One of the bigger storylines this offseason has been the future of former Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy and if and when he'll coach again. Fired late in the regular season by the Vegas Golden Knights, he has not been granted permission to speak with other teams about their openings.
Currently, the big openings are the Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Los Angeles Kings. All three would love the opportunity to interview him and try to hire him. However, the Golden Knights are not being flexible. However, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly spoke about the matter as the Stanley Cup Final is getting underway between Vegas and the Carolina Hurricanes.
“Obviously, we don’t find it unreasonable because we’re allowing it to happen,” Daly said. “I do think Vegas is clearly within their contractual rights to do what they’re doing. I also, and we also, understand and appreciate that they’re on a Stanley Cup run right now, and they don’t need the distractions, necessarily, from a coach signing somewhere else. So we’ll get to the end of the season, and we’ll see where we go from there.”
Vegas took Game 1, 5-4, and Game 2 is Thursday night in Raleigh, North Carolina, before the series shifts to Las Vegas. Once the Cup is handed out, things could get very interesting with Cassidy and the opportunity to find employment for 2026-27.
Jon Cooper wins Coach of the Year Award
Earlier in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NHL released the finalists for each award. As far as the Jaack Adams Award finalists went, it came down to Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres.
One quick look at the final 3 and it was clearly going to come down to Muse and Ruff. Neither team was expected to be in the playoffs, while the Lightning were expected to be in the Eastern Conference playoff field. When the dust settled, Ruff was robbed of the award, which was given to Cooper.
Cooper edged out Ruff by three points. Bruins coach Marco Sturm finished eighth in the voting as his team also surprised many by making the postseason in just his first season in Boston.
How former Bruins fared in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final
As mentioned above, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was on Tuesday night with the Golden Knights getting a late goal from Tomas Hertl for a 5-4 win. Two former Bruins players played in the game, with defenseman Jeremy Lauzon registering a plus/minus of minus-2 in 13:32 of time on ice for Veags, while Taylor Hall landed two shots on the net for Carolina with no points in 14:02 of time on ice.
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