Bruins
“I’m within the membership they usually 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 Recreation 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Remaining.
“We use that phrase (legacy) round right here, however I feel it’s for a lot later, so I haven’t thought of mine personally,” Cassidy stated at TD Backyard. “I simply need my title on the rattling Cup, that’s what I would like.”
1,462 days later, Cassidy lastly acquired his want.
After getting fired by the Bruins on June 6, 2022, Cassidy gained hockey’s high prize simply over a yr later, hoisting the Stanley Cup in his first season as head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights.
“It’s very rewarding,” Cassidy instructed TNT’s Darren Pang on the postgame broadcast. “I’m within the membership now. I’m within the membership they usually 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 Recreation 5 clincher on Tuesday, Cassidy embraced his fellow coaches on the Knights’ bench earlier than elevating his new championship hat to a raucous house 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 important story. Very, very grateful to get one other alternative,” Cassidy stated. “Nice group of men. … I’m simply right here to do my job and it labored out effectively. It’s an unbelievable feeling. Take a look at this — 20,000 folks in right here. Always remember it.”
Though 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 brief 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 perhaps we wanted,” Stone stated of Cassidy’s arrival.
Even with a decimated goalie corps that compelled third-string goalie Adin Hill right into a featured (and finally dominant) function, the Golden Knights carved a swath by means of the playoffs due to 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 power for the Golden Knights within the 2023 playoffs, posting 29 factors (6 objectives, 23 assists) over 23 postseason contests en path to his first championship.
Like Cassidy, it’s been an extended highway 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 in an effort to lengthen 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 evening. 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 Remaining. This marks Kessel’s third championship after successful 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 house out in Vegas.
In fact, the rational take is that each the Bruins and Golden Knights finally 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 positive earned the final snicker this spring.
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