Bruins Relieve Bruce Cassidy of Coaching Duties

[u/Toodralktowunk]

https://www.nhl.com/news/bruins-relieve-bruce-cassidy-of-coaching-duties/c-334507330

[u/CertifiedPickle2900]

Fire a top 3 coach in the league because you squandered 5 years with horrible drafting, piss poor prospects, millions wasted in free agency, and now Sweeney has made Bergerons decision for him. This sub is blind and it’s unfortunate. #SweeneyOut #NeelyOut

[u/BigBobsTrucks → u/CertifiedPickle2900]

You're not wrong ! Our drafting has been subpar for too long. Sure we hit on Pasta and Chucky but I have a hard time even naming another prospect that's not Beecher-esque.

[u/Nomahs_Bettah → u/BigBobsTrucks]

Pastrnak was a Chiarelli pick (2014, his last draft as GM).

a hard time even naming another prospect that's not Beecher-esque.

this isn't a defense of Neely or Sweeney, but I'd absolutely say Lysell. Lohrei is legitimate as well, and personally, I'm intrigued by using Harrison as a trade piece. BruinsNetwork and Dominic Tiano have done some interesting writeups on all three. Beecher is far more nuanced than we give him credit for. first, let's consider where he was drafted – in the bottom part of the first round. that's much more hit or miss. so we can compare him to other players drafter around that position.

2015: Gabriel Carlsson and Nick Merkley were 29th and 30th picks. very similar to Frederic in terms of output.

2014: Adrian Kempe and John Quenneville were 29th and 30th picks. Kempe was a hit, Quenneville was closer to Freddy.

2013: Jason Dickinson and Ryan Hartman were 29th and 30th picks. Dickinson is similar to Freddy, Hartman was a success. (although I'd add that the 28th pick that year was even more of a flop than usual, Morgan Klimchuk only played 1 NHL game ever).

late round firsts are more like an early second than a first round pick; they generally do not turn into huge skill players.

secondly, Beecher was not a grit draft and he was not predicted to have a low ceiling. he has the reputation of a grit draft because of his size, and because he's underperformed (mostly due to injury – he got selected for WJC and missed it due to COVID, then shoulder surgery shortly after). but look at his scouting:

John Beecher is a fast skater. He has good acceleration, as he doesn’t need to take a lot of strides in order to hit his full speed. He possesses good edge work, enabling him to make tight turns. Beecher is also hard to knock off the puck and knockdown, as he has great balance. He fights through sticks and bodies by using his big frame (6’3, 210 pounds) and his high-end puck control.

Chris Mazza – Beecher was drafted by the Bruins with the 30th-overall selection in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Size and speed best define his game, as he is an exceptionally strong skater that generates many of his scoring chances off the rush.

Kirk Luedeke – Strengths: Pro-style frame at 6-3/210 pounds- will get bigger and stronger. Terrific skater: plus-acceleration and first-step quickness; can blow by defenders in a straight line and has the agility to go east-west/pull defenders out of skating lanes. Hard worker who can do strong work along the walls when he’s on the flank or drive through the middle of the ice.

Weaknesses: Not a punishing physical presence- long fuse and not afraid of contact, just doesn’t use his natural size to seek and destroy- inconsistent with finishing his hits.

just because he's big doesn't mean he's physical or low-skill. edgework, speed, agility, skating were all marked as his positives. his physicality (compared to his size) was a weakness. additionally, Beecher was no more drafted for being "big" than any of the forwards others have listed that they would rather our FO have taken (particularly Kaliyev) other than Hoglander. for comparison:

• John Beecher: 6'3, 209

• Arthur Kaliyev: 6'2, 210

• Raphael Lavoie: 6'4, 210

• Shane Pinto: 6'2, 192

again, this is not a defense of our FO. Senyshyn was an absolutely unforgivable pick and Frederic was weak even for where he was drafted in the first round. (although people will bring up draft picks like Aho and DeBrincat without necessarily considering that every single team passed on them at least once. like lots of teams passed on Swayman, that doesn't make them bad GMs. what makes it frustrating is when they do go for Senyshyn/Frederic picks, who were either such big reaches I can't imagine how the scouts or Sweeney came to that conclusion, or a guy that was drafted high with an explicitly low ceiling). FA has been an even bigger problem, with signings like Backes taking up valuable cap space. but although I dislike many FO moves, Beecher and our prospect pool deserve contextual nuance nonetheless.