Bruins
“I’m within the membership and so they can’t kick you out! That’s the way in which I’m feeling proper now.”
Bruce Cassidy is susceptible to some prolonged musings whereas fielding questions on the podium.
However the former Bruins bench boss stored issues temporary forward of Sport 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Closing.
“We use that phrase (legacy) round right here, however I believe it’s for a lot later, so I haven’t considered mine personally,” Cassidy mentioned at TD Backyard. “I simply need my title on the rattling Cup, that’s what I would like.”
1,462 days later, Cassidy lastly obtained his want.
After getting fired by the Bruins on June 6, 2022, Cassidy gained hockey’s prime prize simply over a 12 months later, hoisting the Stanley Cup in his first season as head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights.
“It’s very rewarding,” Cassidy advised TNT’s Darren Pang on the postgame broadcast. “I’m within the membership now. I’m within the membership and so they can’t kick you out! That’s the way in which I’m feeling proper now.”
Cassidy and the Knights triumphed over the Florida Panthers in 5 video games, lastly eliminating the underdog membership that ended Boston’s record-setting run again in late April.
As the ultimate seconds ticked off the clock in Vegas’ 9-3 Sport 5 clincher on Tuesday, Cassidy embraced his fellow coaches on the Knights’ bench earlier than elevating his new championship hat to a raucous dwelling crowd at T-Cellular Area.
In the end, he lastly hoisted the sought-after trophy after captain Mark Stone and the remainder of the Golden Knights’ gamers made their rounds with the Cup.
“It’s an excellent story. Very, very grateful to get one other alternative,” Cassidy mentioned. “Nice group of men. … I’m simply right here to do my job and it labored out properly. It’s an unbelievable feeling. Take a look at this — 20,000 individuals in right here. Always remember it.”
Although Boston thrived throughout the common season after swapping out Cassidy for Jim Montgomery, Cassidy additionally excelled in his new environment out west.
After lacking the playoffs for the primary time of their quick franchise historical past in 2022, the Golden Knights heeded Cassidy’s message of a structured, stingy protection.
“He got here in and introduced an depth that possibly we would have liked,” Stone mentioned of Cassidy’s arrival.
Even with a decimated goalie corps that pressured third-string goalie Adin Hill right into a featured (and in the end dominant) function, the Golden Knights carved a swath via the playoffs because of a suffocating protection, a bevy of secondary-scoring contributions, and takeover video games from a number of star gamers.
Cassidy was not the one newly topped Cup champion with native ties.
North Chelmsford’s Jack Eichel made probably the most of his first foray into the Stanley Cup Playoffs after eight seasons within the NHL.
The Boston College product was a drive for the Golden Knights within the 2023 playoffs, posting a league-best 26 factors (6 objectives, 20 assists) over 22 postseason contests en path to his first championship.
Like Cassidy, it’s been an extended street for Eichel, who toiled away in Buffalo for six years earlier than getting dealt to the Golden Knights in November 2021.
After present process neck surgical procedure with the intention to delay his profession, Eichel delivered in his first full season with the Knights, creating right into a two-way franchise pivot beneath Cassidy’s tutelage.
Former Bruins Reilly Smith and Phil Kessel additionally captured the Cup on Tuesday night time. Smith, who has performed with the Golden Knights since their inception again in 2017, captured his first championship after serving to Vegas advance to the 2018 Cup Closing. This marks Kessel’s third championship after profitable two with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017.
It’s been fairly the journey for Cassidy.
Fired from his dream job after main Boston to 245 wins and 6 playoff berths, the Ottawa native orchestrated a rebound season for the ages in his new dwelling out in Vegas.
In fact, the rational take is that each the Bruins and Golden Knights in the end benefited from their teaching reshuffle final June. Cassidy’s monitor document speaks for itself, but it surely was clear that his messaging was beginning to get stale in Boston.
It falls now on Montgomery and the Bruins to reply in 2023, as a result of Cassidy certain earned the final chortle this spring.
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Originally posted 2023-06-14 03:57:20.