OFFSEASON QUOTES GENERAL MANAGER DON SWEENEY AND HEAD COACH Thursday, April 27, 2017

BOSTON BRUINS GENERAL MANAGER DON SWEENEY AND HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY END-OF-SEASON PRESS CONFERENCE Opening statement from Don Sweeney… DS: First off, I want to thank everybody for joining us today. The Bruins are very excited to be naming Bruce Cassidy the 28th head coach of the Boston Bruins. Despite the season abruptly ending on Sunday, I felt very comfortable moving forward quickly to name Bruce the head coach. I think that, to tell you the truth, I think Bruce summarized it very well the other morning. When we sat down and finalized it, when I said congrats, he said, ‘that’s good, because that was a long, hard interview.’ I think that the way our team responded to his message – we had an aggressive bent to our game. We scored more goals, we didn’t lose defensive structure and our foundation, our penalty kill remained to be top in the league, and our power play got better as the season went along. To me, it spoke to the change that our team responded to, that our core players responded to, and our young players responded to. I felt very comfortable moving forward that I felt Bruce would do a great job. Overall, I think our staff did a very good job. We have a lot of work to do as an organization, still. We want to become a deeper, more talented team from top to bottom. Taking one step forward, in my opinion, is not successful. It’s a good step, but we have work to do in a lot of areas that we want to continue to get better. The commitment to winning in this organization, it’s the first thing that our core players who have won and have lifted the , it’s the first thing they ask. They make sure the commitment, top to bottom, is there. Our younger players need to continue to understand that, and they need to grow. It’s great to have young players and you’re committing to it. But, if they’re not good enough and they don’t deserve to be there, that’s not a good plan to have. So, we need to make sure that they’re well prepared, whether they take the extra time in Providence – going to the playoffs they’re going to. I’ll drive down to Wilkes-Barre and watch them play today. So, it’s all-important. It’s important to the steps to get back to where we want to be. We have a lot of decisions to make from internal decisions of current players, whether they’ll be restricted or unrestricted, we have some expansion draft planning to continue to do, a review for the organizational meetings standpoint where we meet with our scouts – and I go back to what Adam Creighton, one of our pro scouts, said to everybody at the table at the trade deadline – he said, we need to be a deeper, more talented team, and that’s the bottom line. That’s the onus; it’s on right here, right in this chair. But today, I’m very excited to be sitting with Bruce and moving forward with him as our head coach.

Opening statement from Bruce Cassidy… BC: Well, first, I’d like to thank the Jacobs family, Cam Neely, and Don Sweeney for giving me this opportunity to continue a proud tradition here to coach an Original Six franchise. I’ve made no secret that I grew up adoring this team and I’m very proud, honored, and privileged to be a part of it, and to be named the head coach. My family, my wife Julie, my children; their support has been tremendous. It’s crucial along the way. To be quite honest, the core group, the veteran leadership, they gave me an opportunity to go in and earn their respect, and they bought into what we were selling for the most part. Not for the most part, 100 percent. 100 percent, the veteran guys, they afforded me that opportunity and I can’t thank them enough. We’ve got some

Stanley Cup champions in that room and it showed with high character players and I was very thankful for that. From there, we’re trying to build something together now. That’s the process going forward.

On if Sweeney believes Cassidy got the most out of his team… DS: Well, I was very happy for our core players and our younger players to experience – we had several players that played in the playoffs for their very first time. Had we continued in years past, David Pastrnak probably would have been more prepared this year if we had made it last year and the previous year. So, I think it was an important step and I think that our players, our core players in particular, some of them had tremendous seasons. Their demand to make sure our younger players sort of catch up and play the right way – we pushed the group. I think Bruce, in particular, our staff and Bruce, they really pushed the group to get to a higher pace. I think our aggressive nature churned. I think something that I felt would be injected into our group right from day one at practice because I know what his core principles are, and I think the group responded. The record speaks for it. We didn’t get the job done, and we have work to do.

On what Cassidy learned as a coach and as a person between head coaching stints… BC: Well, a lot transpires. I mean, I assume you’re referring to Washington. It’s been 14 years. You grow as a person, as an individual, your personal life, you become a parent – so, that will help you in every walk of life. As a coach, I look mostly at the time in Providence to be a part of the Bruins culture – I was part of the Black Aces when they won the Stanley Cup in 2011. It did wonders, I thought, for getting acquainted with the ways of the NHL, even though I was on the outside looking in, you still feel a part of it – the togetherness required, everything that goes into it. But, being down there, again, it’s just what goes into being a head coach and what goes into being involved with the Bruins family. I thought that was the biggest takeaway from my perspective and to what I can bring here as a head coach and did through the past two-plus months.

On where the roster needs to improve the most… DS: Well, I think that the middle part of our lineup, the consistency, scoring, and depth, I think is an area. Whether that’s second, third, wherever those pieces fall into place, I think that’s an area we need to continue to get better at. I believe our top line is one of the best lines in the league. We expect David Krejci, who should be commended for coming off hip surgery and playing 82 games. But, he probably got off to a slower stat that we would have liked, and we missed him in the playoffs. There are a lot of teams in the league that would look at our center and that’s pretty good depth there. Identity on the fourth line and lower parts of the lineup, I thought they did a good job for most of the year and we feel comfortable going forward with our depth there. Transitional puck play is an area that we're going to continue to look at through personnel, whether that’s internally or outside. The backup situation was certainly a challenge the first part of the year. Give Anton [Khudobin] a lot of credit. Give Bruce a lot of credit for putting him in and trusting him as well. But, it put a lot of strain on us earlier in the year. So, those are areas I think we need to make sure we feel more comfortable with.

On how difficult it was to coach without a training camp and how much he looks forward to setting up his own training camp…

BC: Well, it’s hard to measure the degree of difficulty. You’re given an opportunity and it’s up to you to take advantage of it and be prepared. I’ve been a head coach before so, once you’re into that part of it, it becomes second nature. I was around since training camp, so I knew the players and some of their strengths and weaknesses, how we played, where I thought we could be better, where the players were looking for improvements after talking to them quickly in those first couple of days. So, we implemented a couple of things, and off we went. You hope that you make the right call in those areas. We talked about; right away, about being a team that would play – and the term “play fast” is getting thrown around a lot out there, but, we were going to upgrade our transition game; how we were going to move the puck quicker and attack. I guess that was our description of playing fast. I think it worked. It got our D involved, so you start scoring and obviously, that helped. People get excited about that – scoring goals and getting on offense, and I don’t think we lost a lot on the defensive side of things. As we went along, we tried to maintain that balance. So, that was the message right away. Players bought in and we had success, and that obviously helps. Winning solves a lot of problems and puts a lot of smiles on people’s faces. So, that part of it went very well and, going into training camp, obviously, it will be an advantage. We can start from day one implementing, going forward, the things that we want to focus on. We’ll get together as a staff and sort through that. We had player exit interviews and we’ll get the players opinion and what we feel is the best way to be successful. So, training camp, yes, it’ll be an advantage to run it. But, like I said, I was around for it and I had some association with the players, and that helped, obviously, as opposed to walking in off the street.

On the assistant coaching staff… DS: Like I said earlier, I think our staff did a very good job jumping in and picking up, because we didn’t add to it at the time, we subtracted from the group. It will stay as is. We will also be looking to add to it to complement that group. Bruce and I have already spoken briefly about it, but we haven’t identified yet and we’ve already received some people that would have some interest. We’ll pursue that accordingly.

On what kind of role he would be looking for in an assistant… BC: We haven’t gotten too far out in front of it. But, Joe Sacco moved from the front of the bench to the D, did a terrific job, big part of the penalty kill all year. Jay [Pandolfo] came down from the press box, worked with the forwards, which he had worked with all year. But now he’s in the heat of the battle. They were terrific. We were a true staff. Goalie Bob [Essensa] became a little bit more of an eye in the sky for us up there. We had Kim [Brandvold], who was our skating coach, helped a lot with the practices, with the pace we were trying to establish. Can’t thank them enough. Going forward, we’re going to meet and decide what is the best fit for us. Obviously those two have a forward background, I have a defense background, so maybe that’s an area we have to look at, what’s the best complement. But we’d be getting ahead of ourselves if I said today that we’re pinpointing an exact thing. We’ve got to look at it and say, ‘OK, who’s the best fit. What makes us the most successful?’ and go from there with the candidates we get.

On if any UFAs or RFAs have been told they will or won’t return… DS: No we didn’t make any of that – we went through exit interviews yesterday and really just tried to go through the whole season with guys and where they were at and then we’ll sit down as a group and make some decisions. We haven’t made any hard or fast decisions on any one

individual as of right now. We have an idea for expansion and going forward, but haven’t made any concrete, didn’t deliver any of that news yesterday.

On if the team has enough internally to fill out the roster or if they must look outside… DS: All of the above. I think that we’ve, in the last few years, we’ve identified some guys that we think can grow with us. We got a bit of a quick snapshot of the young player on the back end that might continue, he’s going to the World Championships. I think that’s still a moving target to some degree, but we’re going to look at everything. If we can improve, as I said earlier, I don’t think just putting a young player in the lineup for the sake of just describing the fact that you want to play young players is the right thing to do. They have to be young players in order to do that, they deserve the opportunity and take advantage of the opportunity. They have to push another player out of a job and I’ve always felt that way, a team that’s deep enough that you have internal competition and those players to push other players out of the way because they’re ready. I think we’re moving in that direction and I want to get back and go see some players play tonight, this weekend, see how they do. And then we go forward, but we’ll be looking at everything, inside and outside.

On if Ryan Spooner is part of the team’s future… DS: Well, to be determined. We’ll look at our roster and what our options are. He has options as well as an RFA and we’ll have discussions with his representatives and see where there’s a fit. Ryan struggled down the stretch, had a nice bump when Bruce first took over, the familiarity probably helped. Offensively it tailed off. The series had gone on against Ottawa that it became pretty tight, every game was one goal and we felt that every inch was a bit of a battleground to try and win. I think Sean [Kuraly] and Noel [Acciari] and some of the guys that had done a nice job with us, it was just decisions personnel wise that Bruce decided to make lineup wise. Every player is affected that way at times, coming in and their ice time. Ryan’s a talented player and he’s had a lot of success, our power play is better when he plays as well as he’s capable of playing and he can be a good complement to our group.

On using buyouts… DS: It’s always a tool. We went down that path last year. I haven’t made a firm decision on that. There’s cap implications and things you look at, lack of depth as a result of it. I think we’ve got to be pretty aware of all the residual associated with just throwing out the buyout term. For me, it went right down to the wire in that decision making last year and I’ll take all the time necessary to make the right one this time.

On what this playoff run taught him about what Cassidy is capable of… DS: Well, I thought our team was well prepared each and every night. Not just in the playoffs, but when Bruce took over. I know how meticulous he is, I also know the emotional level that he can get to. I think the players respond to it. But he’s a teacher of the game. I think the very next day when he walks in, regardless of how the game went the night before, it’s about, ‘How do we get better and ready for tomorrow and today. And how does that player at an individual level?’ I think that’s important. I think our playoffs, several players went through it for the first time and no matter what you say, until you have experience you don’t get it anywhere else, you’ve got to go through it. And hopefully we’ll be better off as a result of it. Sitting with David Pastrnak yesterday, that’s the first time he’s played an NHL playoff game. He’ll hopefully be a better

player as a result of it. He had a tremendous regular season, but it’s the next level, it’s a new challenge and I thought the vast majority of our players really did a nice job. We weren’t the same team, lineup, that we had had, we missed some players. Injuries are not an excuse, they’re variables that you have to understand. My dad’s a math teacher and he talks about controlling variables, understanding them, and sometimes you don’t get to do that, but you have to be prepared for it. You look at Joe Morrow, who hadn’t played a lot and stepped in and played 22 minutes a night and did a very good job for us.

On the term of Cassidy’s deal… DS: Bruce is on a multi-year deal.

On ’s season… DS: For Tuukka, a tremendous start to the season for us. We needed it, our backup goalie got hurt, Anton [Khudobin] was off to a slow start, Zane [McIntyre] was coming in as a young player, Malcolm [Subban] played a game. We needed him. Middle of the season I thought we rode him maybe a little too hard. He broke down a little bit. And then he finished on such a high note, the player that we all know Tuukka is, and the competitor he is. He had some injury troubles that he was battling through the course of the season and really came back, after getting a little bit of rest, a better player. He’s a big part of if we’re going to have success that we expect to have, that he has to be the go-to guy and I think he proved that down the stretch and in the playoffs that he can be that goaltender.

On if he has decided which format he will be using for the NHL Expansion Draft… DS: Not for sure. I think we lean towards the 7 [forwards], 3 [defensemen], and 1 [goaltender], to be honest with you, but that could change between now and then, depending on if there’s any player movement prior to.

On David Backes’ first year in Boston and how he would assess his play… DS: From leadership qualities, you talked to players yesterday and realized how much of an impact he had on young and older guys, and I think playoffs, I think he would have become even more impactful as playoffs went along, if we continued to play — that’s just the type of player he is, in every inch, how valuable it is. Acclamation-wise, he got off to a great start because he played on the top line in Columbus and had a great night, and had a couple of injuries that set him back for periods of time. It was a big transition. He was very honest in saying he was overwhelmed with moving from a place where he had been very well established, had a very identifiable role as captain, and a relationship with the coach. All those things are moving parts that he admitted openly that it was a little overwhelming at times, despite everybody doing what they can to make him comfortable. He was very grateful and happy that the wives and girlfriends helped his own wife and family adjust. I think that David will be an even better player for us going forward. I thought his production was pretty good overall. Played a couple of different roles and situations, sees himself probably staying on the wing, but can certainly provide the depth up the middle of the ice, depending on how the lineup looks and who emerges, and we’re happy to have him.

On the NHL Draft, and if there is somebody now in charge of that… DS: Well, Scotty Bradley has stepped back into that role, which he’s very comfortable doing. He

holds the title of Assistant General Manager, he’ll oversee the draft. We’re very comfortable with the people he’s worked with in recent years that have been a big, big part of our recent drafts and our meetings went well. They were just at the U18s and had other subsequent meetings, so there will be some banter in the upcoming meetings, in terms of where we end up finalizing our list, but Scotty will oversee that.

On Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes, and if he feels he can get to them… BC: That’s my job, to get them to be better players and play to their level. I think Jimmy, when I first took over, he was a minus-12 and got himself back to even. He might not have had the offensive numbers, but I think he contributed on that line. And then we brought in Drew Stafford and he bumped around the lineup and again, obviously, he wasn’t in and that was a decision I made to go with more of a forechecking presence into the playoffs. With Matty, there’s a challenge there, because he’s an accomplished player in terms of he’s scored goals in this league, we’ve made a commitment to him as a player, and what we’re looking for from Matt is getting back to where he was in terms of a good, solid, physical guy that can chip in offensively. And with his injury, he was always playing catch-up, and we’ve got to get him going from Day 1. So that’s the conversation yesterday — I’ll be perfectly honest, we sat down, we need you to be at this level, conditioning-wise, health-wise, right out of the gate. I think it will benefit him, because when he’s able to get there, he’s a very effective player. I think obviously certain things limited him this year, so we’ve got to get him to that particular point. I think the rest will take care of itself going forward, and hopefully we get positive results. That’s what we’re all after. We want the player to play well, play to the best of his ability and that’s the challenge in front of us, and those are the two guys you mentioned that clearly we want to get more out of.

On what his vision is for Zdeno Chara beyond his current contract… DS: I haven’t had any discussions, as of right now, with Zdeno, or with his representative. I thought Zdeno had a really good year. I thought he enjoyed playing with — I actually questioned whether or not he knew that I found him a younger partner than Brandon Carlo, who he played with all year. Low and behold, I did. He loved the mentoring role. He elevated his play in the playoffs. He played more than what we probably would have liked to have played him, and he had a good year. Looking at his power play time on ice and such, people start to wonder, where is he — he still had 10 goals. We just chose to find out where his level of impact on our hockey club would be best used. In the matchup role, still playing 22, 24, going into the 28-minutes nights of the playoffs, you realize that he’s invaluable. Health and age — Father Time gets us all. We’ll continue to have discussions with him and where he sees himself at and I wouldn’t doubt the fact that he’s going to want to continue to play, and can continue to play at a very high level beyond this year.

On if David Backes would move back to center… DS: Well, ultimately Bruce will look at our lineup and the personnel as we move forward and what player options we have. The comfort level there is I think people talked about having too many centers on our roster in the beginning of the year, and I think it became a real strength of ours. Riley Nash and Dom Moore fit in well on our team and our penalty killing benefited as a result of that. We did have some injuries where people were able to move around and I think David represents the same thing. He has the ability to step into the faceoff dot and help, maybe it’s a younger player who’s struggling in those areas, he can play up and down the lineup, he’s

comfortable in either position. To me, it’s a big advantage. And a little bit in terms of our roster — it we make a move to bring in a winger as opposed to a center, he may play there, but I think it’s a real advantage of ours but ultimately it’s Bruce’s decision.

On how many players are going to the World Championship, and if Anders Bjork is still deciding whether he is turning pro next season… DS: Charlie McAvoy will be leaving and playing for Team USA and then David Pastrnak will be joining his Czech Republic team. Anders [Bjork] is also playing on Team USA, and we’ve had discussions. We’ll continue to have discussions. He hasn’t made a firm decision, whether or not he’s leaving school. So it will be his decision. The opportunity is there for him to join us, and we’d like him to, but again, that’s his decision to make, at the right time.

On if he can keep talking to Anders Bjork… DS: No, no restrictions, through his family advisor.

On if there is an update on whether Patrice Bergeron will need surgery [for his sports hernia], and if there is anyone else who may need surgery… DS: Patrice is going to take a little bit more time, to see if things calm down, as opposed to taking the surgical route. Tuukka’s in the same boat, in terms of allowing to have a little bit of rest and seeing and will re-evaluate with subsequent testing. Kevan Miller has a follow-up report as well to be done. I don’t think that there’s anything there, but to make sure. Frank [Vatrano] will subsequent follow-up on his foot to make sure there’s nothing — as you know, he had surgery in the first part of the year. Just making sure we do our due diligence with any guys that had any types of injuries. Right now, those are the only ones.

On what injury Tuukka Rask had… DS: It’s related to the groin at this point.

On Kevan Miller’s injury… DS: Miller’s got a shoulder, bicep area that he’s been — he’ll have subsequent testing to make sure he’s OK. Krejci — he’ll just need time to recover on his injury. Carlo’s had the concussion and hopefully will continue to progress — has made a progression. Torey doesn’t need surgery. He’s actually moving along well in his recovery. I think that’s it. Adam McQuaid has a neck issue that he’s resolving as well and he’ll just need a little bit more time, but not a surgical option.

On the backup goaltender position, and who else is in that mix besides Anton Khudobin…. DS: Well, readiness, again, I’ll watch Zane [McIntyre] tonight and see how he does. I believe he’s playing. You’d love to see a guy go on a run. We’ve said that about Malcolm [Subban], since he’s been part of this organization. Zane came up and he had a couple of games where you thought, ‘he’s got it’ and it slipped away at the end. Nashville, Rangers, Montreal, were examples of games that I thought he played pretty well at and had a chance to close out and then again, those are experiences that he has to go through at the level. Anton is firmly in the mix — you look at what he did down the stretch, and how could he not be? But that’s the goalie we need. So I can’t have any doubts or reservations, so we’re going to meet as a group and make sure that we’re making the right decision. If somebody passes Anton, be it

Zane or Malcolm, then we move in that direction as well. But we’ve been patient from the development standpoint of trying to look internally, and it’s a position that we’ve sort of been chasing our tail a little bit for a couple of seasons now and very aware of it, do not run from it, and I’d like it to be resolved.

#04/27/17#