If you thought Bruce Cassidy was stunned when he was fired by the Boston Bruins in June of 2022, imagine what he thought when he was fired with a handful of games remaining in the 2025-26 season with the Vegas Golden Knights.
What was even more stunning was the direction that the organization went after Cassidy's firing. Vegas brought in a very similar coach, John Tortorella, as his replacement. That's not changing the style of a head coach. However, the move seemed to have paid off.
Vegas went on a surprising run that saw them reach the Stanley Cup Final after taking down the Utah Mammoth, Anaheim Ducks, and Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference playoffs. The first two were not surprising, but taking down the Avs was stunning, to say the least. However, when the dust settled after the Carolina Hurricanes captured the Cup in six games in mid-June, Tortorella was let go. Two months later, Adam Gretz of Bleacher Report ranked the eighth-worst decisions from the 2025-26 season, and No. 4 was Tortorella's playoff choices.
Vegas hiring John Tortorella looks like a mistake despite the on-ice results
It was certainly a choice to fire Cassidy and replace him with Tortorella. That's replacing the same fiery coach with another fiery coach. Not much of a change there. Could Cassidy have been wearing thin on the Golden Knights' players? Sure, it happened with Bruins players, but the results speak for themselves.
So what was so bad about Tortorella's short tenure in Las Vegas? One of his costly decisions was when he skipped a postgame press conference against Anaheim, which cost Vegas a second-round draft pick. If there is one thing Bruins fans know about Cassidy, he would never, ever, miss an opportunity to attend a postgame press conference. I mean, he loved the limelight and the ability to either unleash his frustration or spread his joy. That was just a brutal decision from Tortorella.
Second, Tortorella declined to switch goaltenders after Carter Hart allowed four goals in each of the first five games to Adin Hill, despite him already winning a Cup in 2023 with Vegas. Again, that was certainly a decision with a Stanley Cup on the line. Again, say what you will about Cassidy, but he was never afraid to change things up.
On the outside, it looked like the right move for Vegas, firing Cassidy and hiring Tortorella. However, in the end, you can make the case that maybe riding out the season with a coach who brought them a title three years earlier was the way they should have gone. To make matters worse, Vegas blocking Cassidy from interviewing for other jobs is even more bizarre. Just a weird look, despite a ton of success for a franchise that feels like they are above everybody else.
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