Bruce Cassidy ready for better days ahead as majority of Bruins' traveling party receives COVID vaccines

After multiple COVID-related postponements, quarantines and other complications brought upon by navigating through an NHL campaign in the midst of a global pandemic, the Bruins are getting closer and closer to reaching the light at the end of tunnel when it comes to safeguarding themselves and their families moving forward.

Speaking on Friday morning, Bruce Cassidy estimated that around 75-80% of the Bruins' traveling party (which is comprised of players, coaches and other staff) have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Multiple Bruins players received their dose following Tuesday's win over the Sabres, with Cassidy noting that an optional skate on Wednesday — and a subsequent slow start on Thursday against Buffalo — was a byproduct of some lingering effects from the shot.

"Some guys had less adverse effects than others," Cassidy said. "A few guys were fatigued a little bit. We knew that might happen. But we want to get the players vaccinated as quickly as possible - everyone that travels, specifically, so that we can at least reduce it in-house so we don't have to shut down.

"For everyone's family's sake, for society’s skate, we want to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible here. But if we can get it done internally around us, it sure helps with some continuity with the season. That's the chance you take whenever you do it that you might have a reaction. But I think that's behind us now, I hope."

The Bruins, like many other NHL clubs, have dealt with multiple complications due to the ongoing virus in 2021. So far, the Bruins have had three players (Jaroslav Halak, Sean Kuraly and Jake DeBrusk) spend extended stretches on the league's COVID Protocol list — while multiple other players such as Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak, David Krejci, Craig Smith have all earned various short stints on the list due to factors such as contact tracing and false positives.

It should be important to note that — as an exasperated Robin Lehner noted earlier this week — that even as more and more players and teams across the NHL get vaccinated, there's no guarantee that the NHL will ease up on safety protocols and restrictions put in place this season, which limit off-ice interactions between teammates and largely confine members of the traveling party to their hotel rooms for road trips.

However, beginning the vaccination process is still a major step in the right direction for the Bruins and other NHL teams when it comes to preventing additional complications going into the postseason — while raising rates of vaccinations across Massachusetts and the rest of New England should also signal brighter days ahead for society as a whole.

"From our industry perspective, it would be great if everybody did (get vaccinated)," Cassidy said. "Because obviously that lessens the chance of the spread, lessens the chance of people getting ill. But at the end of the day, that's their choice. So I'm glad to see most of the people are taking it. And then society as a whole, you know, you try to read up on it ... How's Massachusetts doing, so that you can slowly open up the other parts, not necessarily with hockey, but more fans, restaurants around the Garden, restaurants in general, people can get out and do different things and enjoy the game again.

"I tell you what, it's a big difference, even with a small amount of fans in an empty building. Buffalo the other night didn't have fans and it's just different now that we've been in the Garden with fans and just a little more of the atmosphere. Even though it's not a full house, it still seems more like the old hockey, so that part's great. And I assume with the vaccine, the more people that get it, it'll lead to a little more of that ability to get people in. So hopefully that's how it plays out. But for our guys, I think it just lessens the risk of the spread and the shutdowns that have affected a lot of teams. So hopefully that's what takes place."