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Haggerty: 'I'd Be Stunned' If Bruce Cassidy Isn't Bruins Head Coach Next Season

BOSTON (CBS) -- Bruce Cassidy may still have the "interim" tag on his head coaching job for the Bruins. But if you ask CSNNE's Joe Haggerty, Cassidy has already earned the right to be named the head coach for next season.

Haggerty joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Thursday to talk about the Bruins' Game 4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night. Even though the Bruins are in danger of losing the series in five games, Haggerty noted that it's hard to blame the coach when the Bruins have suffered a deluge of injuries to the defense.

For that reason, he believes that Cassidy will be back next season as the Bruins' full-time head coach, regardless of the result of the series.

"Once [the injury bug] starts happening, I don't think you're going to judge as much on the results from a playoff round, and you're just going to look at the whole body of work," said Haggerty. "I think [Cassidy] does deserve to come back. I think he will come back, and he will be the coach at this point. As soon as they made the playoffs, I think that ticket was punched.

"It remains to be seen if that's going to happen, but I just think given his relationship with [Bruins GM] Don Sweeney, given his history with the players, given what he's shown in doing the job ... I'd be stunned if he's not the head coach and not the full-time guy after this is all over."

Haggerty also touched upon Erik Karlsson's play in the series, as well as the offside review rules that took away a Bruins goal on Wednesday night and what needs to be done to change it. Listen to the full podcast below:

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