Bruce Cassidy Fired - Part II - Now he is in the Frozen Four with VGK

[GoBs]

I thought it was strange Wagner wasn’t good enough to play all season but he is inserted for three playoff games
Sweeney make that decisio?

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

So I’m completely in agreement that if the players were tuning him out, it was time

However I really don’t like the flip flopping on his status, and that to me has Neely’ a fingerprints all over it so once again, Neely is the real problem

Since Neely has been the Bruins president, they have a winning percentage of .640 in the regular season (2nd only to Pittsburgh's .644).

In the playoffs, .547. 5th behind Colorado, Tampa, Vegas and Chicago.

Someone must be doing a hell of a job to be making up for Cam's incompetence.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

You notice a lot of breakaways or odd man rushes for the Bruins the past two seasons?

Do you think the Bruins' players are incapable of skating fast enough to outpace an opponent and create a breakaway or odd man rush?

Did Sean Kuraly's revival last season occur due to his skill/effort returning in Columbus, or were his last two seasons with the Bruins a result of Cassidy's usage?

Is the overarching reason for the Bruins' bottom six forwards being an abject black hole offensively over the past couple season a matter of skill, effort or usage? People were surprised by Curtis Lazar scoring 8 goals on the 4th line. 8 goals surpassed expectations.

I believe you are overlooking a lot when attributing the problems solely to skill.

Columbus was 28th out 32 teams in goals allowed. Not even close to being a playoff team. Could be a little easier to get a bunch of cheap points playing on that team.

Cassidy's job was to win hockey games, not to boost the stats of the bottom liners.

 

[BruinDust]

You notice a lot of breakaways or odd man rushes for the Bruins the past two seasons?

Do you think the Bruins' players are incapable of skating fast enough to outpace an opponent and create a breakaway or odd man rush?

Did Sean Kuraly's revival last season occur due to his skill/effort returning in Columbus, or were his last two seasons with the Bruins a result of Cassidy's usage?

Is the overarching reason for the Bruins' bottom six forwards being an abject black hole offensively over the past couple season a matter of skill, effort or usage? People were surprised by Curtis Lazar scoring 8 goals on the 4th line. 8 goals surpassed expectations.

I believe you are overlooking a lot when attributing the problems solely to skill.

I'm not naive enough to think there aren't other issues, or that coaching had zero to do with the poor shooting %.

But the root cause (and I've been saying this for a long time) is that this management group don't put enough value on shooting ability. The ability to shoot and put the puck past the goaltender, not volume shooters like Craig Smith who shoot a lot but rarely put the puck actually past the goaltender. It's a skill that is becoming more and more necessary in today's NHL.

Then factor in the D-Corps that is for my money the worst D-Corps in the entire NHL at generating quality shots from the point. Gryz and Reilly basically shoot muffins. All Forbort can do is toss the puck on net. Brandon Carlo can actually hammer a puck but rarely does it. Clifton's shot is merely average. Zboril hits more shin pads with his shots than he does goalie pads. McAvoy is the best of the bunch but he tends to prefer wrist shots to one-timers or slappers. I'm not sure what Lindholm brings in the shooting department as I didn't see enough of him.

 

[BlackFrancis]

Columbus was 28th out 32 teams in goals allowed. Not even close to being a playoff team. Could be a little easier to get a bunch of cheap points playing on that team.

Cassidy's job was to win hockey games, not to boost the stats of the bottom liners.

That's absolutely true. And I stumble trying to explain this because the system does work.

It seems insane to put your best defensive forward - your best faceoff man - out almost exclusively for offensive zone faceoffs. But I'll be damned if Cassidy's system doesn't clearly suppress goals against. Seems counter intuitive, but proof's proof enough.

But you should be able to agree this team has had vanishingly few breakaways the past two/three seasons, and this is absolutely due to the system as well. Same with odd man rushes. And both of those contribute to the cratering shooting percentage.

 

[BlackFrancis]

Then factor in the D-Corps that is for my money the worst D-Corps in the entire NHL at generating quality shots from the point. Gryz and Reilly basically shoot muffins. All Forbort can do is toss the puck on net. Brandon Carlo can actually hammer a puck but rarely does it. Clifton's shot is merely average. Zboril hits more shin pads with his shots than he does goalie pads. McAvoy is the best of the bunch but he tends to prefer wrist shots to one-timers or slappers. I'm not sure what Lindholm brings in the shooting department as I didn't see enough of him.

It's going to be interesting to see if the defensemen are as inept as they've shown. If nothing else, they won't get crapped on for pinching or taking the occasional slap shot.

 

[rocketdan9]

‘The Bruin is basically tattooed to me’: Inside Bruce Cassidy’s final meeting with the media

Anderson: Ex-Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy spent 45 minutes chatting with the Bruins beat over Zoom on Thursday, answering any and everything thrown his way.

985thesportshub.com

Looks like contains the bulk of the interview. Good job by Ty Anderson

 

[Over the volcano]

I'm not naive enough to think there aren't other issues, or that coaching had zero to do with the poor shooting %.

Then factor in the D-Corps that is for my money the worst D-Corps in the entire NHL at generating quality shots from the point. Gryz and Reilly basically shoot muffins. All Forbort can do is toss the puck on net. Brandon Carlo can actually hammer a puck but rarely does it. Clifton's shot is merely average. Zboril hits more shin pads with his shots than he does goalie pads. McAvoy is the best of the bunch but he tends to prefer wrist shots to one-timers or slappers. I'm not sure what Lindholm brings in the shooting department as I didn't see enough of him.

Think they'd get better looks and spark some better % for guys up front if their forwards were coached up to get inside the D more. A little more havoc in front of the net opens those shooting lanes.

 

[LSCII]

The story of that December break must be a good one. After 5 1/2 years and whatever was said to him during that break he finally takes an egg out of his 1st line basket - they look like a whole new team the rest of the regular season: Hall, Haula, Smith, Debrusk, Coyle, Frederic come alive.

Playoffs roll around and halfway through game two he undoes it.

Leopards and spots and whatnot.


If you're going to mention that rumor you should at least let people know you're the one inventing it.

First off, its not a bullshit statement. Seriously. I made nothing up as it was all part of Fluto's report on the Athletic. To paraphrase, he said Pasta did not like how Sweeney treated Krug and Krejci and did not want to resign here long term because of it. He also mentioned that Pasta wasn't interested in starting over with a new coach and a rebuild like it seems to be happening. So if you don't like hearing that, take it up with Fluto as he's the guy that had sources tell him that.

I don't care whether you like Cassidy or not or wanted to keep him or not. The biggest problem this organization has is the shitty front office. And it will be until they're no longer here.

 

[LSCII]

This is a team that under Cassidy from 2017 until 2020 was middle-of-the-pack in shooting % (18th, 10th, 13th, 12th).

The past two seasons they've been 27th in 2020-21 and 30th in 2021-22.

Is that a coaching issue or a talent/skill-set issue? I'm gonna say it's a talent/skill-set problem.

I don't know how any NHL manager can look at a team that is 3rd worst in the entire NHL in shooting % and believe that roster is a contender.

To have Don Sweeney sit there with his smug dumb face and say he didn't feel like Cassidy didn't develop the young guys enough is laughable. Maybe if Donnie didn't reach for every draft pick, some of the players would you know, actually make the league? I mean WTF? You held the coach accountable for reaching on stiffs like Freddy, Studnicka, Seny, etc. Nobody could make those guys actual NHL caliber players with the ability to actually contribute to an NHL team let alone one that expects to compete for a cup.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

 

[Dr Hook]

I wonder who criticized him and why they should give it a shit unless their names are Sweeney and Neely?

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

I wonder who criticized him and why they should give it a shit unless their names are Sweeney and Neely?

Well if we’re going to run with Fluto’s anonymous source, we should do it with Friedman’s, right?

 

[LSCII]

Well if we’re going to run with Fluto’s anonymous source, we should do it with Friedman’s, right?

I wouldn't run with anything. I'd just look at the factors and stories out there and see what happens. Ultimately nobody but Pasta knows. But I would say his agent's statement was all about damage control and trying to keep their options as open as possible.

 

[Dr Hook]

Well if we’re going to run with Fluto’s anonymous source, we should do it with Friedman’s, right?

I'm not running with anything, just wondering who was being critical of Cassidy's zoom and why.

 

[rocketdan9]

 

[BMC]

Think they'd get better looks and spark some better % for guys up front if their forwards were coached up to get inside the D more. A little more havok in front of the net opens those shooting lanes.

This! I preached this all last season. Get.in.front.of.the.damn.net. Make it harder for the goaltender to see the puck & clear the defenders out from in front of the crease. If the outside shooters miss you're right there for a rebound or tip in.

But that takes heavy, hard work. This bunch doesn't seem to want to do that, they were content to snap 15-20 footers into the goaltender's chest for the most part.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

This! I preached this all last season. Get.in.front.of.the.damn.net. Make it harder for the goaltender to see the puck & clear the defenders out from in front of the crease. If the outside shooters miss you're right there for a rebound or tip in.

But that takes heavy, hard work. This bunch doesn't seem to want to do that, they were content to snap 15-20 footers into the goaltender's chest for the most part.

So did Cassidy. All the time.

 

[BMC]

First off, its not a bullshit statement. Seriously. I made nothing up as it was all part of Fluto's report on the Athletic. To paraphrase, he said Pasta did not like how Sweeney treated Krug and Krejci and did not want to resign here long term because of it. He also mentioned that Pasta wasn't interested in starting over with a new coach and a rebuild like it seems to be happening. So if you don't like hearing that, take it up with Fluto as he's the guy that had sources tell him that.

I don't care whether you like Cassidy or not or wanted to keep him or not. The biggest problem this organization has is the shitty front office. And it will be until they're no longer here.

It's interesting in how history repeats itself. At one point no worthwhile UFA would even consider signing with the Bruins, Bruins UFAs couldn't wait to get out & I'm sure there were times when players refused to waive their NMC/NTCs to come here, because of the shit front office.

Now we may see the same thing happen again. Ownership has learned absolutely nothing from the last time this happened (2005-6). It's deja vu all over again! :vomit:

 

[rocketdan9]

This bunch doesn't seem to want to do that, they were content to snap 15-20 footers into the goaltender's chest for the most part.

Coach = "just keep shooting it at the net. Eventually the goalie will get tired and the puck will push the goalie into the netting"

Tbh this is the feeling I got. Most were low grade chances. The worst was, cycle it to the Ds... but hesitant to shoot..... just pass it back to the forward deep into the corner. Like playing catch with a puck

I wish the Bruins incorporated one timers, to prevent the Ds and goalies from getting set. Or one time passes. Things that can be worked at in practice

 

[Spooner st]

Weren't Sinden & Jacobs around when Bergeron & Marchand signed? Or Taylor Hall? Or Chara?

Chiarelli was brought in to fix the toxic era of the Sinden/Jacob's where they had problems attracting players to Boston... it's well documented in case you don't remember.

Marchand, Bergeron and to an extent Krejci was the new long term discount contracts, then Sweeney who started under Chiarelli continued the 2nd round of contracts with home discount contracts... but that is all over now with Sweeney overpaying to sign players. Let's also not forget the dirty propaganda everytime they trade or fire someone. The NHL is a small world...

 

[GoBs]

I thought it was strange Wagner wasn’t good enough to play all season but he is inserted for three playoff games
Sweeney make that decisio?

 

[GoBs]

It's going to be interesting to see if the defensemen are as inept as they've shown. If nothing else, they won't get crapped on for pinching or taking the occasional slap shot.

Or for being in the top four for allowing breakaways

 

[McGarnagle]

I thought it was strange Wagner wasn’t good enough to play all season but he is inserted for three playoff games
Sweeney make that decisio?

Wagner was buried in the minors because they were trying to manipulate his cap hit. He was no worse than Nosek or Foligno talent-wise and much less of a potential liability than an unhinged Frederic.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Chiarelli was brought in to fix the toxic era of the Sinden/Jacob's where they had problems attracting players to Boston... it's well documented in case you don't remember.

Marchand, Bergeron and to an extent Krejci was the new long term discount contracts, then Sweeney who started under Chiarelli continued the 2nd round of contracts with home discount contracts... but that is all over now with Sweeney overpaying to sign players. Let's also not forget the dirty propaganda everytime they trade or fire someone. The NHL is a small world...

The first thing the Bruins did after hiring Chiarelli was to sign Chara & Savard. So how toxic was it?

They were a bad team who still had Harry Sinden in the front office. But like most players, they signed for the money.