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Former Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, North Chelmsford’s Jack Eichel win Stanley Cup with Golden Knights
"I’m in the club and they can’t kick you out! That’s the way I’m feeling right now.”
Bruce Cassidy is prone to some extended musings while fielding questions at the podium.
But the former Bruins bench boss kept things brief ahead of Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
“We use that word (legacy) around here, but I think it’s for much later, so I haven’t thought about mine personally,” Cassidy said at TD Garden. “I just want my name on the damn Cup, that’s what I want.”
1,462 days later, Cassidy finally got his wish.
After getting fired by the Bruins on June 6, 2022, Cassidy won hockey’s top prize just over a year later, hoisting the Stanley Cup in his first season as head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights.
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“It’s very rewarding,” Cassidy told TNT’s Darren Pang on the postgame broadcast. “I’m in the club now. I’m in the club and they can’t kick you out! That’s the way I’m feeling right now.”
Cassidy and the Knights triumphed over the Florida Panthers in five games, finally eliminating the underdog club that ended Boston’s record-setting run back in late April.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Vegas’ 9-3 Game 5 clincher on Tuesday, Cassidy embraced his fellow coaches on the Knights’ bench before raising his new championship hat to a raucous home crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
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At long last, he finally hoisted the sought-after trophy after captain Mark Stone and the rest of the Golden Knights’ players made their rounds with the Cup.
“It’s a great story. Very, very grateful to get another opportunity,” Cassidy said. “Great group of guys. … I’m just here to do my job and it worked out well. It’s an unbelievable feeling. Look at this — 20,000 people in here. Never forget it.”
Even though Boston thrived during the regular season after swapping out Cassidy for Jim Montgomery, Cassidy also excelled in his new surroundings out west.
After missing the playoffs for the first time in their short franchise history in 2022, the Golden Knights heeded Cassidy’s message of a structured, stingy defense.
“He came in and brought an intensity that maybe we needed,” Stone said of Cassidy’s arrival.
Even with a decimated goalie corps that forced third-string goalie Adin Hill into a featured (and ultimately dominant) role, the Golden Knights carved a swath through the playoffs thanks to a suffocating defense, a bevy of secondary-scoring contributions, and takeover games from multiple star players.
Cassidy was not the only newly crowned Cup champion with local ties.
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North Chelmsford’s Jack Eichel made the most of his first foray into the Stanley Cup Playoffs after eight seasons in the NHL.
The Boston University product was a force for the Golden Knights in the 2023 playoffs, posting a league-best 26 points (6 goals, 20 assists) over 22 postseason contests en route to his first championship.
Like Cassidy, it’s been a long road for Eichel, who toiled away in Buffalo for six years before getting dealt to the Golden Knights in November 2021.
After undergoing neck surgery in order to prolong his career, Eichel delivered in his first full season with the Knights, developing into a two-way franchise pivot under Cassidy’s tutelage.
Former Bruins Reilly Smith and Phil Kessel also captured the Cup on Tuesday night. Smith, who has played with the Golden Knights since their inception back in 2017, captured his first championship after helping Vegas advance to the 2018 Cup Final. This marks Kessel’s third championship after winning two with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017.
It’s been quite the journey for Cassidy.
Fired from his dream job after leading Boston to 245 wins and six playoff berths, the Ottawa native orchestrated a rebound season for the ages in his new home out in Vegas.
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Of course, the rational take is that both the Bruins and Golden Knights ultimately benefited from their coaching reshuffle last June. Cassidy’s track record speaks for itself, but it was clear that his messaging was starting to get stale in Boston.
It falls now on Montgomery and the Bruins to respond in 2023, because Cassidy sure earned the last laugh this spring.
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