Bruins’ Bruce Cassidy, Patrice Bergeron in Vegas for NHL Awards
"I’ve been working on my runner-up, or my runner-up to the runner-up speech."
LAS VEGAS — Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy could leave here Wednesday night with the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s Coach of the Year. He also could be named mayor of Sin City, win $300 million with a single pull of the dollar slots, and solve the answer to traffic woes on the Strip.
Of all those possibilities, he’s least likely to take home the Adams.
“I’ve been working on my runner-up, or my runner-up to the runner-up speech,’’ said Cassidy, breaking into a wide smile Tuesday afternoon as he assessed his chances headed into the annual NHL Awards festivities. “I’ve got that down pat and I’ll leave it at that.’’
Short of a ballot box scandal of epic proportions, Vegas coach Gerard Gallant, who guided the first-year Golden Knights to within three victories of winning the Stanley Cup, will be the Adams winner. No team in the history of North American sports ever came close to anything like what the Knights accomplished under the 54-year-old Gallant, who was unceremoniously dumped in his last coaching gig with the Panthers.
Cassidy led the Bruins through an impressive regular season (50-20-12) and also a Game 7 clincher over the Maple Leafs in Round 1 of the playoffs. The other finalist, Colorado’s Jared Bednar, brought the Avalanche back to respectability, including a return to the playoffs.
“Obviously, Gerard, just a great situation,’’ mused Cassidy, “especially after what happened to him in Florida, whether you agreed with it or not, to come in . . . it’s almost a Cinderella story . . . the whole program, the following, the work by [Knights general manager] George McPhee and then him . . . I think he’s done a terrific job.’’
Patrice Bergeron is also back at the Awards, with a chance to win a record fifth Selke Trophy as the game’s top defensive forward. Bergeron, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday next month, last year tied ex-Canadiens great Bob Gainey for the record of four Selkes.
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“You’re up against two great players, guys I respect so much, it’s so hard to know,’’ said Bergeron, trying to factor his chance of beating out the Kings’ Anze Kopitar or the Flyers’ Sean Couturier. “I never know every year, it’s the same thing.’’
Hindered throughout the season by another groin injury, Bergeron underwent surgery some 10 days ago to correct it. He remained hopeful at season’s end that he could avoid another operation, but workouts made it clear to the pivot, who next season will likely play in his 1,000th career game, that he couldn’t enter another season without a fix.
“Ramping up the workouts was really what it was,’’ said Bergeron, explaining how he arrived at the decision to undergo surgery. “It was just one of those things, after I took the time off, felt better, and started working out again, the regular routine of my offseason workouts, and it came back right away . . . and it had to be done.’’
By Bergeron’s calculations, he’ll be back to 100 percent by the end of the first week of August — roughly one month prior to the start of training camp.
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Amid the league-wide sweepstakes to land free agent Ilya Kovalchuk, with the Bruins squarely in the hunt, Cassidy said the legendary Russian scorer would be a “nice fit’’ in the lineup.
“Yeah, that would be interesting . . . you never want to speculate,’’ said Cassidy. “You can’t get too far ahead . . . he’s a top-six guy, he can play left and right wing, he’s a big body. He’d be a nice addition. I am sure any team would say that right now. He’s going to make your team better, and I think that’s what you always look at as a coach, and fitting [talented players] in is the easy part. The tough part is getting those types of players.’’
GM Don Sweeney said last week that he was very interested in acquiring Kovalchuk, 35, and would sit down soon to make his pitch. Kovalchuk, with 417 regular-season goals on his NHL résumé, is committed to returning to North America this coming season after playing the last five years in Russia.
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“When he moved over to Russia, I never really thought about him ever wanting to come back,’’ said Bergeron. “He’s always been an amazing player with amazing skill — his shot is crazy. So, yeah, it would be great to be able to add a guy like him with his talent and his skill set . . . we’ll see what happens out of it, but he definitely would be a great addition.’
In the past, said Bergeron, he has talked with free agents around the league who’ve considered signing in Boston. He said he’ll stand ready to do it this time with Kovalchuk, should Sweeney enlist his salesman services.
“If I do get a call,’’ said Bergeron, “of course I will try to help as much as possible.’’
