Golden Knights fire Bruce Cassidy, hire John Tortorella

In what might go down as the most shocking decision in franchise history, the Vegas Golden Knights fired coach Bruce Cassidy on Sunday with eight games remaining in the regular season.

The Knights named longtime bench boss John Tortorella as the fourth coach in team history.

“We thank Bruce Cassidy for his dedication to our hockey club and community over the past four seasons,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said in a statement. “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.”

McCrimmon will address the media Monday. The Knights host the Vancouver Canucks on Monday at T-Mobile Arena.

Plenty to play for

The change comes with the Knights in playoff position, third in the Pacific Division and trailing the Edmonton Oilers by three points for second.

But while it would still take a collapse for the Knights to miss the playoffs for only the second time, the season has been anything but ordinary.

The Knights (32-26-16) are tied for the second-most overtime/shootout losses in the NHL. Their 32 wins are the fewest among teams in playoff positioning.

This season had high expectations with the Knights adding high-profile stars Mitch Marner and Rasmus Andersson, but the team has struggled with a 5-10-2 mark since the Winter Olympic break.

The Knights lost for the sixth time in seven games Saturday in a 5-4 shootout defeat to the Washington Capitals.

Cassidy, 60, had one year remaining on a five-year contract he signed June 14, 2022. He led the team to a championship in his first season.

Quite the run

The Knights, after winning the Pacific Division and earning the top seed in the Western Conference, went 16-6 in the playoffs and defeated the Florida Panthers in five games in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.

The team’s quest for back-to-back titles ended in the first round in 2024 with a seven-game loss to the Dallas Stars.

The Knights bounced back with a 50-win campaign and another Pacific Division title last season, but were eliminated in five games in the second round by the Oilers. They didn’t score a goal in the final two games.

Cassidy replaced Pete DeBoer, who was fired in May 2022 after leading the Knights to two NHL semifinal series.

DeBoer took over for Gerard Gallant, the team’s first coach. Gallant coached the Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season but was fired in January 2020.

Cassidy became the winningest coach in Knights history with 178 wins in 320 regular-season games. He went 24-16 in the playoffs.

This is the third coaching change in the NHL this season. Rick Bowness replaced Dean Evason as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 12. That worked out well, with Columbus in second place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Los Angeles Kings fired Jim Hiller on March 1 and replaced him with interim coach D.J. Smith.

Tortorella arrives

Tortorella, 67, has 23 seasons of coaching experience, most recently with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2022 to 2025. He went 97-107-33 with the Flyers and did not make the postseason. He spent this season as an analyst on ESPN.

“With John Tortorella, we bring in a Stanley Cup champion as well as one of the most experienced and respected coaches in the NHL,” McCrimmon said. “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.”

A two-time Jack Adams Award winner for coach of the year, Tortorella has reached the playoffs 12 times. He took the Columbus Blue Jackets to the postseason in four of his six years from 2015 to 2021, including a historic four-game sweep over the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round in 2019.

Tortorella coached the Lightning to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2004, the only title of his career.

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Up next

Who: Canucks at Golden Knights

When: 7 p.m. Monday

Where: T-Mobile Arena

TV: KMCC-34

Radio: KFLG 94.7 FM/KKGK 1340 AM

Line: Knights -325; total 6½