In this segment of the Poke The Bear Podcast, Conor Ryan of Boston.com and Evan Marinofsky of New England Hockey Journal discuss Bruce Cassidy winning a Stanley Cup just one year after being fired by the Bruins. Did the Bruins mess up by firing Cassidy? Did the front office not do enough to build a roster fit to play Cassidy’s brand of hockey? Conor and Evan discuss!
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3 Comments
The Bruins are a pathetic weak choke franchise. Cassidy wins the Cup the Bruins have the fool goalie Bob talking gibberish. I can t put any faith in anything they do next year . Team full of wussies who don’t want to be yelled at
Bruins revenge tour next year 😂
Only Bruins homers looking for excuses will blame Jim Montgomery for this year’s latest Bruins playoff choke or Bruce Cassidy for last year’s one. Thus Bruce Cassidy winning the Stanley Cup with Las Vegas this year says this and only this about the Boston Bruins
It’s the players and the GM that are the problem come playoff time. Proof?
Don Sweeney took the Bruins GM job to begin the 2015-16 season 8 years ago
Don Sweeney’s Playoff Results:
-7 of 8 years failing to win more than 1 playoff round (87% of the time)
-4 of 8 years either a playoff DNQ or a 1st round loss (50% of the time)
Sorry Bruins Homers, those are nothing short of terrible playoff results, especially for a team registering 100+ point regular seasons often
In the 2022 season the Bruins with Bruce Cassidy as coach finished with a 107 point regular season & it ended with a 1st Round, Game 7 fail vs Carolina with the Bruins looking dreadful in every away game
In the 2023 season the Bruins with Jim Montgomery set the NHL’s regular season points and wins records & it ended with a 1st round, Game 7 choke versus Florida at home
So….
-7 of 8 years failing to win more than one playoff round
-50% of the time not qualifying or losing in the 1st round
-Back-to-Back 100+ point regular seasons with two different coaches
-Back-to-Back 1st round, Game 7, Playoff Chokes with two different coaches
News Flash… the Bruins are built for the regular season Bruins Homers, not the playoffs
And the Bruins dreadful record in the post season these past 8 years versus their excellent record in regular season these past 8 years under Don Sweeney SCREAMS that is 100% T.R.U.E
The Bruins look lost at the executive level not just because Las Vegas won the Stanley Cup with Bruce Cassidy but because the last 5 Cup winners blue lines all looked like this
6 or more defenders who were 6 feet+ / 200lb+ & also mobile
Yet Don Sweeney continues to invest in either too small d-men (Grzelyck, Clifton) guys incapable of quality puck retrieval and breakouts (Carlo, Forbort, Clifton) or just far too soft players he ends up having to rely too much on at times (Griz, Lindholm Reilly)
Every one of the last 5 Cup teams, all HUGE on defense and their defenders were also fairly mobile for the most part
The Bruins are failing in the playoffs every year after great regular seasons because they have too small of a defensive core that isn’t very physical and they have too many defenders that are incapable of quality puck retrieval and breakouts consistently
So when big, heavy physical teams get a hold of the Bruins in the playoffs, they lay waste to them even if they have less overall talent
Or when teams with ferocious forechecks bear down on the Bruins limited D-corps in the playoffs, they lay waste to them even if they have less overall roster talent
Proof that this is true? Well, 7 of 8 years the Bruins failing to win more than 1 playoff round basically proves that point
But if you need even more proof….
2023- Beat by a bigger, more physical FLA team that destroyed them on the forecheck too
2022-Beat by a Carolina team whose mobile defense & forecheck destroyed them all series long
2021- Beat by an inferior NYI team with much less talent that just beat them into submission
2020- Lost to a big, heavy Tampa Bay team (and the series was a blowout)
2019- Lost to a much less talented STL team in the Finals because STL simply beat them up
So Bruce Cassidy winning the Stanley Cup shouldn’t make Bruins fans feel any different about the team
Why? The coaching change didn’t change any of this:
7 of 8 years failing to win more than 1 playoff round
Back-to-Back 100+ point regular seasons with 2 different coaches
Back-to-Back 1st round, Game 7, chokes with 2 different coaches
It’s fairly clear the Bruins have a playoff roster construction and playoff winning problem
But hey, if you love meaningless regular season point totals, early playoff exits regularly, having the NHL’s worst draft capital, having the NHL’s worst salary cap limitations, having one of the NHL’s worst farm systems….
Boy oh Boy is this Boston Bruins organization lead by Don Sweeney a perfect fit for you