Zizing 'Em Up: Cassidy set for Boston homecoming with Vegas

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Each Sunday during the season, he will use his extensive network of hockey contacts to write his weekly notes column, "Zizing 'Em Up."

TORONTO --Bruce Cassidy would like nothing better than to spoil the Boston Bruins' TD Garden Party.
And with good reason.
The Bruins extended their NHL-record home winning streak to start a season to 14 games with a 5-1 victory against the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Now, here come the Vegas Golden Knights, led by former Boston coach Cassidy, on Monday, with the intention of stopping the Bruins' unprecedented run of home success (7 p.m. ET: NESN, ATTSN-RM, TVA, ESPN+, SN NOW).
Cassidy was fired by the Bruins on June 7 despite guiding them to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of six seasons as coach. Hired by the Golden Knights seven days later, he won't use the word revenge to describe what he's looking for in his first game back in Boston but admitted being the first visiting team to win there this season would be sweet.
"Yeah, that's our plan," he told NHL.com. "I'm not going to lie to you. We want to win. We've been good on the road, they've been great at home.
"Yeah, it means more to me. Once the puck drops, it's business. But I hope we put our best foot forward for two reasons. One, the Bruins are really good. Two, because it's back in Boston."
What kind of reception does he expect?
"Part of me wants to just get through it, part of me is curious to see the reaction," he said. "I still have friends there, at the rink and in the community. I was with the organization for 14 years. My kids were born in New England.
"I still have a house in Cape Cod that I want to go back to and not have people throw eggs at it, you know?"
He chuckled at that notion, something he didn't do when informed by general manager Don Sweeney that he was being let go in a move that caught the fan base and much of the hockey world by surprise. The 57-year-old was 245-108-46, and 36-37 in the playoffs, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019, when the Bruins lost to the St. Louis Blues in seven games. His replacement, Jim Montgomery, was hired July 3 and has the Bruins off to a 20-3-0 start.
"People ask me what I took away from it," Cassidy said. "Well what I took away is that I didn't win enough in the playoffs. That's what happens when you're expected to win. And 'Monty's' going to have to deal with that in the playoffs. Expectation. That's one of the things I loved about the job is that you're expected to win.
"I spoke to Donny about it at the time. He spoke his mind about it. I spoke mine after 14 years. I don't agree with some of the tidbits that came afterward. Claude Julien, who won a Cup there in 2011, had built a foundation and I kind of added to it. And there's one constant, from Claude to myself to Monty, we kept the puck out of the net."
As for suggestions that certain Bruins players thought he was too hard on them, Cassidy said his incentive to drive his players came from the 2019 Final.
"We lost in Game 7," he said. "From that point, when you're that close, you push the guys harder to get over the finish line. Looking back, sometimes you put your foot on the gas, sometimes you take it off the gas.
"I can look back and say, 'Maybe I should have done this, maybe I should have done that,' but the way I looked at it, we had to get over the hump, so we had to get more out of every guy in the room."
Cassidy said he's enjoyed his time with the Golden Knights, who are 18-7-1 in their first 26 games. To add to that win total in Boston, he said, would be extra satisfying.
"It's a special place for me," he said. "But I'm not going to lie, I'd really like to win this one."

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COUTURE WANTS TO STAY WITH SHARKS … FOR NOW

Logan Couture said he has no desire to seek a move from the San Jose Sharks despite their current rebuild.
At least not yet.
"I can't see myself playing anywhere else in the near future," the Sharks captain told NHL.com.
"I mean, things change in this league obviously. I see what happens across the League. But right now, I love San Jose and I'm going to stay there."
There has been no shortage of speculation concerning the future of the Sharks' veteran players since Mike Grier was hired as general manager July 5. Defenseman Brent Burns, 37, was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes eight days later, and Grier has said he'll listen to offers for 32-year-old Erik Karlsson, though the defenseman has a no-trade clause.
Couture was with the Sharks when iconic forwards Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton each left San Jose as a free agent seeking better opportunities to win his first Stanley Cup championship. Marleau signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017 at age 37, and Thornton did the same three years later at age 41. Neither did get the championship he coveted.
The Sharks (8-15-4) are in seventh place in the Pacific Division, but that hasn't discouraged Couture, who has 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists) through 27 games this season, his 14th with San Jose, which selected him in the first round (No. 9) of the 2007 NHL Draft. The 33-year-old center, who is signed through the 2026-27 season, said he chuckles when he hears about being mentioned in trade rumors.
"It's been different," he said when asked about being part of a rebuild. "But you still come to the rink with the same attitude, the same mentality. For me, I was so fortunate to play with Patty and Jumbo Joe, and to watch them work and learn how to win from them. Those are the things I want to teach some of our young guys, the same things they taught me.
"Look, I still have that fire to win and I take losses hard, so it's been difficult to lose. We play this game to win. So that's been tough. But I still love it. I love San Jose. I love the coaching staff. I love the way we're playing now too; we've been in almost every game.
"Every night we have a chance to win a hockey game, and I enjoy that."

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2017 DRAFT PICKS PAY OFF FOR STARS

There was a time not so long ago when Jim Nill wondered about the future of the Dallas Stars as well as his own.
The two faces of the franchise, forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, had suffered through numerous injuries and had more than their fair share of wear and tear. The big questions for the 64-year-old general manager, therefore, were: Was a complete rebuild in the immediate future? And would he be around to see it?
Thanks in part to some shrewd picking in the 2017 NHL Draft, the Stars have not had to tear up their roster. Instead, they are tearing up the competition.
"When you come out of a draft with Miro Heiskanen, Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson, and five years later they have become part of the backbone of your team, sure, why wouldn't I want to see this through?" Nill told NHL.com. "If you're in this league, whether it's as a coach, a GM, a player, a scout, it's all about the passion. I still have that. I still have my health. As long as I have those things, and my family is OK, I can't see myself stopping. I'll know when it's time.
"I want to win. That's where the passion comes from, although you'd love the challenge of a rebuild if the passion was still there. The thing is, there's a long way to go and a lot of work to do, but I like where we're at right now.
"During the summer, I talked to ownership about our young players. We're excited. We have a long way to go but we have a lot of pieces in place."
Including Heiskanen, Oettinger and Robertson, all coming to Dallas in the 2017 draft.
Heiskanen, selected No. 3, is the foundation of the Stars defense corps and has 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) in 21 games. The 23-year-old is in the second season of an eight-year, $67.6 million contract ($8.45 million average annual value) he signed July 17, 2021.
Oettinger, selected in the first round (No. 26), is firmly entrenched as the No. 1 goalie and is 9-2-3 with a 2.35 goals-against average, a .923 save percentage and two shutouts in 16 games (15 starts) this season. The 23-year-old signed a three-year, $12 million contract ($4 million AAV) as a free agent Sept. 1.
Robertson, selected in the second round (No. 39), leads the NHL with 22 goals. The 23-year-old forward agreed to a four-year, $31 million contract ($7.75 million AAV) as a free agent Oct. 6.

On Tuesday, forward Roope Hintz, selected by Dallas in the third round (No. 49) of the 2015 Draft, signed an eight-year, $67.6 million contract ($8.45 million AAV) that runs through the 2030-31 season. The 26-year-old has 26 points (eight goals, 18 assists) in 23 games.
Heiskanen, Oettinger, Robertson and Hintz, all 26 or younger and under contract for at least two more seasons after this one, are the young nucleus of the Stars.
As for Benn and Seguin, they seem revitalized. Seguin, 30, feels healthy for the first time in four years and has 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in 24 games. Benn, 33, has 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) in the same number of games.
Under first-year Dallas coach Peter DeBoer, the mix of youth and experience has the Stars (14-6-4) in first place in the Central Division.
"A lot of work to do, but it's nice to see," Nill said. "And the passion's still there."

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QUOTE/UNQUOTE

"I think when you're from Toronto, it obviously means a little bit more because you grew up a fan of the team and you know what it means. I think for him growing up in Toronto and being a Leaf fan, it's special. It's nice to see him succeed. I know that sometimes he gets some flack, but he's one of the best players in the League, and he does it every day, and he tries. So it's good to see him get the recognition." --Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman on Mitchell Marner, his former Toronto linemate who set the Maple Leafs record by extending his point streak to 19 games with a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Hyman, a Toronto-area native like Marner, has never understood why Marner has, in his opinion, been unfairly criticized in his hometown in the past.

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THE SUNDAY LIST

With Lightning forward Steven Stamkos getting his 1,000th NHL point with an assist against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, we asked Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper for his three most memorable 'Stammer' moments, in no particular order
1. "His spectacular goal in Game 3 of the 2020 [Stanley Cup] Final against Dallas. It was the only game he played in those playoffs because of injury, and man, did he make it count." Stamkos's goal put Tampa Bay up 2-0 in a game it won 5-2 on the way to winning the best-of-7 series in six games. The goal, by the way, came during the only 2:47 of ice time Stamkos played in that postseason and was named Sports Illustrated's Play of the Year.
2. "The sight of him walking into the room with the Stanley Cup during that same year of 2020 when we were in the bubble (in Edmonton). Will never forget it."
3. "After those two there's so many. I've seen the majority of his points. He scored a big goal for us in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Bruins to tie the game late. Dan Girardi ended up winning it for us in OT." The goal, which came in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round, tied it 3-3 at 12:56 of the third period. Girardi's goal gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series, which they won in five games.