Cassidy Talks Bergeron, Looks Back on 2021-22 Campaign

BOSTON - Bruce Cassidy has no concerns about the quality of Patrice Bergeron's play.
To Boston's bench boss, Bergeron - who was named a finalist for the Selke Trophy for the 11th consecutive season on Tuesday morning - is still at the top of his game.

"He's still a No. 1 centerman in this league," Cassidy said during his end-of-season media availability. "We saw it throughout this year, up for the Selke - and in my estimation should win it, no disrespect to the other nominees. But I think he's had another great year. We'll see how that turns out."
Cassidy, too, will have to see how everything plays out over the coming weeks when it comes to whether or not he'll be able to write Bergeron's name on the lineup card for another season in 2022-23. Bergeron, set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, has yet to decide if he'll return for a 19th season with the Black & Gold.
"We talked [Monday] - I met with every player…I did not get too far into that," said Cassidy. "There was a little bit about the state of the team, the playoff series, thoughts on different things that took place. He needs his space, we all respect that. That's just the way it is.
"When he's ready to have a conversation, I'm sure he'll reach out to who he needs to. But right now, I think he needs the time to decompress. That's a big decision and he needs to take all the time he needs."
Cassidy did, however, acknowledge that there would be plenty of work to do should the Bruins have to fill a hole as large as the one that would be left behind by the departure of one of the franchise's all-time greats.
"That would be a conversation we'd have to have upstairs, because you're going to need to fill it," said Cassidy. "The first place you'll look is, do we have anybody internally that's ready to move up to the No. 1 spot? Secondly, is there anyone in Providence that can fill in if someone else is moving up? So those are questions we'd have to look at. So no, I haven't really got that far along with it.
"Until Patrice makes a decision, that's not something we're right on top of now, but that I imagine we'll have to that conversation just to be ahead of things. We're all hoping he comes back. I'll be an optimist on this one.
"And if not, we've seen it over the years - we've lost a few guys from our core and we've had to sort of forge ahead. I think he's done a great job, Patrice, of building the next layer of leadership for us."
Should the Bruins be without Bergeron moving forward, Cassidy is confident that Boston's leadership group - chiefly Brad Marchand - would remain in solid standing.
"Marchy I'll put in Bergy's category because of the similar ages, but the Pastrnaks, the Carlos, and the McAvoys, you've seen a lot of growth in their leadership skills and how they conduct themselves, and that's a credit to Patrice," said Cassidy. "And I'll put Brad in there, because they've learned from him as well, and some more recently from [Zdeno Chara] and [David Krejci] as well."

Contending Ideas

Despite a loss in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Cassidy believes this Bruins team was a legitimate contender. After a 51-win, 107-point campaign, Boston ran into a Carolina Hurricanes team that was the league's third-best squad (54 wins, 116 points) during the regular season.
But Cassidy was proud of the way the team responded in the second half following a sluggish start that included the integration of several new players from outside the organization.
"I thought we were [a contender] this year. We had a start that was inconsistent, not to our standards," said Cassidy. "There's different reasons for that. We added five players - you can add [Jeremy Swayman] into the mix a little bit; that's six, and then three at the deadline last year - don't forget those guys come in, you're just getting them ready to play for the playoffs. Then [Hampus] Lindholm at the deadline - you've got almost a full half a roster turnover. It took a while to get the pieces in place.
"And I give the players a lot of credit for finding their way in the second half. I think we had to move some pieces around and I was proud of the guys. We were on top of our game, playing good hockey clubs down the stretch that we maybe weren't able to do earlier in the year. That's growth in the team. And then, the playoffs are coming, we're playing one of the best teams in the National Hockey League.
"We can't overlook that, that [Carolina] was a top team all year…it comes down to a Game 7 where they make a few more plays than we do - we bounce back, down, 2-0, we come back. There's a lot of positives, I think, that happened with this team. To say we weren't a contender…yeah, if you don't get out of the first round, that's not what we want. We want to win a Stanley Cup, that's what we're here for."
Cassidy, though, remains excited about the future of a group with a core that includes several players - among them David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Hampus Lindholm - still approaching their prime. And he is particularly eager to see how Boston's back end and goaltending continues to grow together over the coming years.
"It's an under-30 group. Maybe Lindy is right there. But in general, very young," said Cassidy. "McAvoy is an elite player at his age, only going to get better. Lindholm is going to get more comfortable playing with Charlie or whoever it is just playing with us. Brandon [Carlo] is going to get better every year. [Matt Grzelcyk] is still a young guy who has some medical issues to take care of but so in general that core group. I saw [Derek] Forbort and [Connor] Clifton's game really grow. They lived up to what they needed to be in terms of a third pair.
"[Jakub] Zboril is an interesting one because he was starting to play some good hockey at an age where he's more comfortable. So, there is a lot of good there in terms of youth, we just have to get it done. I will translate that to goaltending. We are excited about [Jeremy] Swayman and [Linus] Ullmark. We went in last year and we didn't know a lot about how they be and with the Tuukka [Rask] situation…Jeremy, I think, had a lot of growth, especially in the playoffs get some of that under his belt.
"Jeremy and Linus had a great second half so from the blue line back there's a lot of positives in terms of young guys that have room to grow. That whole part of our game should be a real positive going forward and we are a team that has been known to be hard to play against, team defense. All those things should still be there."

Finding Some Finish

Where Cassidy believes there remains the most room for improvement is generating offense, which the Bruins struggled with, particularly on the road, during their first-round series against the Hurricanes.
"The takeaway at the end of the day was timely finishing for us [in Carolina]," said Cassidy. "We didn't generate as much offense; we were able to generate a little more at home. Some of that is we got a lead so they open up a little but some of that is finishing and that's hard to pinpoint…we need to find ways to generate more offense more consistently.
"At the end of the day, we didn't do a good enough job on the chances we did get or creating a few more along the way. That's what it came down to why we couldn't get a game down there. Credit to Carolina for playing to their strengths and I thought we played to our strengths a lot of nights in terms of defense.
"Game 1 and 2 got away from us in certain pockets and they took advantage of it…not saying you can't come back from a goal, but in the third period there were no comebacks. That's because these two teams know how to close out games, play winning hockey. That was the important part out there. We needed to have the lead so we could play to our strengths not them playing to theirs and that's what we weren't able to do."
Cassidy noted that he believes a full season of Lindholm will help generate more offense from the blue line that will ultimately lead to more goals. But he also acknowledged that the Bruins might have to consider alterations to their playing style or personnel to create greater and more consistent opportunities, particularly come playoff time.
"We need to find ways to generate more offense," said Cassidy. "Is the personnel in place to do that and we're just playing the wrong way? Do we sacrifice defense, which we're very good at, to generate some offense? We have to consider that. That's definitely a possibility. Are there some players that can give us more? There always is. I thought we got a lot out of this group, especially the second half…and the offensive numbers showed that. We've got to figure out how to get them to do that in the playoffs as well..
"We have to look at that [other players] well. Who's ready? You can't force them in, but who's ready?...[Fabian] Lysell is obviously in that group…see where [Johnny] Beecher's at. He came out of college, now he's a pro. And see if those guys are a good fit for us…you're always looking to improve. Who are the guys? Is it internal or external? I think those are questions we have to have discussion about."

Having a Chat

Cassidy had high praise for Jake DeBrusk during the winger's exit meeting after a strong second half of the season that ended with his second career 25-goal season. DeBrusk, whose trade request became public last November, fit in seamlessly on his off wing alongside Bergeron and Marchand on Boston's top line for much of the stretch run.
"The conversation was I thought that big picture we all came together and had a real positive finish for Jake - the players, the teammates, the organization, the staff…we all made it work," said Cassidy. "But he's the player. He does the work for the most part. I congratulate him on a great finish and a new contract. We didn't talk much about where it goes from there but that's between him and his representative and [Boston GM Don Sweeney].
"I thought he did as much for that line as they did for him. I'm proud of how he played. Where it goes from here would be speculation on my part, but it was a good finish."