In the midst of second-round craziness on Saturday morning, the Providence Bruins' former assistant coach Bruce Cassidy was named head coach of Providence for the 2011-2012 season. He's the 10th coach in Providence history, and replaces Rob Murray, in whose three-year stint as head coach Providence made the playoffs once.
What does this mean for our boys in Rhode Island? Cassidy is a face they're familiar with, and perhaps a change in coaching will help the P-Bruins buck the trend of only being as good as their goaltending (they made the playoffs in front of Tuukka Rask, but missed out behind Dany Sabourin and Nolan Schaefer, though the team rebounded after the trade for former Minnesota Wild prospect Anton Khudobin.)
Cassidy's resume is lengthy; he played a few NHL games for the Blackhawks before starting his coaching career. He head coached several ECHL/IHL teams before accepting the position as head coach of the Washington Capitals in 2002-2003. That year, the Caps went 47-45-9-6, and made it to the playoffs, where they were eliminated in the first round.
He also coached the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL for two years, in the 06-07 and 07-08 seasons.
So for those familiar with Providence, how do we feel about this? Would it have been better to go out and get a new coach to completely refresh the system, or is it better that the players have someone they're familiar with as bench boss next year?