On Sunday evening, ESPN's Barry Melrose declared that Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Cassidy was the worst coach in the league. On Sunday morning, Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post gave us all some insight into why that is:
The Capitals were outshot by the Devils 41-9 in a 3-0 loss, the first shutout of the season against the Capitals, who have the second-worst record in the NHL. During his postgame remarks, according to sources, Cassidy brought up his players' families, saying that he did not care if the players had pregnant wives or sick children on their minds and that such issues were no excuse for the way they were playing."There was no reason to bring our families into this," one player said. "That's crossing the line. It really [upset] a lot of the guys. I can't believe he said it."
Many of the Capitals have young families -- defenseman Jason Doig's wife recently gave birth, for example -- and some have endured medical hardships recently. Olaf Kolzig's son, Carson, is autistic. Defenseman Brendan Witt's wife, Salima, nearly died of sepsis last season after giving birth.
Cassidy has since apologized, but it's clear the damage has been done. Since he came to the Capitals before last season, Cassidy has struggled to gain respect from many of the team's veteran players -- such are the trials of a first-time head coach who never played in the NHL who is only a few years older than many of his team's top players. Here's more from LaCanfora:
Cassidy's communication skills have created problems before. He has had heated exchanges with both Witt and Jaromir Jagr during games this season -- equipment manager Doug Shearer stepped between Witt and Cassidy to separate them, according to sources. Early last season Cassidy had a spirited argument with forward Dainius Zubrus, and his profanity-laced excoriation of rookie backup goalie Sebastien Charpentier in front of his teammates moments after a loss in Buffalo last Dec. 7 threatened to divide the team. One since-departed veteran planned to verbally challenge Cassidy at the following practice if he did not apologize to Charpentier in front of the entire team, which the coach ended up doing.
Meanwhile, the Caps continue to lose, this time 7-3 to the Kings on Saturday night. After their lackluster performance in New Jersey on Thursday night, the Caps came out flying against the Kings, scoring twice in the first period in Los Angeles, only to see the Kings roar back, and eventually chasing Caps goalie Olie Kolzig from the game.
In Melrose's comments on Sunday, he said Cassidy would pay for his actions. The only question is not if, but when. Only the first two years of Cassidy's contract are guaranteed, and if the Caps let him go at the end of the season, they might actually be able to delay hiring a new head coach -- without a team on the ice, why bother paying a head coach anyway?
As for options, the Caps could always promote assistant coach Glen Hanlon, who was a favorite for the job that Cassidy eventually got. Otherwise, they could reach back into the minors, and grab Tim Army from behind the bench in Portland.
POSTSCRIPT: A few weeks ago, Melrose said part of the solution for the Caps was to trade one of their higher paid veterans -- perhaps Peter Bondra -- for a young defenseman. Something tells me Caps GM George McPhee might not exactly be impressed with the advice.
It’s probably asking for a big headache, but any thought/rumors regarding having Mike Keenan come in (assuming Florida can’t prevent him from taking another job, particularly one in the division)? Keenan is questionable as a long-term coach, but he’s had some success in the short/temporary stints he’s had lately.
In ordinary times, I don’t doubt that Cassidy would have been replaced a few weeks ago. But with a possible lockout on the horizon, I can’t imagine that ownership would consider adding a big name like Keenan — and the large salary and time committment that would come with him.
If they were to hire him, it would mean paying him not to coach during the lockout. They could just as easily do that with a lower profile guy inside the organization, and save themselves some serious cash in the process.