Bruce Cassidy was in Vegas less than 12 hours before he returned to his office at City National Arena and folded up his Team Canada swag and slipped into his familiar Vegas Golden Knights garb.
Cassidy played a key role on Team Canada’s bench running the power play and the team’s breakouts and offensive zone entries.
It was a busy couple of weeks in Italy for Cassidy and the overtime loss to Team USA in the gold medal game made for a difficult finish to the tournament.
But Cassidy is back to his day job and focused on getting his team into the playoffs and beyond.
The chase for the Stanley Cup begins in earnest on Wednesday as the Golden Knights play 18 games in the next 34 days and 25 games over the next 50 days.
Cassidy ran practice on Tuesday at CNA and addressed the media before boarding a flight to LA where his team plays the Kings on Wednesday night.
As far as getting guys back that are trickling in still from Italy?
BC: Yeah, that's a little fluid. Today, we had some players called up, so we had a full roster, so we'll discuss that. The American guys are at the State of the Union tonight, so they won't join us. They're going to go and enjoy that moment. They deserve it. They've earned it. The Canadian guys, we're still sorting through to see how they feel. The other guys who are here, Tomas Hertl, Akira Schmid, Rasmus Andersson, they've kind of acclimated and are ready to go.
Those five guys who played all the way to Sunday, how do you approach the upcoming stretch of games? Do you just kind of have to kind of go, or do you kind of ease them in?
BC: Well, as I said, Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin, I would anticipate, would play on Friday, and be ready to go. They'll have had a little bit of a break. We have to talk to Mitch Marner, Shea Theodore and Mark Stone. So having a break could help us short-term and long-term. And by what I mean, help us short-term is that they get to recover. Could hurt your roster Wednesday night, obviously, when you're taking five world-class players out, but if you look at the big picture, that's something we are considering. Hopefully, it helps you in the long run to give them time to decompress and then get back to work. And we wouldn't be the only team going through it. I think a lot of teams have to make a decision in that regard. It's an important game against LA. They're all important, but is it going to benefit us more in the end by giving them a few extra days? That's kind of what we're mulling over.
Last year, the Canadian guys came back from the 4 Nations on an emotional high. Jack and Noah were obviously in a different place. Do you lean on that experience on how you're going to get your three Canadian guys back into a good frame of mind?
BC: Well, listen, they need to digest it. That's part of the experience of it all, but they're good pros. I think they'll know that it's time to get back to your day job, so to speak. We've got some work to do down the stretch if we want to put ourselves in the best position possible. There are some battles in our division for certain spots. There's playoff positioning, first place, all those things. So I think they'll get going. It might not be the first night. It might take them a while, but I think they'll be fine. Shea Theodore and Mark Stone have done a lot of winning around here, so they know what it looks like, and they'll know that they'll have to sort of get mentally refocused. Mitch Marner has won a lot in Toronto, too, not to the extent of the playoffs that the other two did. So I'm not worried about them. They'll find their way back in there, and they're competitors, and I'm sure they'll be fine once they get back in there and deal with a little bit of what they had to. But they'll have a little bit of time here now to sort of get away from it. That's what I see. Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin, that's different. When you win, you play in that kind of magnitude, it might take them actually longer, even though they're feeling better, because they played such a high-intensity game and won. They might be a little longer, whereas the other guys want to get back out there, probably and get the hell to work and get winning again.
Despite being Canadian, and despite being on the Canadian coaching staff, is there a part of you, and maybe it's too early, but at some point, will you be happy for Jack and Noah?
BC: I told the guys today, there's only one winner, and I'm happy for Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin. Great, great people. They had a great team, and it was their year. For the rest of the guys, including Tomas Hertl. He was this close, too, right? He's going through a little bit of what we're going through, and that's just part of it. So I'm happy for those guys. Would I rather it have been Canada? Of course, we were fully invested, but there's only one winner, and it's them. So enjoy your moment. I'm glad they're having a good night tonight with their teammates and enjoy it. They're going to remember it for the rest of their life, so enjoy it. Once they get back here, they'll have to sort of move on from that and get ready to be Golden Knights again, and that's what they get to do. The victor got the spoils, right? So good for them.
What did you learn?
BC: Being around the best players in the world was the biggest thing. I'm a hockey nerd, so to me, getting to coach those guys every day. So I don't know if that's learning, but just being around them and how their minds think and how committed they are, and sponges. I don't want to get into every player, but there are players there you don't know, and you have opinions of because you play against them and you realize, "oh my god," this guy's a great guy. I'd love to have him in our locker room, even though you may dislike him on the ice on other teams. I guess what I learned, probably the one thing, is that Macklin Celebrini is going to be - he's the real deal. He is the real deal, a fantastic kid, played against the best, played with the best, and excelled. Good for Canada going forward to have him, he'd probably be the guy. Like I said, he was fun to watch.
Do you think three-on-three is the right way to decide a gold medal game?
BC: Well, don't forget, if they keep it at the end of the game where it bleeds into the closing ceremonies, you have to end the game at some point because of the closing ceremony. So there's a little bit of that, just the way it's placed. So I would say if they want to do five-on-five until someone scores, like the Stanley Cup playoffs, they may have to move it to the day before to get both of what they want. So for me, listen, we won three on three, we advanced through three-on-three. So, I would prefer it be five-on-five simply because I'm a bit of a traditionalist that way, and that's the way the playoffs are settled, and I'd like it in the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the final. But it wasn't that way. It worked for us against Czechia, and it didn't work for us against the Americans. So that's the way it goes. We could have been better in overtime, we'd probably tell you to a man, managing the puck in certain situations. They made the play when they needed to. So that's what I'll say on it. I’ve got no issue with it at all. If you're asking me what I'd prefer, I'd prefer five-on-five for every team that's in that, because don't forget, there were three overtimes, right, in the quarters. U.S., Sweden, us, and Czechia, and Finland and Switzerland. Three of the four games went to overtime. So I don't know what they would say, but would they prefer five-on-five too? I bet if you asked them to a man, they'd probably prefer it that way, but that doesn't matter. The rules are in place, we knew them.
It's two years and it's the World Cup and then two years again and it's the Olympics again. Do you want to be part of it going forward?
BC: Do I? Well, I'd like to be a part of it until they kick me out. I mean, these are the best players in the world. It's a privilege and an honor to represent your country. I think everybody would tell you that. That's the first thing, the camaraderie that goes with it. Living in the U.S., you forget sometimes what it means. I'm a Canadian. I was around hockey enough, right? So right or not, we really want to own the game of hockey. We take a lot of pride in that. And so I have empathy, and I feel for the citizens of Canada that this is probably hard for them. But having said that, I know our players left it all out there, and there can only be one winner. And so that part of it, I love that. I love being part of it. So, yes, I would do it in a minute.
You've been on the bench for big games, Stanley Cup games, 4 Nations, and a gold medal game the other day. What's that adrenaline rush like for a coach to go through that?
BC: Well, as a head coach, you're making more decisions in real time. As the assistant, you've probably done all the work ahead of time, and now you're probably assisting with whatever the head guy needs that day. So you're not as mentally going through every checklist in your head. You have a certain response. Like Jon Cooper would tell me, okay, this is what, on the bench, he needs from me. So it's a little bit different. But the adrenaline rush, you're still right there, and you're in it, and you're invested, and you've done the work. You've been with the guys. So that part of it is like a game seven. You're kind of on pins and needles almost with every play, and that's it. But it's in the hands of the players. And, you're hoping you're the team that makes the play. We did in 4 Nations. When that puck went in the net, McDavid shot it in the net, trust me, everyone on that team, just like when Jack Hughes shot it in the net, like there's excitement, there's relief that you got it done, there's exuberance, whatever, pick your words. There are a lot of different things that go through your head. There was no lead up like we had in game five against Florida, right? We kind of could see it coming. We'd put ourselves in a great position. This, you've got to stay in the moment, right? You've got to help players make sure they're line changing for the right people. Because if you change, for an assistant, if you change the wrong guy and you get stuck with too many, I mean, what’s it going to feel like? So that part of it, you're trying to stay and focus on what's been asked of you.
You mentioned being happy for Jack and Noah. In this country, especially when it comes to the youth hockey players, the guys on that team are heroes now. What makes Jack Eichel the ideal kind of person for those kids to look up to both on the ice and in the locker rooms?
BC: Well, he's had to deal with adversity through his health. And listen, I'll do the broader answer. This game is only going to grow the game of hockey more, especially in the United States of America. Canada, I'm not around there enough, but I think it's in really good shape. I know that it's becoming a little harder economically for certain families, but that's a different animal. The interest is there. In the U.S., it's nothing but good. And the women won, too, right? And they had a great year as well. But Canada seemed to always have the edge in the Olympics. So for the country and the game here, I think it's fantastic. It's only going to grow it. That's what we want as coaches and players. I know Gary Bettman, and on down [the NHL], I'm sure, is ecstatic with the way it turned out, in terms of Canada and the U.S., in the final game here in North America. So that's the big picture part of it, proud of both teams. I think it'll show down the road that they've really built the game. And both for the females and males, it's great. So would I have rather Canada won? Of course. But this is the big picture, and I think it's unbelievable for the game of hockey. And we'll find out, I guess, down the road what effect it did have on it.
