Under the new management of Bruce Cassidy, the Boston Bruins have an astonishing 7-1 record. Longtime head coach, Claude Julien was fired and then went off to the B’s rival, the Montréal Canadiens a week later, yet he only has had a 3-3 record. Why has Cassidy worked so well and why is Julien on what looks like what might be the tail end of his career?
Cassidy spent years at the helm of the Providence Bruins, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Boston Bruins, so he’s worked with a good amount of the current NHL roster for Boston and they’re familiar with him. Star David Pastrnak, despite having only one year of minor league experience, has been with Bruce Cassidy longer than Claude Julien. Ryan Spooner, Brandon Carlo, and Frank Vatrano have better chemistry with their new head coach because they spent a year or more of their careers with Cassidy, and a couple months under Julien. Julien has led a team to the playoffs since the 2013-14 season when Boston lost a 7 game bout with the Canadiens in the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Now, his former team is primarily made up of new faces, players like the minor leaguers or players like David Backes, who were signed or traded for. It is tough to try to appeal to the new guys while keeping your veterans happy, but Claude just simply had too much trouble with it, so Montréal made him the new guys that the team had to acclimate themselves to. As an added bonus, he has to impress everyone in the Habs’ organization. That’s some odds against him, but if he’s really only hit a slump, southern Québec will have another Stanley Cup contender team. Familiarity is tremendously important to the success of an organization, but that moral boost really contributes to a boost in play level and skill. Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin have really stepped up their play in net and the offensive attack has really been far more powerful. Brad Marchand, Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci have all been incredible of late; scoring off the charts and having masterful passing abilities. Nevertheless, there is always the possibility of Cassidy being a mere flavor of the month. He is only the interim leader, so there is always the possibility that his coaching could decrease in value and Boston will ultimately fail in their Stanley Cup goal. Is the Cassidy Craze nothing more than Lin-Sanity, the Tebow-Pocalypse, or Boston’s own Morgan Magic? Who can say, but currently, the Killer B’s are on on what looks like the fast track to their seventh championship victory. Jesse A. Cook March 1, 2017 “Bruce Cassidy And The Stanley Cup Bid”
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