Kalman: Cassidy Move Shows Bruins Are On Board With Don Sweeney's Plan
By Matt Kalman, CBS Boston
The Bruins' six-game Eastern Conference first-round loss to the Ottawa Senators was a blessing in disguise for general manager Don Sweeney.
Boston gained valuable playoff experience after missing the postseason for two years, but also tempered expectations for the seasons ahead. Where once owner Jeremy Jacobs was touting a possible "playoff run" in October, he had to be pleased with the Bruins' ability to make the playoffs and put up a fight despite a rash of injuries in the first round.
Ownership will clearly expect more of the Bruins in 2017-18. Under former coach Claude Julien, the Bruins reached the playoffs for the first time in 2008 and then lost in the second round the following two seasons. A similar progression for the current Bruins is a realistic expectation.
But ownership easily could have overreacted to the first-round loss. Or it could've gotten greedy if a couple bounces had gone the Bruins' way and they made their way to the second or third round with help from the NHL's whacked-out bracketing system.
The Bruins were a seventh-seed, not a third-place team, and ownership and management had to understand that and the organization proved it's within its senses with one move on Wednesday. The Bruins brass above general manager Don Sweeney proved that the process of making the Bruins elite again is ongoing and there are no quick fixes available or necessary by allowing Sweeney to remove the interim tag from coach Bruce Cassidy's title and hire the coach the GM always wanted, dating back to their days working closely with the Providence Bruins of the AHL.
Sweeney being able to retain Cassidy, rather than being forced to go out and shop for a bigger name, or being fired himself, is the first sign beyond some lip service that the Bruins are buying into Sweeney's plan.
The Bruins are obviously taking the players' opinions into account, as to a man they all endorsed Cassidy for the full-time job while emptying out their lockers on Tuesday.
"Well, I think it was just a change that kind of woke everybody up a little bit and made us realize that we were capable of playing better, I think," defenseman Adam McQuaid said. "I think that we really came together as a group. We were more unified I think going down the stretch. Butchy did a great job too. He came in and didn't change a whole, whole lot. But, just put a good feeling in the room and a confidence, I think, and it helped a lot."
That unity was important. Under Julien, there was clearly a divide between the older veterans who knew why the coach did everything he did and what the results could be with the right amount of buy-in. Younger players just weren't buying. Cassidy was able to appeal to all factions of the Bruins' dressing room, and he also lit a fire under them with tweaks to the system that knocked them out of their comfort zones and allowed them to play more freely without worrying that a deviation from the system would result in a place on the bench.
At this stage in Sweeney's plan, going outside the organization and starting over with a new coach never made sense. It wouldn't have been fair to ask older players like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to get to know a new coach and learn a whole other way of playing. The best part of Cassidy's system changes was that they built on some of the tenets of Julien's system, and Cassidy already had a close-up knowledge of what the players could do. The Bruins already started learning the habits and nuances of Cassidy's system, which was effective when the Bruins played it right, and now they'll get another season or two to make his strategies their second nature.
Cassidy had relationships with several players from his time in Providence and forged a rapport with everyone from the time he was promoted to Boston as an assistant all the way through the grueling six-game playoff loss. He'll have to make some difficult decisions as younger players come in to steal jobs from older guys and ice time has to be managed differently than in recent years. As much as he's been around the Bruins organization, Cassidy is still a fresh voice and he won't have the undying loyalty to certain players that could make it difficult for him to put the team first over players' egos. For two months, Cassidy seemed to handle everything with an aplomb that rubbed off on his players.
It should never be underestimated how much his positivity and self-confidence made sure the Bruins' late-season four-game losing streak didn't turn into a season-killer and instead led to a six-game winning streak. And Cassidy masterfully handled goaltender Tuukka Rask down the stretch, making sure to rest him at all costs. Cassidy wound up with a sharper, more effective Anton Khudobin and an impenetrable Rask who got the Bruins into the playoffs and got them within a goal or two of winning a round despite missing three of their top four defensemen because of injuries.
Whether Cassidy will be the coach to put the Bruins over the top when they're closer to contending for the Stanley Cup won't be known for years, but he was clearly the right guy to oversee the next step in the Bruins' growth process. It's refreshing to see the Bruins as an organization recognized that.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @MattKalman.
