Cassidy: Guns ablazing
Interim coach a straight shooter
General manager Don Sweeney said Tuesday he hoped the “new voice” of Bruce Cassidy might help jump-start the Bruins as they tackle the longshot challenge of returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs two months from now.
Well, talking to reporters on his first full day as B’s interim coach yesterday, the 51-year-old Cassidy was articulate, insightful and interesting. The press had it pretty good with the goodnatured Claude Julien the last 10 years; his heir seems pretty good at this stuff, too.
Cassidy’s most profound and meaningful insights came when he talked about his own promising, but ultimately frustrating career as a high-scoring offensive defenseman. He was a juniors star with the Ottawa 67’s (65 goals, 181 assists in 165 games) and the 1983 first-round draft choice (18th overall) of the Chicago Blackhawks. But three knee surgeries later, he had played just 36 NHL games over parts of four seasons.
“It looked good for a while, then it didn’t work out as well as I’d like as a player,” Cassidy said. “I was probably 24 years old and you go from being a first-round pick to basically a depth player, a career minor leaguer, in a hurry.”
So his message to young guys: Don’t waste time.
“You’ve got to giddy-up, you know?” he said. “You don’t have forever as a young guy before someone else is coming along to take your spot. How does that pertain to the NHL? A little more now (because) there’s more youth here. But that is more about the American (Hockey) League, (about) getting up to speed in a hurry — and then when you get up here to keep your place. So it would relate to (Frank) Vatrano, Colin Miller, Joe Morrow. It’s relevant to them. Enjoy it, embrace it, but don’t assume that there’s always another chance down the road. Because there’s always good players coming behind you, the next prospect.”
Cassidy also learned tough lessons in the next phase of his career as coach of the Washington Capitals in 2002-03 and the first 25 games of 2003-04. The Capitals, led by the likes of Jaromir Jagr, Michael Nylander, Sergei Gonchar and Olie Kolzig, were good Cassidy’s first year (39-29-8; first-round playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning), then opened the next season 8-16-1 before he was fired.
“I was very young (37),” Cassidy said. “Listen, I thought I did some things well and some things I could have done better. You walk away thinking, ‘The next time, I’ll do this, this and this.’ Well, it’s been a long time, so I’ve forgotten half of that stuff and put it behind me. But there are some things when I walk in that (Bruins) locker room, there are a couple of things that I keep up here. ‘Listen, make sure you do this, this time.’ Those are things I keep to myself, learn from and hopefully get it right the next time.”
Cassidy spoke at length about trying to generate more secondary scoring. One key: Quicker breakouts and defensemen supporting the rush. But in a broader sense, he wants the forwards to rely on their skills more in trying to create pressure and scoring chances.
“Trust your skills,” Cassidy said while repeating a message he’s given the team. “Use your skills to separate down low in the O-zone to create something for yourself, especially against the teams that play man-to-man. The teams that are flooding (with zone defenses), kind of gang-tackling the puck in the corners, it’s going to be more difficult. Then you’ve got to change sides, get it low to high, away from those numbers. But the teams that play man-to-man, you’re here for a reason — because you have ability. Use it. Whether it’s your body size, your foot speed, your IQ or all of the above, use that a little more. Have confidence to do that. We’d like our forwards to do a little more of that.
“It creates havoc around the front of the net: Whether the goalie sees the puck or not; the defensemen have to defend; it draws penalties. It gets action at the net, and there could be a rebound or a bounce that go your way.”
Cassidy addressed numerous other topics, too, on individuals and the team as a whole. He impresses as a guy who’s smart and gets his points across clearly. Who knows? Maybe his voice and his message will make the B’s better. We’ll soon know.