Well, the hits keep on coming for the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins announced on Tuesday morning that Bruce Cassidy has been placed in COVID-19 protocols — and will miss, at the very least, Tuesday's home matchup against the Red Wings.
"He's feeling overall fine,” Don Sweeney said of Cassidy. “I spoke with him a few minutes ago. Mild symptoms associated with it. So thankful for that.”
With Cassidy currently on the shelf, Sweeney said that Joe Sacco will be the point man on Boston’s bench for Tuesday’s tilt with Detroit.
"Joe will take over primary duties,” Sweeney said. “Kevin (Dean) will stay as is. Obviously, Chris Kelly's been on the sidelines here. He'll be back for the weekend, so he's out for a few more days as well. We'll actually probably use (goalie coach Bob Essensa) and (skating and skills coach) Kim Brandvold a little bit in terms of just reinforcing some of the things that the full staff would be doing in an in-game situation. Like we do with our players, I guess, next man up.”
Cassidy stands as the first COVID-related absence to hit Boston so far during the regular season — with Boston, so far, avoiding some of the larger outbreaks that have decimated rosters and forced teams like the Senators and Islanders to postpone games.
However, as more cases continue to spread around the league, a setback like this sure seemed inevitable.
“You saw it kind of coming. ... The outbreaks were rising and rising — not only across the league, but around the world. So it is what it is,” Patrice Bergeron said. “We've been there before and now it's back to the mask and that's it. Again, to me, it's always about the next guy up and moving forward. So we're going to do what needs to be done and respect the protocols and respect what we're being asked from the doctors and people that deal with all the science and then go from there.”
Even though Boston’s dressing room has yet to be severely impacted, the same can’t be said for the B’s farm team down in Providence — with a severe outbreak forcing the AHL club to go into a temporary shutdown.
As a result, Boston is limited in terms of calling up players, staff or other coaches from the Baby B’s — which makes for rough timing given Cassidy’s absence, Brad Marchand’s suspension, Anton Blidh’s injury and Jake DeBrusk’s trade request.
“Providence, just to be clear, it's not an option for us to bring players up from Providence,” Sweeney explained. “They're in a lockdown situation. They had a significant breakout associated with some really difficult travel over the weekend and some situations around their division. So we're certainly balancing a little bit of player availability as well as coaches and staff with the Providence situation.”
When it rains, it pours.