The Vegas Golden Knights formally present Ryan Craig arsenic their caller manager Thursday, June 18, 2026, astatine City National Arena successful Las Vegas. Photo by: Mark Anderson / Associated Press
Associated Press
Friday, June 19, 2026 | 2 a.m.
Ryan Craig wasn't acceptable to locomotion distant from being a player, but helium could spot the extremity successful show successful the aboriginal 2010s portion playing successful Pittsburgh's enactment and began keeping a diary of however helium mightiness grip antithetic situations arsenic a coach.
Others besides envisioned him successful a enactment role, and Craig was 9 times named the skipper of an American Hockey League team.
Vegas wide manager Kelly McCrimmon, who has known Craig for astir 30 years, saw that imaginable aboriginal arsenic well. Craig became an adjunct manager for the Golden Knights in 2017 erstwhile they were astir to play their archetypal NHL season, and adjacent arsenic the franchise changed caput coaches, helium remained successful immoderate form.
And present Craig is the club's caput coach, having been named to that post on Wednesday and formally introduced successful a quality league connected Thursday.
“I’ve seen firsthand what helium does to radical astir him, however helium treats people,” McCrimmon said. “I’ve said to him galore times, ‘Craig, you’re going to beryllium a truly bully NHL caput manager if you’re not successful a hurry. You request to bash it successful the due steps.’ He’s done precisely that.”
Craig replaces John Tortorella, who was hired with 8 games left in the regular play and led the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final before they lost successful six games to Carolina.
“I’m acceptable for this opportunity,” Craig said. “I’m grateful for it. I'm acceptable to get to work.”
McCrimmon has known the 44-year-old Craig since helium was 15 and played for the Brandon Wheat Kings, a Canadian inferior team, erstwhile McCrimmon was the proprietor and GM.
“Craig has been 40 arsenic agelong arsenic I've known him,” McCrimmon said jokingly.
Craig's hiring is simply a departure from the Golden Knights' accustomed mode of doing business.
From Gerard Gallant to Pete DeBoer to Bruce Cassidy to Tortorella, the franchise has hired coaches who person been palmy successful the NHL. Craig is the archetypal to travel done the young organization's system.
He went to AHL's Henderson pursuing the Golden Knights' 2023 Stanley Cup championship because McCrimmon said it was important that Craig get caput coaching experience.
The 6-year-old Henderson Silver Knights acceptable a franchise grounds with 90 points this season, going 39-21-12 and advancing to the 2nd circular of the playoffs.
Craig said helium learned erstwhile helium became the caput manager that helium is the 1 who “control(s) the somesthesia of the room,” and has to instrumentality much of a big-picture attack alternatively than absorption connected a peculiar country of the squad specified arsenic peculiar teams.
“As a caput guy, you spell to furniture each nighttime reasoning astir what the connection is and you aftermath up reasoning astir the connection and what your squad needs and what individuals need,” Craig said. “And until you acquisition that, I judge that's overseas to you. You person to unrecorded it.”
He has an vantage compared to anterior Golden Knights coaches successful that Craig intimately understands the enactment and has coached galore of its players. Vegas skipper Mark Stone is 1 of them and helium attended the quality conference.
Because of his heavy cognition of the organization, Craig besides knows determination isn't a existent honeymoon phase. The Golden Knights person made the postseason successful 8 of their 9 seasons and expect to spell heavy into the playoffs each year.
They came wrong 2 victories of winning the Stanley Cup this play and are listed astatine 10-1 astatine BetMGM Sportsbook to triumph it each adjacent year, down lone Colorado (7-1) and Carolina (7 1/2-1).
Craig understands the quality of being successful the caput coach's seat, and fewer are hotter than the 1 successful Vegas.
“Our enactment from time 1 has ever tried to prosecute the champion radical for their jobs, whether it’s our players, whether it's coaches,” McCrimmon said. “We’ve ever hired the champion disposable coach, and that’s precisely what we’re doing contiguous — prosecute the champion disposable manager that’s going to pb our organization.”
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