Granted, most fans care little about media travails, because fans fill up arenas and tune in TVs first and foremost for fun and entertainment. In fact, the next time Torts gets the media\u2019s nose out of joint, a portion of the fan base undoubtedly will cheer with a zeal equal to their team clinching the Stanley Cup with a Game 7 overtime winner. As someone who has been in the day-to-day churn of this dynamic since typewriters and carbon paper, I get it. No one needs to hear if a reporter had a bad night at the arena, or what it took to make deadline. I may not like how I\u2019m treated, or the hardships that came with getting the job done. If I wouldn\u2019t want to read it, what would be the point in writing it? <\/p>\n
But the league, obviously, has to care about its image, along with 31 other rules-abiding franchises. It cares about that image mainly in a marketing sense, and most of all, and here is the key point, in how it presents itself as a viable, trustworthy TV product amid the massive revenue it generates via broadcast rights. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the message here, folks, in Gary Bettman & Bros. Co. Inc. delivering that draft-pick gut punch. The Golden Knights\u2019 communications team scrambled that night and admirably took care of some of the club\u2019s media obligations \u2014 an exercise made all the harder when a dressing room remains locked and reporters and photographers are carping about lack of player access and unforgiving deadlines.<\/p>\n
The league, when negotiating billions of dollars worth of broadcast rights, has to guarantee player\/coach access to rights holders. It has to guarantee and then deliver on the promise. That\u2019s why the NHL hammered the Golden Knights. Make no mistake, it wasn\u2019t about taking care of or looking after the diminishing number of print\/digital reporters who show up from say, the Boston Globe, New York Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal, or The Athletic. Those entities are not the league\u2019s partners, and often not its friends.<\/p>\n
The league\u2019s action was about the prospect of Bettman, or his top lieutenant, Bill Daly, perhaps one day having to explain to ESPN<\/a> or TNT or Hockey Night in Canada why a selfish, tempestuous, egocentric coach killed their postgame programming, leading to dead air, on-site reporters sweating in front of camera lenses, and studio anchors shuffling feet and tapping ear pieces.<\/p>\n Broadcasts take a village, and it takes but one village idiot to queer the deal, particularly in the live TV sports<\/a> industry. <\/p>\n Print\/digital reporters can fall back, if necessary, on creativity, detail, analysis, critical thinking. TV reporters and analysts, both on site and in studio, typically have their raison d\u2019etre tethered postgame to what\u2019s being said in the room, in the hallway outside the room, or at the podium. Players and coaches as individuals are broadcast partners and performers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were wrong,\u201d said McCrimmon, brother of the late defenseman Brad McCrimmon, long ago a Bruins first-round draft pick. \u201cWe assure you it won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n BAD LOOK<\/p>\n Vegas holding Cassidy back<\/p>\n McCrimmon, in the same press conference, only briefly addressed part deux of the Golden Knights straying from league norms by refusing requests by at least three clubs to talk to Bruce Cassidy<\/a> about becoming their coach.<\/p>\n McCrimmon abruptly sacked Cassidy, the former Bruins coach, with a little more than two weeks (eight games) remaining in the regular season. Cassidy, who directed Vegas to its first Cup win<\/a> in his rookie season (2022-23) there, remains out of work, though still under contract with Vegas for next season (at some $4.5 million). As the weekend approached, the following clubs were reported to have contacted Vegas about Cassidy: Edmonton, Toronto, and Los Angeles. Vancouver, which on Tuesday dismissed Adam Foote after only one season behind the bench, could become at least the fourth team. (The list grows almost daily.)<\/p>\n Per McCrimmon, he has told all interested clubs, as well as Cassidy, that his \u201cfocus is on the Stanley Cup playoffs and they have respected that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to Bruce,\u201d added McCrimmon. \u201cHe understands this as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Facetiously, we noted here a week ago<\/a> that it only makes sense for Vegas to block access to Cassidy if it\u2019s reserving the right to reinstall him as bench boss. Ridiculous, right? I mean, crazy, like denying access to your dressing room after you\u2019ve just clinched a playoff series.<\/p>\n Now that he has subsequently lost that Round 2 draft pick, McCrimmon could try to get it back by attaching a second-rounder as the price clubs pay to negotiate a deal successfully with Cassidy to become their coach. No telling how the league would view that demand. The guess here: with the same disfavor it expressed over the flagrant violation of media access regulations.<\/p>\n The Golden Knights, under the leadership of George McPhee and McCrimmon, have run a highly successful and hugely profitable franchise since entering the NHL as the first of the four major North American pro leagues to set up shop in Sin City. This is the club\u2019s fifth trip to the league\u2019s final four in its nine years of existence. If the VGK operated with such success at the blackjack table, they\u2019d be tossed out on suspicion of counting cards. <\/p>\n McCrimmon, in particular, has been among the league\u2019s shrewdest rainmakers, with high-end acquisitions such as Jack Eichel, Alex Pietrangelo, Noah Hanifin, Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, Tomas Hertl, and Ivan Barbashev.<\/p>\n Playing cutesy with Cassidy\u2019s livelihood and thumbing their nose at NHL media regulations won\u2019t unravel that. In fact, if they clinch the Cup for a second time next month, the transgressions barely show up as a footnote to the season. But it does lead to questions as to why an otherwise model franchise suddenly has chosen to color so blatantly outside the lines.<\/p>\n ETC.<\/p>\n With the NHL Draft (June 26-27) barely a month in the offing, the Bruins won\u2019t have long trusted hand Jamie Langenbrunner as part of the select-and-development process.<\/p>\n In an extremely terse news release May 14, the club announced that it \u201cagreed to allow\u201d Langenbrunner, 50, to pursue other opportunities<\/a> in the NHL. Per the release, \u201cthe organization\u201d wished Langenbrunner and his family \u201call the best moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, the release did not include GM Don Sweeney\u2019s name, which ran contrary to the vast majority of similar releases related to personnel moves during his tenure. One of his first moves in 2015 was to bring Langenbrunner aboard as a development coach. He served as Sweeney\u2019s assistant GM the last four years and held a key role in player development for much of his 10-plus years on Causeway Street.<\/p>\n Langenbrunner\u2019s name has surfaced in rumors as a GM candidate around the league the last couple of seasons, including this spring in New Jersey, where he won a Cup in 2003 as a 27-year-old right winger. The Devils dismissed GM Tom Fitzgerald<\/a> and subsequently hired Sunny Mehta as their new man in the corner office.<\/p>\n The Bruins will stage their traditional development camp June 29-July 2 in Brighton. Langenbrunner in recent years usually oversaw the camp and typically acted as the point person for media updates after each on-ice session. Adam McQuaid, named director of player development more than a year ago, most likely takes on that role in full.<\/p>\n The Bruins hold five picks, including a first-rounder, in next month\u2019s draft. They haven\u2019t had a truly impactful draft pick since 2017 when they filched their franchise goalie, Jeremy Swayman, with pick No. 111. In the subsequent five drafts, their lone pick to land regular varsity work has been defenseman Mason Lohrei (No. 58\/2020). That\u2019s 27 picks with a meaningful yield (thus far) of one. The last of those drafts, 2022, still holds promise in the bodies of Matt Poitras, Dans Locmelis, and Frederic Brunet. But thus far, one looks like a very lonely number \u2026 Jakub Lauko, who had a brief run with the Bruins after being selected No. 77 in the \u201818 draft, last month won his first championship as a pro, working the wing for Dynamo Pardubice in the Czech Extraliga. Lauko signed there as a free agent last summer, joining fellow ex-Bruin forward Vladimir Sobotka (No. 106\/2005). About to turn 39 years old, Sobotka also pocketed his first title in the pro ranks \u2026 Former Boston College forward Ryan Leonard (Capitals) connected for the shootout winner Wednesday, leading Team USA to a 4-3 win over Germany in the IIHF World Championship in Zurich. The Americans, who won World gold a year ago with Swayman in net<\/a>, are 2-3-0 after Saturday\u2019s 4-2 loss to Latvia. Next up: Hungary and Austria, with the path to the playoff round still in play for Uncle Sam\u2019s stick carriers. Top Bruins prospect James Hagens, playing in the Worlds for the first time<\/a>, suited up for four of the first five games and hasn\u2019t recorded a point. Oilers prospect Isaac Howard (three goals, assist) and the Blue Jackets\u2019 Mathieu Olivier (two goals, two assists) are the Yanks\u2019 top offensive producers \u2026 Some five weeks since the end of the regular season, Charlie Coyle (Blue Jackets) and Dylan Holloway (Blues) have been the only free agents signed to pricey\/substantial extensions by their teams. Coyle, the ex-Bruin, rang the bell with a six-year\/$36 million deal<\/a> to stick with the Cannon Blasters, while Holloway, originally an Oilers\u2019 first-round pick, cashed in with the Blues for five years at a whopping $7.75 million annual average. Still can\u2019t fathom what the Oilers\u2019 front office was thinking in allowing Holloway to walk and then signing Trent Frederic to the ridiculous UFA deal (eight years\/$3.85 million AAV) last July 1. Holloway has produced just shy of a point per game in his two years wearing the Note. Frederic\u2019s first season with the Oilers was downright abysmal (4-3\u20137 in the regular season and then 0-0\u20140 in four playoff appearances) … Stop the search immediately if you\u2019re looking for a playoff matchup in which both benches are directed by coaches who were top-of-the-chart workout beasts in their playing days. That would be Rod Brind\u2019Amour (Carolina) and Martin St. Louis (Montreal), now opposing one another in the Eastern Conference finals. Both forwards early on tapped into strength-and-conditioning drills that ultimately fueled their extraordinary on-ice success. St. Louis eight years ago was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, his candidacy framed by the fact that he was a small player (5 feet 8 inches\/176 pounds) whose work ethic turned him into an elite performer (391 goals, 1,033 points, one Stanley Cup title). Meanwhile, Brind\u2019Amour (452 goals, 1,184 points, one Cup title) did precisely the same, albeit as a bigger body (6-1\/200). Now age 55 and 16 years removed from his playing days, Brind\u2019Amour\u2019s call to the Hall is painfully overdue \u2026 Man, it\u2019s fun to watch Brent Burns, age 41 and still with decent wheels, tool around on that Avalanche backline. Long ago a winger, dating to his early years with the Wild, the aged Burns still has an uncanny ability \u2014 due to a combination of quick release and keen play reads \u2014 for getting shots on net from distance. Equally enjoyable to witness is that he seems to enjoy every shift like he\u2019s some starry-eyed kid just called up from juniors. Burns ranks No. 14 all-time for regular-season games played (1,579), which also is most among active NHLers who have yet to win a Cup \u2026 The phenomenal Cale Makar<\/a>, formerly of UMass, was injured and out of the Colorado lineup for Games 1 and 2 vs. Vegas. Watching the subsequent dip in the Avalanche\u2019s play in the former (a 4-2 Knights win) was reminiscent of how the Bruins of old would take a severe mojo hit whenever Bobby Orr was forced to exit the action \u2026 By the way, filling in that night for Makar: none other than Jack Ahcan, the diminutive defender out of St. Cloud State who once logged nine games for the Bruins (2020-22). He skated only 7:34 in Game 1, with Avalanche coach Jared Bednar ostensibly choosing to roll five defensemen rather than risk dropping Ahcan too often into the playoff autobahn \u2026 Nearly 11 years later, Bruins fans still lament that the front office chose Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk, and Zach Senyshyn as consecutive picks in the talent-laden \u201815 draft<\/a>. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights, who didn\u2019t make their first draft pick until 2017, stand as the clearcut winners of it. Six of their roster regulars, including stars Eichel (No. 2\/Buffalo), Marner (4\/Toronto) and Hanifin (5\/Carolina) are products of the \u201815 draft. The others: Jeremy Lauzon (52\/Boston), Rasmus Andersson (53\/Calgary) and Keegan Kolesar (69\/Columbus). \u201cWe\u2019ve done pretty well by that draft,\u201d McCrimmon noted in his pre-West finals presser.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5JSRHTFE2MH25F7FX63HBQFZ5U.jpg\")
The Golden Knights fired Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in the regular season.Jeffrey T. Barnes\/Associated Press<\/p>\n![\"Jeremy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SL62S4NY4R77G4TXU2KMF7RBUA.JPG\")
Jeremy Swayman is the Bruins’ draft pick since 2017 to make the biggest impact.Danielle Parhizkaran\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n