Bruce Cassidy took Bruins’ regular season success ‘a little personal’ (report)

Bruce Cassidy has always been open and especially honest and transparent by coach standards.

It’s part of what made him wear on his players and popular with the media during his time with the Bruins before he was fired after the 2021-22 season.

So it wasn’t surprising that he gave an honest answer when how he had felt during Boston’s record-breaking regular season. He admitted seeing his old team thrive without him bugged him.

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“You take it a bit personal, right, but I know the circumstances,” he told The Athletic. “They did a good job of changing some things. We changed some things here that helped the Knights. Pete (DeBoer) changed things in Dallas that helped the Stars. You can’t beat yourself up over it. Coaches move. I got an opportunity there because a very good coach in Claude Julien got let go, so that’s just the way it works.”

Cassidy was 245-108-46 behind Boston’s bench and the Bruins never missed the playoffs in his six seasons. He led them to an Eastern Conference championship in 2019. He was fired after they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2022 amid reports that his sometimes abrasive style had begun wearing on certain players. He wasn’t unemployed long. He was hired by the Golden Knights led Vegas to the Western Conference championship. They have a 2-0 lead over Florida in the Stanley Cup final.

Cassidy said he knew how to channel his own feelings, but he was more worried about his children, Cole and Shannon. He was relieved when the Bruins were eliminated from the playoffs.

“I’m a big boy. I can deal with it,” he said. “What I was more concerned with was we have a house in Cape Cod, and we like it there in the summer. We have a lot of roots there. I worked there for 15 years and the kids were born there. I was a little relieved after (the Bruins) lost in the playoffs for my kids not having to hear about ‘Oh, if your dad had done a better job…’ You know what I mean? Kids say things.”