Cassidy set for another unusual Bruins camp

Bruce Cassidy knows a bit about unusual training camps.

He didn’t get to run the Bruins through a true camp until the fall of 2017, after he’d been their head coach for the last three months of the previous season.

In 2018, part of his camp, with only some of his players, was held in China.

Last September, Cassidy had to manage a full training camp that followed a short, three-month off-season.

Now, something new: A short camp after a long [...]

Bruce Cassidy knows a bit about unusual training camps.

He didn’t get to run the Bruins through a true camp until the fall of 2017, after he’d been their head coach for the last three months of the previous season.

In 2018, part of his camp, with only some of his players, was held in China.

Last September, Cassidy had to manage a full training camp that followed a short, three-month off-season.

Now, something new: A short camp after a long break.

The Bruins, who haven’t been on the ice together since a 2-0 win on March 10 at Philadelphia, are scheduled to open the second training camp of the season on Monday, as the NHL enters Phase 3 of its Return to Play plan. Less than two weeks later — July 24 — they’re expected to enter a hub city "bubble" to resume preparations for a reported Aug. 1 restart to the coronavirus-interrupted 2019-20 season.

That’s not a lot of time, especially when it’s considered that at least some of the camp will probably be devoted to getting players into skating shape. The Bruins’ coach, however, seems to have some advantages over others.

First, and most obvious: The Bruins had the NHL’s best record when the league had to press pause back in March. The only two players injured at the time — defensemen Torey Krug (upper body) and Brandon Carlo (concussion) — are expected to have healed. A healthy roster, plus an established, successful system of play, means Cassidy won’t have to do much teaching, if any at all.

Second, but perhaps as important: Cassidy may favor a certain system and structure, but he has never been married to a lineup. Whether it’s called tinkering, tweaking or toggling, Cassidy isn’t shy about changing combinations on the fly when he doesn’t like how they look, but he’s also not so stubborn that he won’t give a player, a forward line or a defense pairing a second chance.

That ability to think on one’s feet will be critical during a short camp. Cassidy is sure to arrive with a plan, but without the luxury of 17 days of training and six preseason games (that’s how long the B’s had to prepare last fall), he’ll have to make quicker decisions, and base most of them on practice sessions. The more of Plan A he changes, the less time there will be to look at Plan B, C, and so on.

And while the Bruins did such an admirable job of shaking off last year’s Stanley Cup finals disappointment to post a league-best record of 44-14-12 — good for the No. 1 seed for as long as they last in this summer’s playoffs — Cassidy does have decisions to make.

The most watched aspect of camp will be how the coach sets up his second and third forward lines. At the time of the pause, a six-game experiment with No. 2 center David Krejci skating between Nick Ritchie and Ondrej Kase, two Ducks acquired in separate trades in late February, hadn’t generated much production. The trickle-down —No. 3 center Charlie Coyle between a rotating cast of wings — didn’t look much better.

Does Cassidy try Ritchie, Krejci and Kase again? Will he move Jake DeBrusk, who has played the bulk of his three seasons with Krejci, back to that spot, and move Ritchie back with Coyle? If so, does Kase also surface on Coyle’s line, and if that happens, who plays right wing with Krejci?

Cassidy has undoubtedly considered endless options over the last four months, plus wildcards. As much as the coach loves Coyle in the No. 3 center slot, shifting him to right wing with Krejci isn’t out of the question. Neither is giving Jack Studnicka, the rookie standout at AHL Providence who’s expected to be added to the 30-skater camp roster, a shot with Krejci or Coyle. Trent Frederic, the big (6 feet, 2 inches, 203 pounds), physical center, could also get a look, albeit probably a bit farther down the lineup than Studnicka.

There’d be some risk in using it, but Cassidy has a luxury shared by only seven other coaches in the 24-team tournament. The top four teams in each conference avoid a best-of-5 play-in round and instead play a three-game round robin against each other, with final standings determining the seedings for the best-of-seven "true" playoff series that follow. While all 24 teams are expected to get at least one pre-tournament exhibition, Cassidy can use some, or even all, of the round robin to try things out.

Too much gambling could hurt the Bruins’ seeding, but Cassidy has always been willing to think outside the box, and his 161-66-34 regular-season record (.682 percent) with the B ‘s suggests his instincts have been pretty solid. The idea is to win in the playoffs, and Cassidy can still be counted on to use whatever time he has to explore all options.