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 fame as one of many extra candid and sincere 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 mirror 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 informed Granger of his firing and Boston’s record-setting run in 2022-23. “They did a great job of adjusting some issues.

“We modified some issues right here that helped the Knights. Pete [DeBoer] modified issues in Dallas that helped the Stars. You may’t beat your self up over it. Coaches transfer. I acquired a chance 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, successful a Presidents’ Trophy in 2020.

After swapping out Cassidy with Jim Montgomery this previous summer time, the Bruins steamrolled the competitors from October by means of 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 type and the way it impacted the Bruins throughout his time with the workforce. Nevertheless, Boston’s beautiful first-round loss to the Panthers has erased any notion that the Cassidy household will hear jeers after they return to Massachusetts later this summer time.

“I’m a giant boy. I can take care of it,” Cassidy stated of criticism. “What I used to be extra involved with was we’ve a home in Cape Cod, and we prefer it there in the summertime. Now we have a number of roots there. I labored there for 15 years and the children have been born there.

“I used to be somewhat relieved after [the Bruins] misplaced within the playoffs for my children not having to listen to about ‘Oh, in case your dad had executed a greater job…’ what I imply? Youngsters say issues. … “I consider my children daily, as a result of in the event that they’re blissful I’m blissful, and in the event that they’re unhappy I’m unhappy,” he stated. “I used to be so relieved from that time, for them.”

Although Cassidy and his household now name Las Vegas residence 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 kids 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 onerous,” Cassidy stated. “It was robust, and even to today, it stings whenever you get that shut. You go all the best way to Sport 7, with your property crowd. I stay in Boston and persons are disenchanted. They let you already know. They’re happy with their workforce, 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 stated of the Stanley Cup. “I don’t wish to say it’s the whole lot, however by way of my profession, it’s the whole lot to win the Cup. These [other trophies] are all nice. They’re. They’re accomplishments, however they’re not the Stanley Cup. Individuals discuss Stanley Cup champions, not Jack Adams winners or Presidents’ trophy winners.”