Bruins' focus on the future with Bruce Cassidy paying off in the present

DETROIT – It’s been a significant turn of events for the Boston Bruins in the last calendar year.

On Feb. 7, 2017, the organization fired Claude Julien after 10 seasons. The team named Bruce Cassidy interim coach, and it was a no-brainer at season’s end to strip the interim tag and hand him the reins. It’s not that the players tuned on Julien, or the team wasn’t winning, but the organization had its focus on the future and the Stanley Cup-winning coach wasn’t in the plans.

So, the change was made.



Since taking over behind Boston’s bench, Cassidy is 50-19-9. The record is not a fluke. The players have bought into the changes and the coach’s philosophies. It’s an exciting team to watch and it has the potential to become perennial Stanley Cup contenders once again.

Ownership and upper management are thrilled with the team’s success under Cassidy.

“Well, the record speaks for itself,” team president Cam Neely told BostonSportsJournal.com. “Just the type of style he’s brought to the team and how he wants them to play has certainly been the biggest change, as far as how we’re approaching the games and how we practice, and then ultimately the success we’ve had with it.”

General manager Don Sweeney was criticized for making the coaching change when he did, because it was the day of the Patriots’ Super Bowl championship parade in Boston. Many believed it was the Bruins’ way of avoiding attention. In fact, Sweeney was being honest with his explanation that the team needed two days of practice with Cassidy as the new coach before facing its next opponent, because things were going to be different.

During those two practices, Cassidy quickly explained how – from a hockey standpoint – things would be different. The team used those two sessions to increase its practice pace in hopes it would translate during games. Well, the Bruins won seven of their next eight games, including four straight after Cassidy took over.

“For me, they were very important and they were important for (Sweeney),” Cassidy told BostonSportsJournal.com. “To get your message across, and how you want to play, it’s easy to say it. But to go out and hear, ‘This is what we’re doing. This is what we want.’ Now, just because you have two practices a certain way doesn’t mean it’s automatic. You have to work at it and this is how we’re going to start.”

Even though he was officially named coach on Feb. 7, Cassidy was told the night before of the organization’s decision to make a change. He knew instantly the first thing he wanted to change.

“The pace of our game,” Cassidy quickly replied. “And, that was going to start in practice. I don’t want to go back to what the practices were previously, I’m just telling you how I wanted to run them. We wanted to be on the ice and we wanted to be efficient. We didn’t want (to stop practice) and go to the board. We wanted the players to go through a high pace, so that when the game came, it would hopefully slow down for them.”

That means more puck movement and more compete without standing still during practices. Cassidy wanted more game situations. In today’s game, even at youth, high school, junior, college and pro levels, there’s a lot of emphasis on small-area games. Practices will include 3-on-3 battle drills down low.

“I prefer more 5-on-5 in zone, because it’s more realistic,” explained Cassidy.

Every drill he designs is meant to have a game aspect built in, including the goalie warmup; it’s not just grab a puck and skate.

“We try to make it all game specific, so that in a game everything we did (in practice) was relevant. So, that was the first thing we did – play to a higher pace with the puck and without the puck.”

As a result of those changes, the Bruins now check faster in the neutral zone. There’s more of a willingness to allow the players to hunt pucks, which basically means the Bruins are less-system oriented and more focused on using their speed.

“Let the guys play a little bit that way without being reckless,” explained Cassidy. “Obviously, with our goals-against being the lowest in the league we have our level of structure we’re comfortable with.”

Cassidy’s practices were similar when he was coaching in Providence. He wanted to be more of a skating team, because those were the types of players the organization had drafted under Sweeney & Co.

“You can still be a good, solid, hard-to-play-against defensive, physical team, but we were just going to skate more,” Cassidy said. “We weren’t going to stand around and always protect the middle and wait for the other team to force it in there; we were going to create anxiety.

“So, those practices were very important. The guys got a feel for the expectations,” Cassidy said.

In order to play with more pace and a higher tempo, Cassidy eliminated many of the D-to-D plays.

On the breakout, the Bruins want their defensemen to get back, control the puck and quickly move it out of the zone with one pass instead of moving it to their partner, which slows down the transition game.

In the neutral zone, instead of passing D-to-D, defensemen are instructed to look up ice first and make a quick play before the opposition has a chance to set their defense.

“You’ll be amazed how many times teams are in a line change, or one guy fell down, so that breaks down your whole chain of five guys if you’re relying on structured defense, so the quicker you can get going, it’s kind of like a no-huddle offense,” explained Cassidy. “We’ve tried to incorporate that and we’ve done a good job with it. We transition well, and if you asked around, (opponents) would say that about us; we get through the blue lines in a hurry.”

Brad Marchand spoke honestly after the organization made the decision to fire Julien. The veteran forward was upset at the time and said it was on the players, not Julien. Marchand said he owed his career to Julien.

It’s important to remember that the players respected Julien and they’ll always have their names etched into the Stanley Cup together. When the change was made, the Bruins were 26-23-6 and in the midst of a two-game losing skid. Ownership and management believed it was time.

Marchand first worked with Cassidy when he was an assistant coach with the P-Bruins. Marchand has always been impressed with the coach’s commitment and knowledge of the X’s and O’s, and his ability to successful relay that message to the team.

“He’s very cut and dry,” admitted Marchand. “We know what he wants out of us and how he pushes us to play. It’s very easy to play a certain way when he gives us the direction that he does. It’s been very easy to transition and what he expects out of us. He doesn’t get caught up too much in what other teams do, it’s more just how we play and what he expects out of us.”

Looking back, Marchand recalls how much of a blur those few days last February now seem.

“It was a little different,” he said. “We definitely skated a little bit more in practice and that’s one thing he pushes – the tempo he wants us to play. It was such a whirlwind after something like that goes on and there’s a period of a feel-out process, for not only him, but for us.

“He was really good when the initial switch happened. He didn’t try to change too much too quickly. It was over time, it wasn’t right away. He tried to slowly break it in and was really good at not giving us too much too early, because that can throw a team off too. We were still doing well at the time, so if you start to throw too many wrinkles in it can throw a team off. He was really good at managing that, so you have to give him credit.”

A team’s success is not only based on the coach and that’s certainly the case with the Bruins under Cassidy.

Knowing there would be an influx of youth entering this season, the veteran core discussed how it wanted to handle the situation. The older players understood the game is rapidly changing and getting younger in the salary-cap era. Accepting the changes and helping the rookies develop both on and off the ice was a priority and it’s worked well.

“You’ve got to give credit to all the staff, even the core players, for embracing that aspect of it,” Neely said.

Added Cassidy, “We have great character. I didn’t think it would be a big issue. You just don’t know until you talk to them and where they’re at, but ultimately they just want to play and play with good players, and if they happen to be young then that energy can be contagious. The fact that the young players have held their own, in terms of being coachable, respectful and good players has made the process easier for everybody.”

Cassidy is a hockey nut. He will talk about the game with anyone, anywhere, at anytime. A life-long Bruins fan, he’s still in awe when former Bruin players walk into the locker room, or when he has a chance to sit down with any one of them. Recently, he met with Rick Middleton and Cassidy said he was thrilled for that opportunity.

It’s easy for Cassidy to describe the last calendar year.

“It’s been fantastic – a dream come true,” he said. “I know that sounds odd from a 52-year-old guy, but I have been a lifetime Bruins fan. If I ever could have a dream job, it would’ve been to play for the Boston Bruins, but that didn’t happen. Now, I’m coaching the Boston Bruins.

“Meeting the legends of the game, coaching in the Garden – all that stuff for me means a little more than the next place. You want to sustain it, and to sustain it you have to have a certain level of success in the regular season and the playoffs, so that what we’re creeping up on. Our regular season is going well, but how’s that going to translate in April and May. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but it starts to get in the back of your mind now. People have expectations, so that’s good; we’ve done a good thing. We’ve raised the expectations, so let’s see where we get to.”

If things continue to develop the way they have in the last year, it could lead to hockey’s promise land in the near future.