Cassidy interviewed for NHL coaching job during Stanley Cup Final, Golden Knights GM says

Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy watches during the third period of the team's NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

The Vegas Golden Knights allowed their former head coach speak to another National Hockey League team during the recently completed Stanley Cup Final but didn’t get the job, their general manager told media on Wednesday.

Kelly McCrimmon said the Golden Knights let Bruce Cassidy interview with the unnamed team midway through the Final, which the Carolina Hurricanes won on Sunday. He said Vegas would decide on a case-by-case basis whether they would allow him to talk to other teams about head-coaching jobs.

Cassidy, who led the Golden Knights to a Cup win in 2023, was fired in late March with just eight games left in the regular season and replaced by John Tortorella behind the Vegas bench. The 61-year-old has one season left on his contract.

He called the situation “upsetting” late last month during an interview on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, expressing his desire to find his next job. “I’m a hockey coach,” he said.

The Golden Knights announced Tuesday that they would not be bringing Tortorella back next season and promoted the coach of their minor-league affiliate, Ryan Craig, to the head job on Wednesday.

Vegas had prevented both the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings from talking to Cassidy last month about their coaching jobs.

The Kings have since hired Peter Laviolette as their new bench boss. The only other team that had been without a head coach during the Cup Final was the Toronto Maple Leafs, who hired ex-Kings boss Jim Hiller to fill their vacancy on Wednesday.

The Oilers have been searching for a new head coach since firing Kris Knoblauch – and perhaps even before they did in mid-May, as they were two days earlier reportedly trying to speak to Cassidy after their season ended in a first-round playoff series loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

They have since been reportedly casting their net wider, with the NHL last week launching an investigation into Mike Babcock’s brief tenure as Columbus Blue Jackets head coach three years ago at the behest of the players association and, by extension, the Oilers.

The 63-year-old Babcock last coached in the NHL in 2019-20 with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has coached teams to the Stanley Cup Final three times, winning once with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008.

Cassidy has been head coach of three NHL teams for most of 14 seasons in 30 years in various pro coaching roles: the Golden Knights from 2022-26, the Boston Bruins from 2016-22 and the Washington Capitals from 2002-04.

With files from TSN