Bruce Cassidy displays on his firing from Bruins, their first-round exit and his pursuit of the Stanley Cup

Bruins

“You’re taking it a bit private, proper, however I do know the circumstances.”

Bruce Cassidy has constructed a popularity as one of many extra candid and trustworthy interviews within the NHL.

As such, it got here as no shock that the Golden Knights’ head coach was open and direct when requested to replicate on his firing because the Bruins’ bench boss and Boston’s subsequent record-setting season.

In an prolonged interview with Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Cassidy acknowledged that even profitable groups usually swap issues up if administration believes that an overhaul is required. Oftentimes, it’s the coach that’s the primary one to go.  

“You’re taking it a bit private, proper, however I do know the circumstances,” Cassidy instructed Granger of his firing and Boston’s record-setting run in 2022-23. “They did an excellent job of fixing some issues.

“We modified some issues right here that helped the Knights. Pete [DeBoer] modified issues in Dallas that helped the Stars. You’ll be able to’t beat your self up over it. Coaches transfer. I acquired a possibility there as a result of an excellent coach in Claude Julien acquired let go, in order that’s simply the best way it really works.”

Cassidy crafted fairly the resume throughout his tenure behind Boston’s bench. The Bruins clinched a playoff berth in all six of his seasons as head coach, bringing Boston inside 60 minutes of a Stanley Cup title in 2019. He posted a 245-108-46 file with the B’s, profitable a Presidents’ Trophy in 2020.

After swapping out Cassidy with Jim Montgomery this previous summer time, the Bruins steamrolled the competitors from October by April. Not solely did they clinch one other President’s Trophy, they set the league file for many wins (65) and factors (135) in a single season.

Cassidy wasn’t bothered by any narratives crafted about his teaching model and the way it impacted the Bruins throughout his time with the group. Nevertheless, Boston’s beautiful first-round loss to the Panthers has erased any notion that the Cassidy household will hear jeers once they return to Massachusetts later this summer time.

“I’m an enormous boy. I can cope with it,” Cassidy mentioned of criticism. “What I used to be extra involved with was we have now a home in Cape Cod, and we prefer it there in the summertime. We have now a variety of roots there. I labored there for 15 years and the children had been born there.

“I used to be a bit of relieved after [the Bruins] misplaced within the playoffs for my youngsters not having to listen to about ‘Oh, in case your dad had performed a greater job…’ You realize what I imply? Children say issues. … “I consider my youngsters daily, as a result of in the event that they’re completely satisfied I’m completely satisfied, and in the event that they’re unhappy I’m unhappy,” he mentioned. “I used to be so relieved from that time, for them.”

Although Cassidy and his household now name Las Vegas house throughout the NHL season, he added that he expects to stay in Massachusetts for the foreseeable future, particularly throughout the offseason.

Cassidy, a longtime Bruins fan whereas rising up in Ottawa, nonetheless has deep roots within the Boston space. He first joined the group in 2008, and his youngsters have spent most of their lives in New England.

Nonetheless, Cassidy stays fixated on the lowlights that got here together with his in any other case spectacular tenure in Boston, headlined by that Sport 7 loss to the Blues within the 2019 Stanley Cup Remaining.

“I took it arduous,” Cassidy mentioned. “It was powerful, and even to this present day, it stings while you get that shut. You go all the best way to Sport 7, with your property crowd. I reside in Boston and persons are upset. They let you understand. They’re happy with their group, however they’re like ‘C’mon.’”

In fact, Cassidy isn’t centered all that a lot on the previous in the mean time.

Whereas the Bruins’ season concluded on April 30, Cassidy and the Golden Knights now sit simply two wins away from hockey immortality.

Vegas now holds a 2-0 edge over the Florida Panthers within the 2023 Stanley Cup Remaining, with Sport 3 set for Thursday evening down at FLA Reside Area.

“I don’t have my identify on it,” Cassidy mentioned of the Stanley Cup. “I don’t need to say it’s all the pieces, however when it comes to my profession, it’s all the pieces to win the Cup. These [other trophies] are all nice. They’re. They’re accomplishments, however they’re not the Stanley Cup. Folks discuss Stanley Cup champions, not Jack Adams winners or Presidents’ trophy winners.”