The Vegas Golden Knights fired Bruce Cassidy on Sunday and replaced him with John Tortorella, a move they hope sparks the playoff-hopeful team with eight games left in the regular season.
Cassidy was hired by Vegas in 2022 and guided the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup in 2023.
But Vegas (32-26-16) has struggled late this season, losing its last three games and six of its last seven overall. It entered Sunday third in the Pacific Division, six points behind the first-place Anaheim Ducks but four ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for the final divisional playoff spot.
Now, the Golden Knights will turn to Tortorella in their pursuit of another title in the challenging Western Conference.
"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 we accomplished here.
"With the stretch turn of the 2025-26 regular season upon us, we believe that a change is necessary to return to the level of play that is expected of our club."
A franchise that has been defined by its win-at-all-costs approach largely has struggled to do just that since late January.
The Golden Knights followed a seven-game winning streak in mid-January with losses in seven of their next eight games. After a three-game winning streak around the Olympic break, they lost six of seven games. And now their current slump cost Cassidy, who has the most wins by a coach in Golden Knights history, his job.
Tortorella will be Vegas' fourth coach since its inaugural season in 2017-18 season. He last coached the Philadelphia Flyers but was fired last March amid his third season with the team.
Cassidy's time with the Golden Knights saw them turn into one of the stronger defensive teams based on underlying metrics. They entered Sunday allowing the fewest shots per 60 minutes, the fewest high-danger chances per 60 and were in the top 10 in fewest scoring chances allowed per 60, according to Natural Stat Trick.
But one issue that has plagued them has been a disconnect with their goaltending. Vegas has the lowest team save percentage in 5-on-5 play at 88.45%, according to Natural Stat Trick.
This is not the first time Tortorella, who has won 770 career games, will be charged with trying to turn around a team's season. He was an in-season hire when he took over the Lightning during the 2000-01 season and won a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004. The New York Rangers hired him in the 2008-09 season with 21 games left, and he guided the club to the quarterfinal round.
He'll now be tasked with having a limited window of games to find the necessary solutions that can allow the Golden Knights to pose a challenge in a Western Conference landscape that could see five teams from the Central Division make the playoffs, a group that includes three of the NHL's top six teams in points (Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild).
"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."
