Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz react to the Vegas Golden Knights firing head coach Bruce Cassidy and hiring John Tortorella so close to the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV.
View more
Advertisement
Video Transcript
The Vegas Golden Knights have relieved Bruce Cassidy of his duties as head coach.
John Tortorella, a known coach around the NHL, has been named head coach, at least for now.
And Caroline, I’ll tell you, I was shocked.
When I saw this coming, I, my first reaction was, “Did somebody get hacked?
Is this the actual account?
What do we have here?”
But I will remind everybody that there is one standard and one expectation in Vegas, and that is championships.
The last time they qualified for the playoffs, everybody got fired, and fans looked around and said, “Ah, it’s one time.”
Hockey guys all over the world looked around and said, “It’s one time.
Advertisement
How can you fire everybody?”
That’s what they did.
I remember– I’m old enough to remember in the short history of the Golden Knights when Cassidy was curious as a coach for everybody, and now, all of a sudden, he steps right in, having won that Stanley Cup.
This feels strange, I’ll admit.
I don’t know- Yeah the timing of it, I’ll admit.
But also, the Vegas Golden Knights have proven one thing continuously as a franchise.
If they do not believe that they are on the doorstep to a championship, they will make whatever change they feel like they have to make to continue to push forward.
This was a jaw-dropping move for me.
Advertisement
Maybe people locally in Vegas or people who follow the team on a day-to-day basis weren’t so blown away by it.
but look, Bruce Cassidy won his Stanley Cup three years ago.
John Tortorella won his last Cup 22 years ago.
John– There’s a reason why John Tortorella’s not coaching in the NHL right now.
There’s a reason why he’s been watching hockey from his couch for the last year.
Although John Tortorella is one of the most well-respected coaches in the NHL right now, it’s just shocking to me.
Look, I, I do understand what the standard is in Vegas.
They lost six of their last seven.
The trajectory going into the postseason probably wasn’t great.
Advertisement
So I will, acknowledge and tip my cap to the Vegas front office that if you know that a guy is not the guy, you make the, you make your, up your mind and you make your decision right then.
Like, if you, if your mind is made up, you do something about it.
It’s that level of action that I think a lot of teams in the NHL and maybe a lot of teams in sports could maybe take a page out of that playbook and just make a move.
But I- if you’re sure that Bruce Cassidy is not the guy to get you back to the Promised Land, what makes you think John Tortorella is?