![]() That is perhaps where his best coaching of the year came the night before Game 6 against Dallas. ![]() Vegas cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs, beating Winnipeg in five games and getting past Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Edmonton to reach the West final. I think that's been one of the big things for us this year." "He kept us humble and kept us also the mindset of just one game at a time and don't think too far and stay in the moment. "He thinks the game really well," Vegas leading scorer Jonathan Marchessault said about Cassidy. The Golden Knights won 13 of their first 15 games with Cassidy and finished atop the Western Conference despite goaltending injuries and other adversity that might have knocked them off course - like it did last season, prompting Peter DeBoer's firing as coach. His ability to adjust in game, and his ability to see what's happening within a game and change on the fly or or pull a different lever - changing lines, getting a certain matchup changing the forecheck, changing neutral zone sets - if you do it, you are successful as a team." "If you have a team, a veteran team that is ready for winning, I'm not sure there's a better coach right now in hockey than him," Cohen said. George McPhee - now Vegas' president of hockey operations - hired Cassidy in 2002, then fired him 17 losses in 25 games into the 2003-04 season. And then to get your name on the Cup is the ultimate reward."Īlmost two decades ago, when Cassidy was dumped less than a season and a half into his tenure with the Capitals, it seemed unheard of that he'd get another NHL job, let alone be on the doorstep of guiding a team to a championship. "Every coach in this league works hard to prepare their team, puts in a lot of time and effort, sacrifice away from your family at times, so, that's the rewarding part. "The rewarding part is seeing it all come together at the right time," Cassidy said. It's the first championship for the franchise and the veteran head coach. Less than a full calendar year since putting pen to paper with Vegas, Cassidy and the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup after beating the Florida Panthers in five games. ![]() When he was fired from that job, he was out of work a grand total of a week before the Vegas Golden Knights hired him. Continued abuse of our services will cause your IP address to be blocked indefinitely.LAS VEGAS - Bruce Cassidy struggled so badly in his first NHL coaching job with Washington that it knocked him out of the league for more than a decade.Ĭassidy coached in the junior ranks and the minors before getting a second chance with Boston. Please fill out the CAPTCHA below and then click the button to indicate that you agree to these terms. If you wish to be unblocked, you must agree that you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |