Quoting: BreKel
Since he took over for Claude Julien, the Bruins went 18-8-1, making the playoffs for the first time in 2 years. My personal opinion is that since the team played so well down the stretch and made the playoffs, the Bruins are going to remove the interim tag and go with him as the coach next season. What does everyone else think?
I think they might, but we can't have the team getting manhandled for a full period like they did against Ottawa. That simply can't happen and you saying it's on the team is ridiculous. Everything comes back to coaching and the coach and his energy and how he commands himself over the full team. He simply didn't focus during the 2nd period and the results speak for themselves. Saying it's on the team is like saying Dan Bylsma coached the Penguins well a couple years ago and it was just on the team not playing well, then his replacement brought them to a Cup and Bylsma is pooping his pants in Buffalo, but it's not the coach, it's on the players. Buffalo has enough talent to be a playoff team. The leafs freakin leapfrogged them and I put it on coaching. Cassidy isn't proving he's good by winning like that. I'm glad he didn't crack or turtle, but theres only so many times he can get completely spanked like that in a period before he crumbles.
No man can withstand such soul crushing dominance repeatedly and come out on top. We're not talking about Jesus here, or whatever person you hold with the highest respect and think he was basically a human miracle that happened long ago. Cassidy is not the reincarnation of such a prominent person, he's basically slightly above average and that's because Claude laid down such a great foundation. A foundation that won a Stanley Cup, but then Claude got crushed so now it's Cassidy's turn. The bottom line is that he will not be able to coach games where the other team partakes in pure domination over us and still find a way to win and keep his job. He was extremely fortunate that Vatrano ripped a snipe job past Anderson and the momentum changed. If that play doesn't happen and we didn't turn the tables and end up winning, it would have been one of the most embarrassing losses I've ever witnessed by the Bruins and I've watched an extremely long time. That's the bottom line. One somewhat lucky play that leads to a great shooter rippling the twine randomly changed that game from being one of the worst in history to being a mildly uplifting win. I know it's not always worth the time to look at things the opposite way, but come on if we didn't get extremely fortunate and if the couple of players we have with particular skills that contributed to the win didn't step up, which loss in the history of the Bruins do you think would be more embarrassing? I simply can't remember losing a period that bad in all the time I've watched.
At the end of the day he won so he should be commended for getting the job done. The simple fact is that I'm not sure if he got the team in the right mindset in the 3rd period or if it was just that he was such a fool that he didn't know he got literally spanked in the second period. I mean he was a poor to average player and has a huge gap in his coaching career in the NHL. I mean are we sure this guy was just such an Alpha male that he let Ottawa dominate us in the 2nd because it would be a more crushing blow to them when we overcame them in the third? I'm not positive of that and I don't think theres anything you could suggest to sway my opinion on that. I'll give him full credit for the win, but that might be unjustified and it could pump him up enough to make him collapse. Not sure this guy has the wherewithal to recognize his surroundings and dissect the game as it's playing and find the solution to the problems that are occurring. I don't have complete faith that he's simply like Ilya Bryzgalov and he's the master of the universe. He can't manipulate time and space or change the weather with the blink of an eye. I am not impressed for if he was simply to be held in such high praise he should surely be able to perform miracles.
My conclusion is: he's simply in the ballpark of an average coach and we need more from him to be great. I truly hope he gives more and we respond better and win a Cup. I would be his biggest fan, but I'm not sure he's got it in himself. He has to earn it and it all starts next game.