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Bruce Cassidy

Snapshots: Hague, Pastrnak, Jets

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When Vegas Golden Knights training camp opens tomorrow morning, defenseman Nicolas Hague won’t be there as he awaits a new contract. The Athletic’s Jesse Granger reports that he isn’t expected to be on the ice with his teammates Thursday morning at City National Arena, the team’s practice facility.

Hague is one of the few remaining restricted free agents in the NHL, alongside Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin and Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson as the marquee names. Granger expertly notes that Hague missing camp is more detrimental than in previous seasons, as new head coach Bruce Cassidy will be installing a completely foreign defensive system from what the Knights have been used to in past seasons. Hague, the 34th overall pick in 2017, had 14 points in 52 games last season.

  • Speaking today during preseason media availability, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney says it’s a priority for him to get pending free agent winger David Pastrnak signed as soon as possible. Pastrnak, while he’s expressed a strong desire to stay in Boston, hasn’t shared the same urgency in negotiations in previous reporting. Pastrnak, who’s notched 40 or more goals in his last two full seasons, will be in line for a substantial raise, and it may behoove Sweeney to get a deal done before his value rises even further.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have made three scouting hires, including the first woman scout in team history, Sydney Daniels. Daniels joins the team as an NCAA scout, having previously served as the assistant coach for the women’s team at Harvard. The team also brought on Jari Kekalainen, brother of Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, as a European scout, and former Toronto Maple Leafs scout Tony Martino as a USHL scout.

Latest On Laurent Brossoit

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When the Vegas Golden Knights acquired Adin Hill late last month via trade, it raised some questions about how long goalie Laurent Brossoit would be out to start the season after having surgery.

Head coach Bruce Cassidy’s comments added to that uncertainty today. While he did say Brossoit was healing well from his surgery, Cassidy wasn’t sure if Brossoit would return just weeks into the season or closer to the end of the calendar year instead. However, he did still reaffirm that Brossoit is tracking to be a healthy member of the Golden Knights this season.

Brossoit had a tough 2021-22 campaign, as did much of the Golden Knights team, but he’ll need to rebound in his second season in Vegas in the season-long absence of Robin Lehner. Brossoit does have some of the pressure taken off him with Hill’s acquisition, but the’s still the most experienced of Vegas’ now trio of NHL goalies.

In the meantime, Vegas hopes that Thompson’s strong end to the 2021-22 season, nearly miraculously getting them back into the playoffs despite anemic offensive play, carries over through training camp into the start of this season. They’ll also hope for Hill’s strong start to last season before going down with injury repeats itself as well.

Brossoit is entering the second season of a two-year deal worth $2.325MM per season. He finished last year with a 10-9-3 record in 24 games, just the second time in his career that he’s played more than 20 games in a season. He struggled statistically with a .895 save percentage and a 2.90 goals-against average, both worse than his career average numbers.

Latest On Boston Bruins Coaching Search

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There could be an answer as soon as today on who will be the next head coach of the Boston Bruins and a new name has entered the ring. Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that Pittsburgh Penguins assistant Mike Vellucci has interviewed for the job. In fact, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff believes that Vellucci has been interviewed twice now.

Still, Seravalli notes that the finalists are Vellucci, Jay Leach, and David Quinn, with many believing that the latter is the front-runner for the opening.

Vellucci, 55, may not have a lot of NHL experience but he is a proven winner at basically every level along the way. The former Hartford Whalers defenseman has won championships in the NAHL, OHL, and most recently the AHL, taking home the Calder Cup with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019. He has been named Coach of the Year at all three levels and has now been behind the bench with Pittsburgh for the past two seasons.

The Bruins, who fired Bruce Cassidy after a disappointing playoff exit, seem focused on less experienced names for the vacancy. Leach also has experience as a head coach in the minor leagues–with the Providence Bruins, no less–but has just one year behind an NHL bench as an assistant. David Quinn had just one year as an assistant when he landed the New York Rangers head coaching job in 2018, a tenure that lasted just three seasons.

Boston is one of three teams still without a coach, along with the Detroit Red Wings and Winnipeg Jets.

Vegas Golden Knights Make Coaching Hires

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The Vegas Golden Knights announced a series of coaching hires Tuesday night, adding John Stevens as their assistant coach, Sean Burke as their goalie coach and Director of Goaltending, and naming Mike Rosati as Manager of Goaltending Development and Scouting.

General manager Kelly McCrimmon gave the following statement on the hires:

John Stevens is a very respected NHL coach with an extensive resume that adds considerably to our staff. We are excited to add a two-time Stanley Cup winner with head coaching experience. Sean Burke is a great addition to the organization, with tremendous experience as an elite NHL goaltender and an accomplished coach and executive. We are pleased to keep Mike Rosati in an influential role across the organization. With those two and Henderson goaltending coach Fred Brathwaite, we have proven, qualified expertise at the goalie position.

While new head coach Bruce Cassidy won’t get to build the entire bench from scratch, he does get some fresh faces in here to join assistants Ryan Craig and Misha Donskov, who were retained in the wake of Peter DeBoer’s firing. Stevens comes in to replace both Steve Spott and Ryan McGill as an assistant, who were both fired days after DeBoer. Stevens has been an assistant for the Dallas Stars for the past three seasons, but most hockey fans will remember him as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers (2006-2009) and the Los Angeles Kings (2016-2018). In all, the 56-year-old Stevens has 15 years of NHL coaching experience.

Burke’s hiring isn’t huge news, as it was reported earlier in the week that Vegas would bring him on. Burke was not on an NHL staff during the 2021-22 season, but he spent seven years as the goalie coach of the Arizona Coyotes and a handful of months in 2021 as the goalie coach of the Montreal Canadiens. He replaces Rosati as the goalie coach, who moves to a more behind-the-scenes role in the organization.

East Notes: Quinn, Devils Front Office, Sabres

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Eyebrows raised leaguewide when the Boston Bruins fired Bruce Cassidy, letting him walk to the Vegas Golden Knights in coaching free agency. Now, they seem to have zeroed in on a replacement. Although he’s been interviewed and/or linked to multiple teams so far, The Fourth Period’s Shawn Hutcheon reports that the Bruins have made former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn their leading candidate for the role. While other names like former Providence head coach Jay Leach had been rumored, they seem to have opted for another “hometown” coach.

While a Rhode Island native, Quinn has extensive experience in the Boston area, spending multiple years as an associate coach and head coach with Boston University. Quinn did not coach this past season after the Rangers replaced him with Gerard Gallant this past offseason, aside from serving as the head coach for the United States at the Olympics and World Championships.

  • The New Jersey Devils seem to have quietly cleaned out some front office names, removing the roles of Patrick Rissmiller (player development coach), Pierre Mondou (amateur scout), and Andrey Plekhanov (European scout) from their website. Rissmiller will leave the only front office job he’s ever known, holding the role with New Jersey since he retired as a player in 2015. Mondou, 66, was let go after nearly 20 years of scouting for New Jersey. Plekhanov had been with the team for four seasons.
  • As the Buffalo Sabres look to finally take that next step forward in 2022-23, the team has announced the dates for their development camp. The session for fringe prospects and rookies will be held July 13-15, with a three-on-three tournament to be held on the 16th.

Vegas Golden Knights Hire Bruce Cassidy

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The Vegas Golden Knights have officially named Bruce Cassidy as the third head coach in franchise history. GM Kelly McCrimmon released the following statement about his new bench boss:

The Golden Knights are very pleased to have Bruce come in to coach our team. His success in Boston over six years is extremely impressive. His teams have had a clear identity, having been among the very best in the NHL in terms of goals for, goals against, goal differential and special teams. This is the right coach for our team at this time.

Vegas’ head coaching vacancy opened up when the team fired Peter DeBoer on May 16 after they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Cassidy met a similar fate last week, despite his Bruins taking the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes to seven games in their First Round series.

Cassidy had an incredibly successful five-and-a-half-season stretch in Boston, and he’ll look to bring that consistency to the Golden Knights. The 57-year-old Ottawa native brings an Eastern Conference title in 2019 under his belt as well as a consistent regular-season track record. The worst points percentage a Bruins team had under Cassidy was .652, a mark they hit in 2018-19, 2020-21, and 2021-22. That’s a 107-point pace over a full 82-game season. It was an unexpected firing, to say the least, and the Golden Knights hope they’ve capitalized on another team’s seemingly poor decision.

The veteran of 509 games as an NHL coach instantly became one of the elite names on the coaching market this offseason alongside DeBoer and former New York Islanders bench boss Barry Trotz. Cassidy had multiple suitors, but the Golden Knights were the first to focus on Cassidy as their top candidate. He’s got a history of managing a top line that’s terrorized opponents, something the Golden Knights hope they can replicate with a trio of Max Pacioretty, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone. With arguably a better supporting forward cast in Vegas than Cassidy had in Boston, at least on the wings, the Knights hope Cassidy can help guide a healthy team back to elite status.

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report that Vegas would be hiring Cassidy.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Golden Knights Showing Interest In Bruce Cassidy As Next Head Coach

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It has been an offseason of some surprise when it comes to the coaching carousel around the league.  Vegas opted to part ways with Peter DeBoer, their second coaching change in their five seasons of existence, making them one of the more prominent teams looking for a new bench boss.  Recently, there was a surprise addition to the coaching market when Boston let Bruce Cassidy go earlier this week.  As Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (video link), the Golden Knights have started to key in on Cassidy as their top candidate over the last few days.

Regular season success is something that Cassidy had plenty of in his days with the Bruins posting a 245-108-46 record with him behind the bench, good for a .652 points percentage.  Vegas has been under that mark in two of the last three seasons.  However, his track record of playoff success hasn’t been as good as Boston went 36-37 in the postseason under their former bench boss which is something that teams will certainly be considering as they work through evaluating him.

Vegas is certainly one of the more appealing teams looking for a head coach.  They’re an organization that clearly has a win-now mindset and they have shown no hesitance towards spending to the Upper Limit (or higher, considering their cap management in recent years).  Both of those have to be appealing to any coaching candidate although the quick trigger on coaching changes also stands out.

Cassidy has expressed a desire to jump right back into coaching and would be a good fit in Vegas so it will be interesting to see if they can get a deal done over the next few days.  It would go a long way towards kickstarting the coaching shuffle as things have slowed to a crawl on that front with many feeling Barry Trotz’s decision on where to go next is holding things up.  If Vegas goes a different direction and opts for Cassidy, perhaps that domino falling will get things going on that front soon after.

Bruce Cassidy Hopes To Coach In 2022-23

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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.

Coaching Notes: Richardson, Flyers, Samuelsson

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When Dominique Ducharme was unavailable due to a positive COVID-19 result in the 2021 playoff run, assistant Luke Richardson stepped in without missing a beat. The long-time NHL defenseman, who played more than 1,400 games in the league, had some head coaching experience with the Belleville Senators previously and had no trouble taking the reins in Montreal. The team played well, and Richardson was suddenly being looked at as a future NHL coach.

Now, with openings all over the league, Richardson’s name has emerged again. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that the Chicago Blackhawks have asked permission to interview Richardson for their head coaching vacancy, and Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports confirms that he is a candidate. Chicago has also requested permission to interview Vancouver Canucks assistant Brad Shaw.

  • The Philadelphia Flyers have not yet started their second round of interviews, according to Seravalli, but did speak with Jeff Blashill during the first round. Bruce Cassidy and David Quinn are also expected to be on their list (with Quinn also linked to the Detroit Red Wings), and John Tortorella will be a part of the second round, whenever that occurs. It’s quite a carousel this offseason with such a deep pool of qualified candidates available.
  • Even if Shaw doesn’t leave the Canucks, the team is looking for another assistant coach. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV tweets that Ulf Samuelsson could be a candidate, as he is no longer with the Florida Panthers. Samuelsson had been with Florida for two years but there could be more changes coming for the Panthers, who have yet to announce whether Jack Adams finalist Andrew Brunette will return as head coach.

Bruins Notes: Coaching Staff, Buyouts, Rebuild

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After the Boston Bruins made news last night by relieving head coach Bruce Cassidy of his duties, general manager Don Sweeney met with the media today to explain the decision. Sweeney told reporters including Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic that it was time for a new voice, and that he and Cassidy had already decided assistant coach Kevin Dean would not be returning.

Chris Kelly and Joe Sacco, however, are currently still under contract. It obviously remains to be seen whether they are kept on by whoever the Bruins hire next, but they were not relieved of their duties with Cassidy. Here are some more notes from Sweeney’s presser:

  • The team is not expected to buy anyone out this offseason, despite lots of speculation about Nick Foligno after his poor debut with the club. The 34-year-old forward (35 in October), is signed for one more season at a $3.8MM cap hit and scored just two goals in 64 games this season. The Bruins already have more than $80MM committed to next season, though with the injury timelines of players like Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, long-term injured reserve can obviously give them some flexibility to start the year.
  • Of course, that also doesn’t include Patrice Bergeron, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer after winning his record-setting fifth Selke Trophy. Matt Porter of the Boston Globe relays comments from Sweeney which suggest a “directional shift” if Bergeron doesn’t return, or if the injured players struggle to get back to full strength. It seems unlikely that a full tear down is on the horizon, given the team just recently traded for and extended Hampus Lindholm, but Sweeney already seems to be preparing for the possibility of a down year in 2022-23.

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