NHL Notebook: Does a young coach like Spencer Carbery make the most sense for this Bruins team?

For all of the fears that the Bruins’ search for a new bench boss would only involve those with direct links to the Original Six franchise or tired retreads, Don Sweeney pushed back on such an assertion during his latest press conference last week — noting that Boston was not just settling on candidates with previous NHL coaching experience.

"I’m certainly going to be open-minded. I’m going to cast the net a little wider," Sweeney said. "I don’t think it’s an absolute prerequisite. As I’ve said, we’ve got an experienced group of guys that want to win, know how to win and a young group of guys as the next core — Charlie and David being part of that, that hopefully can bridge and will continue to bridge the next group of young guys that will come in. Now, the coach needs to direct that ship and be able to communicate effectively across all those age groups. And that’s certainly why I want to make sure I cast the net wide enough. I don’t believe it’s an absolute prerequisite to have a coach behind an NHL bench.”

Given Sweeney’s comments, it should come as no surprise just who the Bruins have tabbed to interview for the vacant job, with a report from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette noting that the Bruins are scheduled to interview five candidates: Jim Montgomery, Jay Leach, Joe Sacco, Spencer Carbery and David Quinn, who has been tabbed as an early favorite alongside Leach.

Just a day earlier, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that both Montgomery and Leach were “in the mix” for the gig, along with Providence College head coach Nate Leaman.  

We've already combed over a number of these coaching options — with Montgomery serving as another intriguing name who, despite a lauded playing career at the University of Maine, doesn’t have a whole lot of ties to this franchise. 

Of course, looking internally at an assistant like Sacco makes plenty of sense for the standard operating procedure that comes with these interview sessions. Quinn and Leaman have plenty of regional links and former players who have donned black-and-gold sweaters.

Leach does check plenty of boxes. Yes, there is still some comfort level there for Bruins management given the 42-year-old coach’s recent tenure as bench boss down in Providence and his history of working with some of the B’s prospects now trying to carve out regular roles up in the NHL ranks. But Leach also offers a young, fresh perspective that might be needed for a franchise that could be staring at a painful few seasons.

Leach is a logical pick for Boston — albeit a rather safe one. 

But when it comes to offering the highest returns, there’s a lot to like about what a coaching candidate like Carbery could offer this team in his first head-coaching gig up at the NHL level. 

Carbery might be a bit of an unknown, especially among this field of reported interview candidates for the Bruins. 

But the 40-year-old’s resume should intrigue plenty of Bruins fans, especially those that are looking more to the future and the clean slate that such a directional shift might offer.

Here are a few reasons why Carbery could be a very interesting fit for the Bruins:

He represents a fresh voice on a shifting roster

Well, if we’re going to run through qualifications, talking points and what exactly Sweeney and Cam Neely might be looking for in Boston’s next head coach — might as well focus on the narrative that Sweeney echoed time and time again during his latest press conference.

That fabled “new voice” in the room. 

Sure, Sweeney doubled down on the fact that Bruce Cassidy never “lost the room” this past season, but it’s pretty evident that Boston’s front office thought that a new coach was needed in order to offer a different dynamic than the stern, blunt delivery that Cassidy was prone to deliver.

Frankly, you can push back by noting that Cassidy had high standards for a team looking to capitalize in a “win-now” window — or counter with the fact that Boston’s prospects who didn’t get a lot of rope from Cassidy … perhaps just aren’t all that great. 

But like it or not, it’s clear that the Bruins believe that a coach willing to give young players a longer leash is the best choice moving forward — especially given the need for this team to integrate more young talent in the years ahead. 

“The coach has to have the communication skills to be able to bridge that gap with older and younger players,” Sweeney said. “I think that’s paramount now with integration. As I said, in a perfect world, all players are overcooked or over-baked. Kenny Holland and my peer group have used that terminology. And we won’t be any different. But I go back, you’ve asked me about the [Fabian] Lysells of the world [jumping to the NHL]. Only when they’re ready. I mean, David Pastrnak is a great example of that a number of years ago. We didn’t necessarily believe he was ready, but he came in and scored against Philadelphia and next thing you know, he’s in our lineup for the rest of the year and impactful moving forward.

“Those will be the challenges that we try and find the balance of development and an infusion of talent and the new coach is going to have to be able to communicate and bridge that gap from older players, communicating with them and holding them to a standard that I think we all feel is necessary.”

 Now, that’s not to say that Carbery is just going to let players run the room or just play "Kumbaya" in a circle when the going gets tough for his team. But Sweeney’s comments do seem to reflect on the need for a younger coach that can form some connections with could be a pretty green B’s roster in the next few years.

And for as much as the NHL and coaching hirings have often been marked by notions of retreads and the “Old Boys Club” mantra, a number of have teams have set their sights on younger bench bosses over the years — including current under-50 coaches like Arizona’s André Tourigny, Columbus’ Brad Larsen, Edmonton’s Jay Woodcroft, Florida’s Andrew Brunette, Montreal’s Martin St. Louis, Nashville’s John Hynes, Ottawa’s D.J. Smith and Toronto’s Sheldon Keefe.

And Carbery would the latest in a long line of up-and-coming coaches from the AHL who has seen his stock soar over the last few seasons. 

After serving as an assistant on Leach’s staff with Providence in 2017-18, Carbery was named head coach of the Hershey Bears — leading them to a record of 104-50-17 over his three seasons while earning AHL Coach of the Year honors in 2021. 

Add in his successful first season up in the NHL as an assistant on Keefe’s staff in Toronto, and Carbery has already built a pretty lofty resume for himself when it comes to his ability to thrive at every stop on his way up the coaching ladder — especially as it pertains to working with younger talent.

If the Bruins plan on ushering in waves of young skaters over the next few seasons as part of a larger roster turnover, entrenching a 40-year-old coach at the top of the organization with extensive reps in development roles does seem to be an apt move. 

An inventive mind on offense

The Bruins might be looking for a new voice in the room, but it doesn’t seem like Sweeney is looking for someone to take existing structures and wipe the whiteboard clean. 

“I think the structure of our hockey club will remain,” Sweeney said. “You watch Edmonton and Colorado get up and down the ice, it’s a talent-driven league. But structure, how you can defend – you look at Tampa and all the success they’ve had. We’re a good club. You’re in the top part of the league for a reason. Sometimes it just depends on where you are in your cycle. Teams have been in a position. It’s the first time Colorado has been in the Stanley Cup Final for 20 years. Joe [Sakic] has done a hell of a job. Chris [MacFarland] and Craig Billington, they’ve got themselves at the doorstep. 

"And other teams are in a similar fashion. We’ve been a team that’s been very competitive, and I want to continue to do that. In this town, it is necessary to hold a team to a competitive standard. That coach has to walk that walk.”

Well, alright. Perhaps the Bruins don’t want some of the stingy defensive structure to wane (frankly, who would?), but both Sweeney and Neely also stressed last month the need to draw more offense out of this group — be it on the power play and especially at 5v5 play. “

You’re always analyzing and dissecting your club, throughout the whole year really. But the playoffs certainly gave me some indication that we’ve got to do a little better job of getting inside the dots,” Neely said. “Maybe not try to have such a rush mentality. I thought we were getting a little stubborn at times, turning pucks over the blue line, whether it was an entry on the power play or 5-on-5. I think at times, you’ve got to take what’s given to you and sometimes you’ve got to dump it in and go get it and grind it out.”

And if the Bruins are looking for a fresh set of eyes to comb through their roster and find ways to refine some of Boston’s offensive capabilities, there’s a lot to like about a young coach like Carberry — who has already built a pretty stout reputation for his ability to draw more production out of some already impressive personnel.

While Carbery worked with defensemen during his lone season with Providence, he’s been talked up in league circles for quite a few years now when it comes to his ability to delve deep into the inner workers of a power-play unit and inject some new life into it. 

Look no further than Carbery’s lone season so far with Toronto. Sure, the Leafs have a loaded group on their power play with guys like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly, John Tavares and William Nylander in place — but the 2020-21 season was tough sledding for that group, which went from the second-best power play in the league in the first half of the season … to the second-worst in the second half.

A lot of those woes for Toronto were a byproduct of the Leafs being far too predictable and stubborn — with the team too reliant on Matthews’ one-timer or struggling with clean entries into the offensive zone (sound familiar?)

With teams taking away Matthews’ shot, Toronto was unable to generate much in their umbrella formation — with Reilly and Marner failing to inflict much damage from their spots higher up on the ice (just one combined power-play goal for those two all season).

But after ranking 16th in the league in 2020-21 in power-play percentage, the Leafs shot up to No. 1 in the NHL in 2021-22 with a 27.3% success rate — all under Carbery’s watch as Toronto’s new power-play architect.

Toronto might have a strong cast in place, but Carbery flipped that group around in order to make it a more unpredictable matchup for an opposing PK unit — shifting Marner over the bumper and moving Nylander down along the half-wall. 

By focusing on getting more skilled players in tight spaces around the net, not only did Toronto’s rate for generating Grade-A chances rise, but it also granted Toronto a lot more options to bury chances — rather than put all of their eggs in one basket and rely on Matthews’ shot, something that other teams could easily telegraph.

Carbery may not be long in the tooth when compared to other coaches around the league, but some of the hallmarks of his offensive gameplans at even-strength or 5v4 action — drop passes, a mobile bumper role, speed through the middle and entries along the boards, emphasis on passes down low — might be some new wrinkles that help draw more tangible production out of this Bruins group.

Carbery may not steal headlines if he's snatched up as head coach, but if the B’s are trying to usher in a new era and are ready to truly shake things up — placing your bets on a young coach with a pretty sterling resume does seem to be a gamble worth taking. 

Takeaways from Cassidy’s presser in Vegas

While the Bruins continue their search for a new head coach, Bruce Cassidy was introduced to the media in Las Vegas on Thursday, with the former B’s coach already expressing a desire to perhaps stick to it his former franchise after getting let go less than two weeks ago.

“I do, I do,” Cassidy said when asked if he has something to prove with his new role with the Golden Knights. “I got let go. So, this is not some sort of revenge tour or anything like that. It’s just that I want to prove to myself, more importantly, that I’m capable of doing the job and winning [and] winning in the postseason. So yeah, there’s a little bit of that.

“It’s not going to consume me every day by any means. I think when you come close to winning the Cup, it’s always in the back of your mind that you want to finish the job, and I definitely have that mindset.”

And when it comes to accountability and his communication style (a factor that clearly played into his dismissal here in Boston), Cassidy added that he doesn’t expect to change his approach for a veteran-heavy Vegas team that is also looking to orchestrate a deep run in the spring of 2023.

“The accountability will be there,” Cassidy said. “The messaging will always be different, player to player, room to room. That to me is a feeling-out process. It will happen quick. I’m pretty good at assessing people. I’ve always believed you have to earn your way in the National Hockey League. With younger guys, I don’t like to let those habits and details slip, so they’ll hear more of the message. How you deliver that message, everyone has a different coaching style. I’ll get to know the players and figure out what’s best for them. But I do believe that if you don’t have accountability, you don’t have much in the end.”

NHL generates record revenue, but don’t expect a surge in cap space soon 

After completing the league’s first 82-game season in two years, it appears as though the NHL is well on its way to recovery following a lean stretch during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that the league will generate record revenues of more than $5.2 billion this season — adding that the 2022-23 season will have a more traditional starting date of Oct. 11. 

"What we've done is we've [continued to operate], we've done the fundamentals of our business," Bettman said. "We had a major increase in our national media revenues in the United States. Our buildings are back to basically where they were [with attendance], and maybe a little better. Our playoffs this year, the first two rounds generated 88% of the revenues that we did in the first two rounds the last time we had normal playoffs [in 2019]. We continued to put on NHL hockey under the most difficult of times. ... We were able to stabilize the business and power through."

Given that surge in revenue, the NHL and NHLPA  announced that the salary-cap upper limit for the 2022-23 season is going to be set at $82.5 million, standing as the first time in three years it is increasing. It’s an increase of $1 million from the previous cap limit of $81.5 million — which remained stagnant during the tough sledding that came with the pandemic. 

Even with these strong revenue streams and the league’s new broadcast deals with ESPN/Turner, the NHL salary cap won't increase significantly until an estimated $1 billion in debt held by the players is repaid to the owners. Bettman said the league is projecting that debt to be paid off in "two, maybe three years." As such, don’t expect that cap upper limit to really start surging until, say, 2025-26.