NHL Bombshell: Golden Knights Fire Head Coach Bruce Cassidy, Name Notable Replacement

Sunday, March 29, 2026 , , , ,
Vegas Golden Knights former head coach Bruce Cassidy

In one of the wildest bombshells of the year in the NHL, the Vegas Golden Knights have fired head coach Bruce Cassidy with 8 games to play in the regular season. And it gets even wilder: They've replaced him with... John Tortorella.

The Golden Knights have had a disappointing season, and sit in 3rd place in the Pacific Division at 32-26-16, three points back of Edmonton and six back of Anaheim. They are four points up on the LA Kings, who, if they should pass them, would potentially knock Vegas out of a playoff spot.

Tortorella, 67, is a two-time Jack Adams winner as coach of the year, and has a Stanley Cup to his credit from 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. But he is just as notorious for his intense, demanding, abrasive approach. 

He holds a career .538 points percentage in his 23 seasons as a head coach in the NHL, with 770 career wins. In the playoffs, however, he holds a .467 win pct. and has failed to get a team to the postseason in his last four attempts (the last three years with the Philadelphia Flyers, and his last season in Columbus two years before that). 

Tortorella, fired by the Flyers late last season, takes over the Golden Knights with 8 games to play

He was fired by the Flyers, ironically, with nine games left last season, and now takes over an underperforming Golden Knights team with eight games to play.

“We thank Bruce Cassidy for his dedication to our hockey club and community over the past four seasons,” said Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon 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 was accomplished here. 

"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. 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. We look forward to welcoming John to Vegas.”

Cassidy, 60, will now become one of the top sought-after head coaches on the market. He has been one of the top bench bosses in the NHL. In his 12 seasons as a head coach, he has a Stanley Cup to his credit, with Vegas in 2023, and two Pacific Division titles with the team. His record in the past four years there was 178-99-43, a .623 pts pct.—5th best in the league. In the playoffs, he guided them to a 24-16 mark for a .600 winning pct. 

He will certainly be missed in Vegas by many around the team. Cassidy is known as a player's coach. Torts is... well, not exactly that. We'll see how the Golden Knights players respond. They've got eight games to figure it out before the postseason begins. 

Photo: © Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

 

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