Projo Bruins Blog

By MARK DIVVER
Assistant Sports Editor

PROVIDENCE -- A Calder Cup would have been nice, but even without it Rob Murray's first season as a head coach was an unqualified success.

On opening night in October, the Bruins were the youngest team in the league. For their 99th and final game of the season on May 25, 12 of the 19 Bruins who played were 22 or younger. Included in the remaining seven were a 23-year-old, four 25-year-olds, a 30-year-old and a 31-year-old.

Riding herd on such a young group may have been a daunting task for a rookie head coach, but after a 16-year playing career and four seasons as Scott Gordon's assistant in Providence, Murray was ready.

And having an experienced assistant at his side in Bruce "Butch'' Cassidy undoubtedly helped.

Murray and Cassidy quickly gelled into one of the AHL's top coaching staffs.

"Murr's done a great job. We treat them like men. We treat them very fairly. We've asked them to do some things, and demanded that they do other things. They respect us. We respect their effort,'' said Cassidy.

"I tried to treat them like men, and be honest with them,'' Murray said. "The respect I showed them was paid back to Butch and I throughout the year,'' Murray said.

Though they didn't know each other going into the season, Murray, 42, and Cassidy, 44, had much in common.

"We'd crossed paths playing against each other, even way back in junior,'' Murray said. "We come from the same background. We grew up in Canada playing hockey. We both played junior, both played quite a bit in the minors. We've got the same kind of mentality.''

The fact that Murray was a rookie head coach, while Cassidy had a long coaching resume -- including a 110-game stint as the Washington Capitals head coach -- was never a source of tension, both men said.

"To his credit, with the experience he had, another guy might have come in here with a little bit more of a bigger head and tried to run the show, and he hasn't,'' Murray said. "He's been very respectful, understands his position as assistant, and has been very helpful to me. It's been great.''

The willingness to exchange opinions and ideas was a key.

"We've developed a good relationship here. It's pretty open. We talk about different things. I'll come in in the morning and he'll say, 'I was watching our game, and what if we try this . . . .' We won't deviate from our systems, per se, but he picks up on little nuances within the game. We try different things. It's great that he's always thinking the game, trying to figure out ways we can improve, be more efficient in different areas. That's been really good for me,'' said Murray.

Cassidy said that even if the two disagree, "that doesn't mean we can't talk about it.''

After the season-ending loss to Hershey, Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli said that he was pleased with the job the Providence coaching staff had done.

"We've got a very young team and the fact that we went this far is outstanding. They work really well with these young guys. We stress skill and skill development with these young guys. Having gone to many practices at North Smithfield, I've seen how they handled them through the course of the year. I'm very happy with them,'' Chiarelli said.

Murray and Cassidy each have a year remaining on their contracts. Both have a standard clause that allows them to take a better job -- in Murray's case, an NHL job; for Cassidy, a head coaching post.

Murray, who has put down roots with his wife and four children in South Kingstown, says he and his family love Rhode Island.

Cassidy, a former AHL coach of the year who got the Washington job at age 37, was circumspect about his future.

"I had a chance (in the NHL) once when I was young. Who wouldn't want a second chance? Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't. . . . If your team does well, hopefully some people notice that the players are doing a good job, the coaching staff is doing a good job, and things fall into place.''

 Tags  Boston Bruins Bruce Cassidy Providence Bruins Rob Murray

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