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Elliotte Friedman’s latest edition of 30 Thoughts came out today on Sportsnet.ca. If you’re not familiar, it’s one of the best hockey columns on the Internet, always filled with interesting nuggets, rumors and stories.
Today’s edition had a lot to say about the Bruins’ interim head coach, Bruce Cassidy.
Friedman touched on Cassidy’s journey back to the head coaching position behind an NHL bench, his career as a pro (I didn’t know he had some bad knee injuries) and his mindset as a coach.
The most interesting tidbits, however, were on Cassidy’s approach to the game vs. that of his predecessor, Claude Julien.
From Friedman:
“We want to attack more from the half-wall, aggressive especially against man-to-man. Less plays where the puck goes from low-to-high. We’ve also encouraged our defencemen to get more up-ice off the rush.”
If it looks like the defensemen have been more involved under Cassidy, there’s some proof for you. Friedman notes that the Bruins have scored half as many goals under Cassidy as they had over the course of the entire season before he took over.
Additional comments include Cassidy on how he views the fourth line, thoughts on Julien’s role in developing Brad Marchand and more.
Read the piece on Sportsnet. Friedman is great.