Vegas Golden Knights caput manager John Tortorella watches play during the 2nd play of an NHL hockey crippled betwixt the Vegas Golden Knights and the Calgary Flames astatine T-Mobile Arena Thursday, April 2, 2026. Photo by: Steve Marcus
By Mark Anderson, Associated Press
Monday, June 15, 2026 | 3:42 p.m.
The Vegas Golden Knights already made 1 large coaching decision, and present they apt volition request to marque different one.
They hired John Tortorella with 8 games near successful the regular play successful a determination that included firing Bruce Cassidy. But determination were nary guarantees Tortorella would stay the manager beyond this season.
By taking Vegas each the mode to the Stanley Cup Final before the Golden Knights mislaid successful six games to the Carolina Hurricanes, Tortorella would look to person a bully statement to get an extended stay. But helium wasn't acceptable to deliberation astir that Sunday nighttime aft a 3-0 loss that ended his team's season.
“I've got to swallow this a small bit,” Tortorella said.
As helium has done since coming aboard, Tortorella praised the enactment and the players, and adjacent with the nonaccomplishment to Carolina inactive rather fresh, helium didn't dependable similar a manager acceptable to measurement distant arsenic his 68th day approaches.
“I consciousness precise fortunate to get to cognize the team, get to cognize the organization,” Tortorella said. “It's a first-class organization. Just to person the opportunity. I wanted to coach. I privation to coach. To leap successful with this gang, I consciousness truthful fortunate.”
The Golden Knights had fallen from archetypal to 3rd spot successful the Pacific Division erstwhile wide manager Kelly McCrimmon made the bold determination to occurrence Cassidy, who coached Vegas to the 2023 Stanley Cup.
“If we didn’t person the expectations and the content successful our squad that we do, we astir apt would person fto this happening thrust out,” McCrimmon said astatine the time. “We similar our squad a lot, and we deliberation our squad has a accidental to win. We needed to marque this alteration to assistance that happen.”
McCrimmon turned retired to beryllium right.
The Golden Knights took disconnected nether Tortorella, going 7-0-1 to decorativeness the regular play and assertion the Pacific Division for the 5th clip successful the franchise's 9 years. They past eliminated Utah and Anaheim successful six games each successful the archetypal 2 rounds of the NHL playoffs.
Then came the existent shocker, a expanse of Colorado, which not lone won the Presidents' Trophy, but had gone 8-1 successful the postseason.
That acceptable up the last with Carolina, and the Golden Knights took 2-1 bid lead. But the Hurricanes past won 3 successful a enactment to seizure their archetypal Cup successful 20 years and nonstop Vegas players into an offseason of what-could-have-beens.
Should helium return, Tortorella likes his chances to marque different heavy tally adjacent year, and the Golden Knights volition again person 1 of the NHL's much talented rosters that includes players specified arsenic Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel, Pavel Dorofeyev and Mark Stone.
This besides is an enactment not acrophobic to spell look for much talent.
“I cognize we're connected the incorrect extremity of it here, but I conscionable consciousness that's a beardown room,” Tortorella said. “I'm anxious to spot what happens adjacent twelvemonth due to the fact that it has different chance.”
Doesn't dependable similar a manager acceptable to bent it up.
What absorption thinks should beryllium known successful the coming days.
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