In a move that would’ve been shocking had it been any other team, the playoff spot-holding Vegas Golden Knights replaced Stanley Cup-winning head coach Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella over the weekend. 

“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,” Vegas general manager Kelly McCrinnon said in a press release. “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.”

The Golden Knights entered Monday third in the Pacific Division, six points behind the first-place Anaheim Ducks and four points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings. They’ve recently hit a concerning slump, though. They’re currently riding a three-game losing streak and have lost six of their past seven games. 

Vegas is no stranger to aggressive win-now moves across the roster, including coaching changes. The Knights fired Gerard Gallant less than two seasons after he led them to the Cup final in their first year of existence, and they canned Pete DeBoer after he led them to the Western Conference Final in two of his three seasons.

Now goes Cassidy, who made the playoffs in each of his three full seasons behind the bench and led the team to the Stanley Cup in 2023. The Golden Knights were trending in the wrong direction heading into the playoffs, but was replacing Cassidy with Tortorella the right move? 

On one hand, the Golden Knights’ often ruthless, aggressive tactics have made them arguably the most successful expansion team in NHL history. They’ve remained competitive every year since their inaugural season and have won the second-most playoff games of any team since they joined the league in 2017. 

You might not like some of their decisions, and the Knights have certainly made some enemies over the years via moves like trading beloved goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, letting Jonathan Marchessault walk, and finding themselves in the middle of convenient and controversial LTIR situations. You cannot deny how well the business-first, emotions-second philosophy has worked, though.

In a league full of general managers who are often several steps behind, who, up until recently, avoided offer sheets so as not to bother each other, and who would often rather uphold the status quo than rock the boat, Vegas has shown how far guts and proactivity can go.

Considering how well virtually all of their bold decisions have gone—and how well they’ve been able to pivot if not—the Golden Knights have earned our trust enough to wait and see how the Tortorella hire pans out before we instantly label it a misstep. 

Something needed to change if Vegas is to go on a meaningful playoff run. Its 16 overtime losses are tied for the second-most in the league, and on a team as offensively talented as Vegas should be, you’d expect a game-winner to emerge more often in overtime.

You’d also expect the Golden Knights to hold up against other playoff teams, but they’ve struggled to win against top opponents. Overall, their 5-10-2 post-Olympic record is the worst of any NHL team other than the tanking Canucks. 

These do seem like problems that a coaching change could help fix in the short term. A veteran coach like Tortorella wasn’t the right fit for the young, rebuilding Flyers, but how about the third-oldest roster in the NHL seeking one more long playoff run before some inevitable changes? 

Tortorella has recently struggled with younger teams going through rebuilds, but he’s had great success and won a Stanley Cup with veteran-heavy teams.

The complexion of Vegas’ defense has changed since the 2023 Cup, especially without Alex Pietrangelo, and the goaltending at the heart of that defense is now severely struggling. Cassidy’s coaching style lends itself to the tight defense that won Vegas that Cup, and additions like Mitch Marner give the team an opportunity to pivot to a higher-offense strategy. 

While the Golden Knights are still doing a solid job keeping opponents’ shot volume at bay, their rotating goaltending situation has been brutal.

There’s not much any coach can do about this goaltending situation unless the Golden Knights somehow manage to poach Patrick Roy from the Islanders and put him in net. But optimizing the lineup in different ways, shifting priorities and getting veterans going are all-in Tortorella’s wheelhouse. 

It’s worth a shot, and if anyone is taking that shot, it’s the Vegas Golden Knights.Â