Bruins sign Farinacci & Chiasson; Krejci opens up about Cassidy
David Krejci has almost all positive things to say about the three Bruins coaches he played for during his career, but there is one Bruce Cassidy decision he still second-guesses.
Krejci opened up about Cassidy as well as Claude Julien and Jim Montgomery in a recent interview with Czech outlet iSport.cz.
He mostly poured cold water on the idea that he and Cassidy didn’t get along, saying – according to Google Translate – that they “had a great relationship off the ice,” that Cassidy is “a really great guy off the ice who understands hockey very well,” and that he is “definitely one of the best coaches in the NHL.”
But, there’s still one thing Cassidy did during the 2018-19 season that Krejci disagreed with, and he wonders if the Bruins might have won the Stanley Cup that year had things been handled differently.
While Krejci had one steady linemate that season in left wing Jake DeBrusk, he had a revolving door of right wings – a problem we highlighted last week that continued all the way through Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, when Cassidy put Karson Kuhlman on Krejci’s right.
Krejci thinks that moving David Pastrnak to his line and trying someone else with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand might have created the offensive balance the team needed, especially against St. Louis in the Cup Final.
“I think he could have thrown the three away and given me a little help. That and the team. In 2019, we went to the Finals, I had over 70 points in the season without starting for a long time with Pasta. If Cassidy had seen it a little differently back then…,” Krejci said before trailing off, according to Google’s translation.
“I just think he could have been more accommodating,” Krejci added. “That time he put Karson Kuhlman on the wing for the seventh final, an excellent player and boy. But I would expect him to put someone who has played in the NHL for a longer time in my line. Karson played on the farm most of the time.”
In Cassidy’s defense, moving Pastrnak to Krejci’s line would have just created another hole on Bergeron’s right. The reality is that 2018-19 team was a top-six winger short no matter which way you slice it.
Still, with Krejci having a quiet Final (he finished with two points in seven games) and the Bergeron line struggling to win its head-to-head matchups with the Blues’ top line centered by Ryan O’Reilly, there is certainly merit to Krejci’s idea that a shakeup was at least worth a shot.
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