It is a new era in Vegas Golden Knights history, and an old one comes to a shocking end.
On Saturday, the Golden Knights officially fired head coach Bruce Cassidy and named John Tortorella to serve as the new head coach, effective immediately.
“We thank Bruce Cassidy for his dedication to our hockey club and community over the past four seasons,” said Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon. “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.”
The coaching change comes amidst what has been a challenging season for the Golden Knights (32-22-16), who secured their first season with more losses than wins in franchise history with Saturday’s shootout loss to the Washington Capitals.
Cassidy leaves the Golden Knights with a final record of 178-99-43, as well as securing the only Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2023, when the team defeated the Florida Panthers in five games.
Tortorella is one of the more experienced coaches in the NHL with 23 seasons of head coaching duties, most recently serving as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers for four seasons (2022-25). He has also coached the Columbus Blue Jackets (2015-21), Vancouver Canucks (2013-14), New York Rangers (1999-00, 2008-13) and Tampa Bay Lightning (2000-08).
The veteran head coach has coached in 1,620 NHL games, ranking sixth all-time and first among all American coaches. His 770 wins are good for ninth all-time and second among American head coaches, as well.
Tortorella is one of five coaches (Jacques Lemaire, Pat Quinn, Scotty Bowman, Barry Trotz) to win the Jack Adams award for best coach with two different teams, winning the award in 2004 with the Lightning and 2017 with the Blue Jackets.
Tortorella won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in the 2003-04 season over the Calgary Flames and has appeared in the postseason 12 times, notching 56 playoff victories. He is also responsible for helping the Blue Jackets secure their first playoff series victory in franchise history when they swept the Lightning in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With only eight games remaining in the regular season and playoffs still hanging in the balance, the Golden Knights are banking on a coaching change to provide a spark for the home stretch and beyond.