Bruce Cassidy Bruce Cassidy ( born May 20 , 1965 in Ottawa , Ontario ) is the assistant coach of the Providence Bruins , an AHL affiliate , retired hockey defencemen with the Chicago Blackhawks and the former ice hockey coach of the Washington Capitals . Playing career . Cassidy was a defenceman who played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Ottawa 67 ' s from 1982 – 1985 , and he was selected by the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft , selected in the 1st round , 18th overall . Cassidy ' s best OHL season was in 1982 – 83 , when he registered 25 goals and 86 assists for 111 points . He won the Memorial Cup under coach Brian Kilrea in 1984 scoring 12 points . At the age of 19 , he made his NHL debut with the Black Hawks in March 1984 . During the years of 1984 – 1988 , he had 3 knee surgeries , including major reconstruction of his ACL . Between 1985 – 1990 , Cassidy would spend most of his time in the Hawks minor league system , playing with the Nova Scotia Oilers of the American Hockey League , the Saginaw Generals of the International Hockey League , the Saginaw Hawks of the IHL and the Indianapolis Ice , also in the IHL . Cassidy ' s NHL playing career was limited due to his knee surgies . Yet , Cassidy would also play 36 games with Chicago during those years , scoring 4 goals and adding 13 assists for 17 points , along with 10 PIM . After winning the Turner Cup in the IHL , Cassidy then signed with Alleghe HC in Italy , and played 2 years with the club 1990 – 1992 and 1992 – 1993 in the Italian Ice Hockey League , appearing in 51 games , while getting 117 points ( 35G - 82A ) . After his stint in Italy , Cassidy then spent the 1993 – 94 season with Kaufbeuren of the German Hockey League , getting 17 points ( 8G - 9A ) in 35 games . Coaching career . Cassidy then returned to the Blackhawks organization with the Indianapolis Ice from 1994 – 97 before retiring as a player 10 games into the 96 – 97 season to take a head coaching job with the Jacksonville Lizard Kings of the ECHL in midseason . Cassidy took over the team which started the year 6 – 12 – 2 , and led them to a 15 – 25 – 10 record . The Lizard Kings greatly improved in Cassidy ' s 2nd year with the team , as they finished with a record of 35 - 29 - 6 , with 76 points . In 1998 – 99 , Cassidy was promoted to head coach of the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL , the club finished the year at 33 - 37 - 12 = 78 points and qualified for the playoffs . In the first round , they played the heavily favoured Cincinnati Cyclones in a best of 3 series , and the Cyclones won the opening game 4 - 2 . The Ice came back and won the 2nd game 4 - 3 in OT , and then took the series by winning 1 - 0 in game 3 in Cincinnati . In the 2nd round , the Ice fell 3 games to 1 to the Detroit Vipers and were eliminated from the playoffs . As the Ice folded after the 98 – 99 season , Cassidy took the head coaching job with the expansion Trenton Titans of the ECHL , and led them to a 37 - 29 - 4 record , good for 4th place in the Northeast Division . The Titans made short work of the Richmond Renegades in the 1st round , sweeping them 3 games to 0 . In the 2nd round , they faced off against the Hampton Roads Admirals , and beat them 3 games to 2 . The Titans would then fall 4 games to 2 to the Peoria Rivermen , in the semi - finals . Cassidy then moved to the Ottawa Senators organization , and became head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins of the IHL . The club finished with the best record in the league ( 53 – 22 – 7 , 113 points ) , and they swept the Cleveland Lumberjacks in 4 games before falling to the Orlando Solar Bears in 6 games in the semi - finals . Cassidy returned to Grand Rapids for the 2001 – 02 season , leading them to another division title with a 42 – 27 – 11 = 95 pts record , but the team lost in the first round to the Chicago Wolves in 5 games . The Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League took notice of Cassidy ' s success in the minors and hired him to become the head coach of the club in 2002 – 03 . The Capitals finished 2nd place in the Southeast with a 39 – 29 – 8 – 6 = 92 pts record , and took on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of the playoffs . The Capitals won the first 2 games in Tampa Bay , however , the Lightning rebounded and won 4 in a row to eliminate the Capitals from the Stanley Cup playoffs . Cassidy returned in 2003 – 04 , he was 25 games into the season with an 8 – 16 – 1 record when he was let go from the Washington Capitals and replaced by assistant coach Glen Hanlon . The club would go on and finish with the 2nd worst record in the league under Glen Hanlon ( 23 - 46 - 10 - 3 = 59 pts ) , but won the 1st overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and chose Alexander Ovechkin . Cassidy signed on as an assistant coach with the Blackhawks in June 2004 , but his contract was not renewed for the 2006 – 07 season given his better fit as a head coach . He was hired by the Kingston Frontenacs on July 12 , 2006 . On September 10 , 2006 , in a pre - season exhibition game between Kingston and Ottawa , Cassidy got the chance to coach against his former coach and mentor Kilrea ; the Frontenacs lost 4 – 3 , thanks to Ottawa ' s 3 - point men Matt Lahey and Thomas Kiriakou , who each had two goals and an assist . During the regular season , Cassidy quickly rebounded in the home opener and beat his former proud mentor by 9 – 5 . During his first season as head coach , the Frontenacs would finish with a 31 – 30 – 7 record , earning them 69 points and 5th place in the Eastern Conference . The Fronts would face the Oshawa Generals in the first round of the playoffs , and would be eliminated in 5 games . Cassidy returned to Kingston to begin the 2007 – 08 season , however , after a rough 2 – 9 – 1 start to the season , he was let go from the Frontenacs and replaced by Larry Mavety . Cassidy finished with a 33 – 39 – 8 record with the club .