Grading Bruins Coach Bruce Cassidy Through 28 Games
By Scott Roche
Last season, Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was won the Jack Adams Award as the top coach in the NHL. Prior to the March 12 season pause because of the coronavirus, the Bruins were the only team in the league to record 100 points. It came as no surprise that Cassidy won the award, beating out Alain Vigneault of the Philadelphia Flyers and John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
This season, it’s very unlikely that Cassidy would be a finalist for the award, but what he has to deal with and where the team, it can’t be overlooked at the job he has done.
Bruins have dealt with several injuries.
Every team goes through dealing with injuries, not just the Bruins. However, the Black and Gold’s depth on defense has been tested this season. Only three of six current Opening Night roster blueliners are playing, Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk (who has missed 13 games himself), and Jakub Zboril.
Jeremy Lauzon is skating again following surgery on a fractured hand and is getting closer to returning to the lineup. Brandon Carlo is skating again, but he is a long way off from returning, while Kevan Miller continues to deal with issues from his surgically repaired knee.
Rookies Urho Vaakanainen and Jack Ahcan have provided fill-in roles for Boston, while John Moore has struggled once again when inserted into the lineup. Things got so desperate for the B’s that general manager Don Sweeney claimed journeymen Jarred Tinordi off of waivers from the Nashville Predators, who is also out injured now.
Who’s playing for the Bruins each night? That is one of the questions that is asked as the lineup comes out. Despite rotating defensemen on what seems like a nightly basis, the Bruins have been not as bad as they could have been on the back end.
Upfront, the Bruins were missing David Pastrnak to begin the season, but they came out of the gate hot at 10-1-2, thanks in large part to the success of their power play and the play of Nick Ritchie. However, the struggles of Jake DeBrusk, Craig Smith, and sometimes David Krejci, along with the inconsistency of Charlie Coyle, it has led to a lot of frustrating nights.
Trent Frederic has been a surprise this season and has moved up and down the bottom-nine forwards, but one decision that Cassidy makes is he keeps inserting Chris Wagner and his minus-7 rating and Sean Kuraly and his minus-8 into the lineup on the fourth line. I get it, injuries might be playing a part in this, but sooner or later, they have to be healthy scratches.
Cassidy and the Bruins have played their last six games without Tuukka Rask between in the pipes as he recovers from an undisclosed injury, but Jaroslav Halak and rookie Dan Vladar have combined to go 3-2-1 before the recent COVID-19 pause.
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Considering the number of underperforming players the Bs have dealt with, the number of injuries they have dealt with, Cassidy has kept this somehow in the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division heading into tonight’s scheduled game against the New York Islanders.