Bruins: Did Firing Bruce Cassidy Bring Back the Locker Room?
By Jason Cooke
Last June, General Manager Don Sweeney made the executive decision to fire Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy. In his 399 games under tenure, the team posted a strong 245-108 record along with a Stanley Cup Finals appearance according to the records at hockeyreference.com.
Since the Finals appearance in 2019, Boston had two second round bounces from the playoffs as well as their first round exit to Carolina last season. Still, at the time of the firing, Bruins fans were shaking their head in disbelief, anger, and everything in between. A Bruins roster that simply didn’t have what it takes to make deep playoff runs due to lack of scoring depth and an average defensive core is something fans felt should be directed at Don Sweeney.
Sweeney’s inability to provide the team with a balanced roster largely has to do with his drafting decisions over the course of Cassidy’s time in Boston. According to draft records at hockey reference.com, in the 2015 NHL Draft, Sweeney chose Jake Debrusk over Matt Barzal and Sebastian Aho as well as many other notable players. That’s no knock on Debrusk as he is a very solid offensive contributor, but Sweeney definitely missed.
In the 2017 NHL Draft, Sweeney passed up on three skill players in Josh Norris, Robert Thomas, and Jason Robertson according to hockeyreference.com. Although Jeremy Swayman came as a result of this draft, the picks of Urho Vaakanainen and Jack Studnicka was yet again another miss from Sweeney.
The effects of Sweeney’s poor drafting finally started to impact the Bruins following their Cup run, and Cassidy took the heat for it.
Fast forward a month, and the firing is starting to make some more sense.
In the month of July, The Bruins re-signed Patrice Bergeron, brought back David Krejci, and shared the news of Jake Debrusk’s decision to rescind his trade request. At the conclusion of the 2021-22 NHL season, the future of Bergeron and Debrusk was in the air, and the David Krejci talk was pure speculation and rumors.
The Bergeron decision isn’t quite telling by itself. It is understandable that the 37 year old needed time to consider the options for his future, but when David Krejci is brought back from playing overseas in the Czech Republic and Jake Debrusks decides he doesn’t want to get traded anymore, is it safe to say there was a clear dislike for Cassidy in the locker room?
If Bruins fans had to choose between Bruce Cassidy or the leadership and skill of Bergeron, the goal scoring ability of Debrusk, and Krejci finally giving Taylor Hall someone to play with, it is assumed Cassidy would be the odd man out.
At the end of the day, maybe Don Sweeney and Bruins management did what was best for the organization, leading to one last Stanley Cup push with the old band.