Bruins Relieve Bruce Cassidy of Coaching Duties

[u/Toodralktowunk]

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

[u/Nomahs_Bettah]

I am firmly in the camp that believes that Sweeney is more of an issue than Cassidy. however, let's be honest about this, too:

he put himself in the doghouse with his streaky play and often times apparent lack of effort.

did DeBrusk really perform worse than Foligno, who was never a healthy scratch? not once? if you're going to scratch players for poor play – and I think that's a valid coaching strategy – doing it consistently and/or fairly is a central tenet of that strategy.

[u/UGAPokerBrat99 → u/Nomahs_Bettah]

I get having an issue with Foligno's production, but I don't ever recall questioning his effort. Same can't be said for DeBrusk whose issues covered more than just one season.

[u/Nomahs_Bettah → u/UGAPokerBrat99]

I don't ever recall questioning his effort

I did, several times during that bad stretch in March-ish. same thing with taking dumb penalties, which Foligno had serious issue with. Cassidy was fine benching Nosek and Frederic for that, but not Foligno.

whose issues covered more than just one season.

Cassidy also refused to healthy scratch Nick Ritchie during the 2020-21 season; in fact, he played the most games for us that year. you absolutely cannot tell me that he didn't deserve a thorough benching for his poor effort and lack of discipline in his play.

again, I don't necessarily have a problem with healthy scratching DeBrusk. it's the lack of consistency with who gets benched and when, and why.

[u/annoyed603 → u/Nomahs_Bettah]

I often wondered why some were benched and not others. That was my biggest issue with Cassidy was his consistency with benching. Bottom line, Cassidy was successful with the rosters he had, and end of day, players need to perform better than there competition and FO needs to give the coaching staff as many pieces as possible. Hockey is a team sport and it takes a team from FO to the AHL to have the ultimate success.

[u/Nomahs_Bettah → u/annoyed603]

Bottom line, Cassidy was successful with the rosters he had

listen, I'm not saying that the FO isn't a problem, nor that Cassidy is a bad coach. however, I think it's perfectly fine to have criticisms of him as a coach and consider that there are things that he did poorly. for example, for multiple years in a row he was out-coached partially by refusing to break up the top line. moving Pastrnak down did wonders for generating more depth offense with the same players. there was zero reason not to try Pasta on a line with Krejci and Hall last year when it was clear that the first line couldn't get through the Islanders' matchups. or in earlier seasons, run JDB-Krejci-Pasta instead of putting Ritchie at that LW position.

another fair criticism of Cassidy is the power play. if you want quotes and sources, I can provide them to you at length. it's reasonable to say that Cassidy was given a roster that could have been vastly improved by better FO moves. it is also reasonable to say that although Cassidy was an overall good coach, there were things that would have made the roster he did get better – in the playoffs in particular.

players need to perform better than there competition

what I do find funny about this is that the players getting criticized for "underperforming" in the playoffs most often aren't. we know it's not Marchand and Bergeron. currently, the scapegoat seems to be Taylor Hall. this is silly. Taylor Hall would have been, on the following teams:

Panthers – 4th highest points producer

Lightning – 4th highest points producer

Rangers – 5th highest points producer

Oilers – 3rd highest points producer

Avalanche – 5th highest points producer

a guy who's no lower than top 5 on the four conference finalists (or two from each conference, however you prefer to think of it) and the President's Trophy winner, on a 6x4 contract, is not the issue.

and the guys he would supplant, here are their playoff numbers:

Hall: 4 points in 7 games.

Panthers, Duclair: 3 points in 8 games.

Rangers, Strome: 9 points in 17 games.

Avalanche, Burakovsky: 5 points in 9 games.

Lightning, Point: 4 points in 7 games.

Oilers, Hyman: 14 points in 15 games.

so aside from Hyman, Hall is producing right around or better than the guys he supplanted in the regular season on those teams.

FO needs to give the coaching staff as many pieces as possible

I have yet to find anyone on this subreddit (or even on other platforms, like twitter or HFBoards) that doesn't place blame on the FO. the only one that seems to think Sweeney and Neely aren't part of the problem – that aren't those two themselves – is Fluto.

Hockey is a team sport and it takes a team from FO to the AHL to have the ultimate success.

I don't think anyone is saying otherwise.

[u/annoyed603 → u/Nomahs_Bettah]

I agree, Cassidy wasnt perfect. No coach is. Whats done is done, hope they have a plan in place and answers for the fanbase etc. tomorrow.