Bruce Cassidy Fired - Part II - Now he is in the Frozen Four with VGK
- Thread starter Fenway
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Blowfish
Count down ...
What are the chances a number of players the likes of Bergeron approached Don last season or mid season this year regarding Cassidy player friction (young and old)? and Sweeney didn't act?
There's smoke ... Krecji? now Bergeron? something isn't right. There is fire!
There's smoke ... Krecji? now Bergeron? something isn't right. There is fire!
Over the volcano
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100%
Question is how far up the ladder that fire spreads. If Krejci and Bergeron come back it'll tell a story. If they don't and Pastrnak walks next year it's a different story.
Let's be fair to Cassidy:
Backes and Foligno were just not good players at the time Cassidy got them. No player wants to believe that so, they're looking to blame someone. Cassidy was absolutely right to limit their playing time. These guys are Sweeney's problem.
Blidh is an AHL/NHL tweener that passes waivers.
Krejci left the NHL entirely. If it was a Cassidy problem, he would have just gone to another NHL team. Clearly he made a family decision.
Bergeron has affirmatively stated that he will play for no team but the Bruins. And that was when Cassidy was coach. Again, like Krejci, this is a decision to play in the NHL or not.
The Debrusk situation is completely on Cassidy. That should have been managed far better. I've not heard comments from Studnicka, but I would add his lack of development at the NHL level to the list of Cassidy's genuine failures.
Forester65
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Over the volcano
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Backes and Foligno are both respected veterans in the league who understand the game - they both were told by Cassidy to play a game that didn't fit their skills and experience and were both put by Cassidy into spots in the lineup that didn't match what they were expecting when they signed. That kind of word gets around.
Blidh is an AHL/NHL tweener who Cassdy didn't communicate with and essentially benched for the season after taking a 2min penalty at the 60 min mark.
Krejci left after a really solid year to play over seas rather than take another run with Bruce, even with a real #2 wing because it was the first time Cassidy couldn't keep all the top end talent on the 1st line.
Bergeron is unsigned after 6 years w/Bruce and an elite season.
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BruinDust
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I'm not sure what you mean by this.
Doesn't fit their skills and experience? What was Cassidy to do with Foligno this year? Play him further up the line-up. He gifted him PP time as the net front and he still couldn't put the puck in an ocean.
Cassidy didn't use Backes in the middle but neither did Julien. Cassidy did have Backes on the 3rd line RW in 2017-18, and as he didn't trust Backes defensively by 2019, used him on his most sheltered line (the Krejci line) in that year's playoffs.
If anything it was Julien who didn't use Backes the way Backes articulated his role would be when he signed in the early summer of 2016.
Did the management coerce Foligno with promises of Top 6 time and a large special teams role? Only to have Cassidy decide otherwise. I have my doubts. Cassidy played Foligno where his skillset fit best, on the 4th line in a reduced role.
Over the volcano
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Backes -
"We had different views of how hockey should be played,” Backes said, seemingly biting his tongue and wanting to say much more. “He was a smaller, puck-moving defenseman, and I tried to eat smaller, puck-moving defensemen. I was more of the mentality of Blues hockey or traditional Bruins hockey of like ‘Let’s get it in and not let them get it out until they’re fishing out of the back of their net’ and ‘Let’s go low to high, pound it to the net, I’ll see ya there and I’ll jam it home’ and he wanted to control through the neutral zone and carry it over the blue line and look for the play and it was just. …I think we could’ve communicated more of what he was looking for because I tried to adapt.. . .
I tried to lose weight to try to keep up more with the play and in hindsight, I should’ve just said ‘Hey, I am who I am and you’re not gonna make. …I’m more of a hammer than. …or a power drill and I am who I am and I’m going to try to be the best version of myself and hopefully, you can use me mucking in the corners and getting to the front of the net,” Backes acknowledged.
BruinDust
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Your initial comment still doesn't make any sense.
So Cassidy should of altered his teams gameplan to accommodate Backes and Foligno's heavy forecheck/physical game?
The 4th line of Acciari-Kuraly-Wagner didn't seem to have a problem with it.
If there is a knock, it is that Cassidy never used Backes on the 4th line. But that probably goes back to his lack of confidence in Backes' ability to defend and how Cassidy used that 4th line as the secondary shutdown line.
And did Cassidy outlaw mucking in the corners or driving to the net? Because I watch all the muffins tossed on goal to generate deflections and rebounds from this team and it tells me there is an opportunity to do exactly what Backes is saying.
Two power fowards in their mid 30's trying to blame others for the game passing them by.
It is kind of sad really, like an old time boxer not ready to admit they don't have the physicial skills anymore.
What is funny to me is David Backes is still the hill Jmiller wants to die on
It is kind of sad really, like an old time boxer not ready to admit they don't have the physicial skills anymore.
What is funny to me is David Backes is still the hill Jmiller wants to die on
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So Cassidy should have changed his whole system to accommodate one old shitty washed up player who couldn’t keep up anymore? Sound strategy there.
Over the volcano
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For how many years now have we lamented the forwards reluctance to grind down defensemen and go hard to the net? That's game plan, not personell. Of course Cassidy didn't tell them not to, he just coached them in to transition/skilled entries with possession and dropped their icetime if they didn't follow. Dump, chase, pound and grind hasn't been a part of the team identity for a very long time.
Expecting Foligno and Backes to play a skilled quick game is setting them up to fail and they did.
Expecting Krejci to drive a 2nd line without skilled offensive wings when you have two of the absolute best in the league on the roster is setting him up to be frustrated, and he was.
Cant argue with the results
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BruinDust
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They don't play a lot of dump and chase. That's the difference. So you don't get as much of a chance to mash D-men and grind in the corners by virtue of less dump-ins.
But there are still puck battles to be won, corners to grind in, opportunities to drive to the net. Cassidy isn't magical enough to make those events obsolete. If he can coach that stuff out of the game he's the greatest hockey coach probably ever.
Bottom line, Backes was brought in under a different coach with a different offensive game-plan. If there was one stark difference between Cassidy and Julien that was it. Different zone entries, more triangle offense (and less low to high). I didn't get Julien's reluctance to use Backes as a Center but that's me beating a dead horse at this point.
As far as Foligno goes, Sweeney and Co. were well aware of the offensive scheme of Cassidy. Matter of fact, I'm guessing so was Foligno. I doubt he signed he believing the Bruins were about to become some dump-and-chase machine contrary to how they played the past 5 seasons. He knew what he was getting himself into. If we want to place blame then I guess it falls on Sweeney and the pro scouts for believing Foligno's game would still be effective in a more puck-possession driven system.
Over the volcano
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Ultimately, its not about any one of these guys, its about how they all add up to paint a picture that no one wanted to be a part of anymore.
BruinDust
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Maybe that's part of the point of removing Cassidy. They felt they built a team to forecheck and grind and now they want a coach to fit the roster they feel they built.
Probably part of them trying to cover their own behinds. For two playoff years now they got basically zilch from forwards #7 through #13. The numbers speak for themselves. So maybe this way they won't get any production out of the bottom half of the forward group, but at least get zone time and wear down the opposing team more in their own end. Which basically means they want two 4th lines.
The problem here is the bottom half of the forward group are SLOW. A Cale Makar would laugh at the forechecking attempts of a Foligno or Nosek or Wagner. By the time they go to hit him, he's long gone.
The ultimate fails of Sweeney's tenure is he's been unable to provide a solid core group (most of them he was gifted from the previous GM BTW) the right supporting cast. Sweeney and the pro scouts have done a ^%%$^ job at identifying the right supporting cast players to bring in. They brought in John Moore on a 5-year contract and Cassidy had no use for him 6-months into his deal. Is that Cassidy's fault, or management's?
I think there is blame on both sides.
Over the volcano
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Think a lot of it was players tiring of his message, but management too. Seems like every season there was a point made by Sweeney and Neely that they need to be more physical on defenses and Cassdiy kept falling back into his limited system that steered players away from it.
Kind of like breaking up the 1st line, it only took him 5 1/2 years to get there - I really wonder if there was a sit down with cassidy over the december break to finally get it done.
As for guys like Makar, he laughs at everyone's forchecking attempts. If coached up and integrated into the team system, guys like Lazar, Foligno, Frederic, Blidh, Coyle, DeBrusk, Steen could be real effective. It'd certainly more effective than asking them to be transition/posession/puck handling/skilled players.
It's like Cassidy came up with a plan for the 1st line of elite players and expected it to translate to the guys on lines 2-4.
There's certainlyt plenty of blame to spread around, but there's so much smoke around Cassidy.
BruinDust
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Most of those guys would not be effective because they aren't good NHL players. Foligno is cooked. Lazar is merely average, I liked him this year but you won't notice when he's not here next year. I know beer-leaguers with better hands than Anton Blidh. Frederic has never been a heavy forechecking guy despite the cries here for him to be just that. Is Oskar Steen at 5'9 195 lbs going to be a guy putting fear into the hearts of D-men? Meanwhile Jack Studnicka doesn't even know how to throw a proper body check yet Cassidy had no use for him either.
And to be clear, I'm fine that Cassidy is gone. But I was fine if he came back too. He's been here six seasons and every coach has a shelf-life. Period. Even if I felt he got more out of this team than a lot of coaches did. I'm guessing some players were tired of him, and some management as well.
If he hadn't turned things around in January finding a way to get more out of the dog's breakfast he was given up front, he'd of been fired mid-season is what I expect would of happened.
rocketdan9
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rocketdan9
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Apologies if this was already posted and discussed.
Here's an interview with John Buccigross on his feelings on what the particulars of Cassidy's firing were about and the things he was hearing.
“Bruce Cassidy as a coach, he’s respected, great X’s and O’s guy, knows how to game plan, how to beat the other team,” Buccigross said. “It’s elite, obviously, the amount of games he won as the Bruins’ head coach. … But his communication skills and people managing, for some, have been difficult to deal with. Kind of a running commentary on the bench, which players sometimes hear and maybe they think, ‘Jeez, I wonder what he’s saying about me.’ It’s not uncommon.
“…It’s a delicate thing. The motivational tactics he uses, certainly really harsh, on young players especially. And that’s the part which, probably as the Bruins are looking to go forward with perhaps a younger core -- I don’t want to call it a rebuild -- but his voice I think was growing tired. I think players probably in the exit meetings, from what I was told, kind of voiced their opinion about him.
Here's an interview with John Buccigross on his feelings on what the particulars of Cassidy's firing were about and the things he was hearing.
“Bruce Cassidy as a coach, he’s respected, great X’s and O’s guy, knows how to game plan, how to beat the other team,” Buccigross said. “It’s elite, obviously, the amount of games he won as the Bruins’ head coach. … But his communication skills and people managing, for some, have been difficult to deal with. Kind of a running commentary on the bench, which players sometimes hear and maybe they think, ‘Jeez, I wonder what he’s saying about me.’ It’s not uncommon.
“…It’s a delicate thing. The motivational tactics he uses, certainly really harsh, on young players especially. And that’s the part which, probably as the Bruins are looking to go forward with perhaps a younger core -- I don’t want to call it a rebuild -- but his voice I think was growing tired. I think players probably in the exit meetings, from what I was told, kind of voiced their opinion about him.
The running commentary from the bench thing was getting more and more obvious from Cassidy, as well as the poor body language. It was probably my biggest pet peeve with him as a coach, as eventually I'm sure the sulking and pouting and dead eyes glare got really old with the players over time.
