The Boston Bruins have announced a multi-year extension for head coach Bruce Cassidy, giving him some job security as he tries to take the team back to the Stanley Cup Final. The exact length of the deal was not disclosed.
Cassidy has been an absolute success since taking over from Claude Julien during the 2016-17 season, going 117-52-22 with the Bruins and reaching the final last season. The team has obviously responded well to his system and it should be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference once again. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the deal will pay Cassidy “in and around $3MM” per season, which actually doesn’t put him at the top of the field. The Buffalo Sabres for instance just hired Ralph Krueger for close to $4MM per season, while Todd McLellan received $5MM annually from the Los Angeles Kings.
The 54-year old Cassidy spent almost a decade honing his craft with the Providence Bruins before joining Boston, where he got to know many of the players that he now works with. His ability to blend experience and youth together in the same lineup has so far resulted in plenty of regular season success, but the Bruins are still looking for that seventh Stanley Cup.
Good move, B’s! Butch is one of, if not the most, underrated coach in the NHL. Well deserved!
Cassidy is the most underrated head coach in hockey, and that’s saying something seeing as he just led the B’s to the Stanley Cup. He is in the top 5 of NHL coaches. Fully expect to see Cassidy win a cup or two in Boston