In addition to the players and his coaching staff, Cassidy has also had a strong working relationship with Neely and Sweeney, a rapport that formed during Cassidy's eight-year stint with the Providence Bruins. That ability to effectively talk through what will be best for the success of the team has allowed Sweeney and his hockey operations group identify the right players for Cassidy's lineup.
"Everyone knows they can express their opinion freely and try and take the collaborative approach," said Sweeney. "We don't agree on absolutely everything…after the fact, we have to analyze some stuff and see where we might do better. That's what we do every day to try and get better and that's his approach.
"For me, those things work really well together. We don't really question a lot of the things that we're trying to do. We have a path, we try to stick to it. When the twists and turns come, we adjust."
On the surface, there does not appear to be much for Cassidy to adjust as the 2019-20 season gets set to kick off on Thursday morning with the opening of training camp. Last year, he led the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup Final berth since 2013, following a regular season in which the team amassed a 49-24-9 record, while finishing second in the Eastern Conference with 107 points - the second straight season the team hit the 100-point mark.
But, despite Boston's memorable 2018-19 campaign - which also included a 19-game point streak, the second-longest in team history - Cassidy knows there is plenty of work to be done if the Bruins expect to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final.
"We're going to continue to grow that culture," said Cassidy, who has led the Bruins to 256 points since taking the helm, second-most in the NHL over that span to Tampa Bay (283). "Teach the new guys, this is our standard, we're gonna get there, this is how we're gonna practice, here's how we're gonna train and get our conditioning up so that we can play all night if we have to.
"Last year is a chapter we're putting behind us. We had a lot of success, didn't reach our ultimate goal of winning the Cup and that will be our goal this year. We're gonna work toward that this year, starting [on Thursday]."