Bruce Cassidy has been pretty successful since taking over as the Boston Bruins head coach in the middle of the 2017 season.
He was given the official title in April 2017 after being the interim head coach following Claude Julien’s firing and finished the 2017-18 season with an 18-8-1 record in the B’s final 27 regular-season games.
Cassidy has led Boston to the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, and came within one win of winning the Stanley Cup, and has compiled a 117-52-22 record in two-plus seasons as the bench boss. And it sounds as if the Bruins front office wants Cassidy around after next season.
The head coach’s contract is up after next year, and both Don Sweeney and Cam Neely had high praise for Cassidy, with Sweeney adding the 54-year-old indeed will be part of the decisions they “are going to progress with.”
“He’s under contract, so we have decisions that we’re going to progress with, and he’ll be part of that,” the general manager said, per a team-provided transcript. “He’s under contract, so it’s not a concern right now, but we will address it.”
Neely added Cassidy’s time with the B’s has been “impressive” since taking over.
“Well, he’s done a very good job for us, obviously,” he said, per a team-provided transcript. “Coming in when he did and getting us to the playoffs and then almost having two back-to-back, 50-win seasons is pretty impressive. You know, learn from our playoff losses and how to maybe coach a little bit differently in the playoffs. You know, it’s kind of a tale of two seasons, to get into the playoffs, and then once you’re in the playoffs, how do you adjust for a seven-game series. I think Butch has done a really good job in managing regular season and learning from playoff hockey.”
While the upcoming NHL Draft and free agency will be the top of the Bruins’ priorities, it should be reassuring to the Bruins fans that Cassidy should receive an extension at some point before his contract expires.
