 of the top 6 Dmen in front of him were out.
Agreed!! Most of the goals scored were defensive errors.
Yeah, that was an idiotic offhand statement.