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    Vegas Golden Knights Fire Bruce Cassidy and Hire John Tortorella

    kumbhorgBy No Comments5 Mins Read
    Vegas Golden Knights Fire Bruce Cassidy and Hire John Tortorella

    The Vegas Golden Knights announced they have fired head coach Bruce Cassidy and hired John Tortorella.

    This move by GM Kelly McCrimmon comes a day after the Golden Knights fell to the Washington Capitals and former goaltender Logan Thompson. As a source told NHLRumors.com, “Vegas bet on the wrong horse.” This refers to the Golden Knights choosing Adin Hill over Thompson.

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    Jokingly is former General Manager Lou Lamoriello a senior adviosr in Vegas. Firing a coach this late is straight from his book. Remember he fired Robbie Ftorek as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils in the 1999-2000 with seven games left in the season replacing him with Larry Robinson. The Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup.

    Lamoriello also fired Claude Julien back in 2007 with New Jersey in second place in the Eastern Conference. Lamoriello took over behind the bench with three games left in the season. So this is nothing new. But it is rare to see this late in the season. However, Vegas is underperforming and sit four points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for third in the Pacific Division.

    Cassidy was brought in the summer of 2022 after being let go by the Boston Bruins. In his first season with the Golden Knights, he brought them to a Stanley Cup Championship. Now, with one season left on his contract, come this summer, Cassidy is once again out of a job.

    GM Kelly McCrimmon in a press release: “We thank Bruce Cassidy for his dedication to our hockey club and community over the past four seasons. Under Bruce’s leadership, we reached our ultimate goal in 2023 by bringing a Stanley Cup to Vegas. Bruce will forever be remembered with the utmost regard by our organization for what was accomplished here. With the stretch run of the 2025-26 regular season upon us, we believe that a change is necessary for us to return to the level of play that is expected of our club. With John Tortorella, we bring in a Stanley Cup Champion as well as one of the most experienced and respected coaches in the NHL. His guidance will be a great asset to our team at the pivotal point in the season we currently face. We look forward to welcoming John to Vegas.”

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    But it is not like no one saw this coming. The Vegas Golden Knights are known to do this. Maybe not this late, but since the franchise came into existence in 2017-18, John Tortorella will be its fourth head coach, following Gerard Gallant, Pete DeBoer, and Cassidy.

    Over that span, the Golden Knights have been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs seven times, two conference final appearances, two Stanley Cup Final appearances, and one Stanley Cup. It is the winning business for McCrimmon, not the hockey business.

    However, you could see this coming. The Golden Knights are just not as good defensively as they have been in years past. Not having Alex Pietrangelo hurts the team, but Nic Hauge and Zach Whitecloud are not there as well. Noah Hanifin is still finding his way there and is not having the best of years. Rasmus Andersson has looked lost in Vegas since being traded from Calgary. Let’s see if he ends up signing long-term there.

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    For a team that likes big swings at the trade deadline, they didn’t do much. McCrimmon felt that the goaltending of Akira Schmid, Adin Hill, and Carter Hart was good enough. However, Tortorella is coming in for one thing only: to get the team playing better, structured defence.

    Tortorella won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004 having coached the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Vancouver Canucks. He is looking to do the same in Vegas with a couple of familiar faces in Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin. Both players were on Team USA Olympic Gold Medal winning team.

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