Former Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy met with the media today including Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com to discuss his recent firing, and after explaining how much he cared about the organization, indicated that he does want to coach again next season. “This is what I do,” Cassidy said when asked if he would coach in the NHL next season should an opportunity present itself.
The 57-year-old coach is still under contract with the Bruins for next season, meaning other teams would need to cover part or all of the $3MM he is owed on the final year of an extension he signed in 2019. That came just a few months after the Cassidy-led Bruins lost in the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues, a loss he referenced today as something that still bothers him.
Interestingly enough, Cassidy wasn’t really high on most lists of coaching candidates when he first took over in Boston. When he was announced as the replacement for Claude Julien partway through the 2016-17 season, he was regarded as a good AHL coach who had failed in his previous stint behind an NHL bench. Cassidy’s first go-round as a head coach at that level was with the Washington Capitals, where he lost in the first round in year one and then was fired partway through his second season after an 8-16-1 start.
He hadn’t even had much playoff success in the minor leagues, though his AHL teams were regularly near the top of the standings in the regular season. In the NHL, he took the Bruins to at least the second round in four of his five full seasons, and reached the postseason in all six years he was behind the bench. Overall, his record improved from 47-47-9-7 with the Capitals to 245-108-46 with the Bruins, though his overall playoff winning percentage is still below .500.
Confirming today that he has talked to “a number of teams” already, it appears as though he’ll get his wish to be behind an NHL bench again next season. He was linked to the Philadelphia Flyers this morning, though, with so many openings around the league, Cassidy will likely have several interested teams.
He should get a ton of offers and pretty much be able to put himself in the perfect spot for success. I predict he makes it back to the playoffs before the B’s do unless the B’s go nuts and get Trotz or and I hate to say it Torts.
The players didn’t want Bruce, it’s so obvious. He’s not exactly Scotty Bowman. 0/6 in the playoffs with Boston.
He made the playoffs every year typically beating more talented teams, if the players didn’t like him I can’t imagine how they feel about Sweeney, someone that has shipped out incredibly popular members of the team. I know Pasta specifically doesn’t like Sweeney for that. If the players didn’t like Cassidy I don’t even want to imagine how they’d get along with an actual hard arse at coach like Trotz and Torts.
Yeah, well, by THAT moronic standard, just about every coach in hockey sucks, don’t they? Only six coaches have won a Cup in the last decade. So if you’re not Cooper, Quenneville, Trotz, Sutter, Sullivan or Berube, you’re a bum, is that what you’re telling us?
Oh how id love for him to go home to Ottawa to take that team to the next level. But they always have to settle for rookie head coaches or retreads desperate to get back into the game in order to keep salary down. Ugh.