Talk about a short runway for John Tortorella.<\/p>\n
Eight games remaining, and not a lot of time to get the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> on the right track with hope of trying to get back to the playoffs.<\/p>\n But the veteran coach, who was brought in to replace Bruce Cassidy after he was fired on Sunday<\/a>, is diving head first into a situation that not even he of over 1,600 games coached could\u2019ve imagined to be in.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this business here, whether you are a player or a coach, I think you need to have the ability to accept the challenge,\u201d Tortorella said at morning skate Monday. \u201cI got (fired from the Philadelphia Flyers) with nine games left last year. Now, I come here with eight games left in a new job. There\u2019s a couple of crazy situations I\u2019ve never been involved in, but that\u2019s the league. That\u2019s the (NHL). That\u2019s pro sports.\u201d<\/p>\n The fiery, passionate Tortorella<\/a> was all smiles, donning a Knights track suit while addressing how grateful he is to be given another opportunity in the coaching realm.<\/p>\n Not reinventing the wheel<\/p>\n The 67-year-old, a two-time Jack Adams Award winner, last coached with the Flyers from 2022 until March 2025.<\/p>\n He comes into a situation where the Knights enter Monday\u2019s game against the Vancouver Canucks losing six of their last seven games.<\/p>\n Tortorella said he\u2019s not coming in with an overhaul of schemes and ways of playing. He said he wants the team to start playing faster, first and foremost, and getting in the right mindset.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to make many changes,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cI am not going to upset and fill the players with information. I have a few points of emphasis that we\u2019ll go over as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n Tortorella is signed through the rest of the regular season and the playoffs should the Knights qualify, general manager Kelly McCrimmon confirmed.<\/p>\n A successful run could result in extension conversations in the offseason. A failure could start the process all over again.<\/p>\n \u2018We waited\u2019<\/p>\n Cassidy\u2019s run as Knights coach ended in the fourth year of his five-year contract. He led the Knights to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2023 and made the playoffs the next two years.<\/p>\n But McCrimmon felt the team\u2019s spirit started to wane, especially after the Olympic break, where the Knights entered Monday on a 5-10-2 stretch that has dropped them to third place in the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a manager, if you\u2019re going to do your job well, you have to make hard decisions on good people,\u201d McCrimmon said. \u201c(Cassidy) was the exact right coach at the exact right time for our team, and he helped us become Stanley Cup champions. I enjoyed working with Bruce. We had a great relationship. I don\u2019t think we had an argument or disagreement in four years.\u201d<\/p>\n Tortorella said he texted with Cassidy while on the plane to Las Vegas to thank him for \u201chaving the team the way it is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust remember,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cThe guy that left here is a pretty damn good coach. I feel very fortunate coming into this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n McCrimmon said he didn\u2019t get the sense Cassidy lost the locker room, but felt that the collective energy from the players wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n He added there were spurts of good hockey through the last 17 games since the Olympics, but time was running out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe waited as long as we could on this,\u201d McCrimmon said. \u201cWe see lots of positive signs in spurts in our game. But we just felt that we needed to bring a different person in to lead our team at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n New opportunity<\/p>\n Tortorella has won 770 games and has only advanced past the second round twice in his career.<\/p>\n He\u2019ll be tasked to make it a third time should the Knights get to where McCrimmon expects them to be. It\u2019s just not a lot of time to make it happen.<\/p>\n \u201cTo get an opportunity in this point of my career, to come here, are you kidding me?\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cI am trying to do the best that I can and I just want to help. That\u2019s what I told the boys today. We\u2019re going to do it together.<\/p>\n \u201cA good man lost his job. That affects these guys. Don\u2019t think it doesn\u2019t. We\u2019ve got good people in our game, They feel for (Cassidy) too. And so we\u2019ve got to try to make a stand here. I am anxious to be part of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @DannyWebster21<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talk about a short runway for John Tortorella. 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