Bruins notebook: Bruce Cassidy approaches anniversary as B's bench boss, Bruins looking to keep championship run going

Patrice Bergeron won’t be the only member of the Bruins celebrating a career milestone this week.

Boston might be off on Thursday, but Feb. 7 will stand as the two-year anniversary of Bruce Cassidy’s appointment as head coach of the B’s. Boston’s latest bench boss didn’t have much time to catch his breath after taking the reins of the team — already asked to replace Boston’s all-time wins leader in Claude Julien, Cassidy was also tasked with jumpstarting a stalled club that was stuck in the mud with a 26-23-6 record.

It was a tall task for Cassidy — who spent the previous five seasons as head coach of the Providence Bruins before earning a promotion as assistant coach on Julien’s staff at the start of the 2016-17 campaign.

But he was ready to make the most of his opportunity — 13 years after he was fired from his first NHL head-coaching gig with the Capitals.



“I think I was well prepared for it, to be honest with you,” Cassidy said Monday. “Nervous, yes — always a little bit. Personally for me, through different challenges, I don’t usually get nervous. It’s almost fear of failure that takes over a little bit. You want to make sure you make your family proud and yourself proud of the job you can do. I think that gets me on edge a bit more than nerves. That was probably where I was at two years ago.”

Cassidy certainly hasn’t seemed out of place since taking over as head coach — earning a new contract after guiding Boston to an 18-8-1 record down the stretch in 2016-17 en route to the team’s first playoff appearance since 2014.

In the almost two years that Cassidy has been at the helm, the Bruins have posted a record of 96-44-20, and are on track to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third straight season.

It’s been a pretty seamless transition for Cassidy so far, although there’s still been a few facets of his job that he’s had to learn on the fly. It’s a bit of an odd locker room to keep tabs on — featuring an established core of veterans like Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and others, along with a large influx of young talent.

Managing younger players is something Cassidy is familiar with during his years in the AHL ranks. But handling players that have been in the B”s locker room for a decade-plus? That’s a very different challenge. 

“I think managing the group for the most part, just how to get your message out,” Cassidy said of the expected learning curves that come with the job. “Recently is a good example. I didn’t like what was happening the last four, five games in terms of letting games get away. I think most coaches would tell you they never want to beat themselves -- it’s a reflection of the coach. If that happens a lot, that you’re not instilling focus and discipline. That was something we did a little bit through you guys the other day and to the players directly. So you’re learning how to balance that and use all of your resources to get what you want.

“That’s been a learning curve for me. And then managing some the ups and downs of some of the veteran guys too. When to talk to them, when to pull back on them, when to give them what they need and let them play through it. I think the young guys are always going to go through that. I’ve had a lot of experience in Providence with that, it’s just that — you have to have kind of a short memory with those guys. Commit to them and give them a certain amount of time and if they’re able to stay, they stay or if not, they need more seasoning.”

For as hectic as his start as head coach might have been, it certainly seems as though Cassidy has found his groove now from the B’s bench.

“There was a snowstorm, they were going to cancel a game against San Jose,” Cassidy said of his first game as coach of the Bruins. “I remember that. The hockey gods were looking down on me, because we had a good run that weekend and kind of got it going.”

‘We’re next’

Expectations are always high when it comes to the Boston sports scene, but both the Bruins and Celtics have an awful lot to live up to now, given the fact both the Red Sox and Patriots have now captured titles within the same season.

The B’s may not be the heavy favorites to take home Lord Stanley’s Cup in the closing weeks of spring, but anything can happen come the postseason — especially with guys like Bergeron, Marchand and David Pastrnak in tow.

“We're next!" Cassidy said. "You're always motivated to win the Stanley Cup. I know I am, I've never done it. It's the number one goal. It is something to talk about. They've set the stage for it, it's us and the Celtics next. I think both teams are playing better, trending in the right direction. Hopefully we can get it done. I don't think we're as strong as favorites as Red Sox and the Pats -- either team -- but that doesn't mean we can't do it and be next. (I'm) looking forward to the challenge."