NEW FACES IN NEW PLACES FINDING NHL SUCCESS

By: Braedyn Wozniak, RP Show Intern

A lot has been said about the ‘coaching carousel’ in the NHL, where teams recycle coaches in hopes of a rejuvenated squad. 

Usually, the carousel keeps on turning. Coaching changes can drastically improve a team’s success, but often times, the change doesn’t add talent, and the team’s play remains mediocre. 

Not this year. It seems every team that decided to bring in a fresh face behind the bench this off-season is loving every minute of it. 

The Boston Bruins stand atop the NHL standings, largely because of new head coach Jim Montgomery relieving former bench boss Bruce Cassidy. 

The Bruins finished 10th last season with 51 wins and lost in the first round of playoffs. They currently have 20 wins in their 24 games, nearly halfway to their win total a season ago. 

Zig Fracassi hosts SXM NFL Radio, but is a lifelong Bruins fan and contributes to the NHL Radio Show on SXM as well. He joined the Rod Pedersen Show to give his insight. 

“Cassidy is a tremendous coach. I think he’s going to do wonders for Vegas,” he said. 

Fracassi said Cassidy’s message was simply getting lost. He was the Bruins Head Coach since 2016, so players were sick of getting sang the same tune for 6 years and some players didn’t like the way he sang it. 

“Don Sweeney (Bruins Legend) says that your message is very good, but it’s the way it needs to be delivered,” said Fracassi. “Now you get a guy like Jim Montgomery … and right now, it’s produced some pretty good results.” 

“We all love Cassidy’s brutal honesty in the media, but then you have to deal with the players. (Brandon) Carlo I think chafed against it, we know (Jake) DeBrusk chafed against it and there were probably some other guys as well.” 

Cassidy signed with the Vegas Golden Knights, who are currently third in the NHL standings. 

Last year, an injury prone Vegas team coached by Peter DeBoer finished 17th in the league standings and missed the playoffs. 

DeBoer took his talents to Texas and now the Dallas Stars have the sixth best record in the league, compared to a 15th place finish and first round exit last year. 

The arrival of DeBoer has come with the full arrival of Jason Robertson, who leads the league in goals with 23 this season, only 26 games in.  

Brien Rea is a Dallas Stars Broadcaster and is seeing the improvements first-hand. He shared what he’s seen from the Dallas Stars to Rod Pedersen mere minutes after Fracassi. 

“I think for us here in Dallas, we haven’t become too romantic, or I haven’t become too romantic about (the Stars) because this is the same roster that couldn’t score a goal to save their lives at times over the last three or four seasons,” said Rea. 

“You look at Peter DeBoer coming in with this new style of play and it’s like okay, clearly there is some improvement. This is pretty remarkable what they’ve been able to do offensively.” 

The team has not changed significantly roster wise, but the coaching change has made it seem as though the team is brand new. 

The Stars signed DeBoer after parting ways with Rick Bowness, who found a new home with the Winnipeg Jets, who also look like a completely different team. 

The Winnipeg Jets jumped ten spots in the standing compared to last season, starting the 2022-23 season in ninth place overall after finishing 19th and missing the playoffs last year. 

Paul Maurice was the Jets coach then, Florida Panthers coach now.  

The list doesn’t end there, as the New York Islanders under new hire Lane Lambert and the Detroit Red Wings under former Tampa Bay Lightning assistant coach Derek Lalonde have had their squads go from 20th and 25th to 8th and 13th this season. 

All of these coaches have seen their teams make massive strides in their first 20-some games with their new squads.  

It’s an interesting turn of events, considering four of them coached a team that performed well under expectations last year. 

It’s safe to assume teams around the NHL will keep the carousel spinning around and around after this year, hoping to find similar success. 

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, YouTube Live and WQEE Radio)

Photo: Vegas Golden Knights