The Vegas Golden Knights are headed to their third Stanley Cup Final appearance in team history — which only began in 2017 — but that kind of success doesn’t come without some controversy.
One of the biggest involves their former head coach, Bruce Cassidy.
The former Jack Adams Award-winner led the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup in 2023, but with eight games left on the regular season schedule this year, they fired him and brought in John Tortorella.
Oh, well. Disappointing, but Cassidy has no shortage of teams looking to bring him in… the only problem is Vegas is not letting them talk to him.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS BOOK TRIP TO STANLEY CUP FINAL AFTER CONTROVERSIAL COACH FIRING
“It’s upsetting,” Cassidy told the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast. “Once you’re fired, your contract’s basically terminated, but the one thing people don’t realize is… you have no-compete clauses, so I can’t resign today and go work for someone tomorrow,” Cassidy said. “I can’t work until Vegas gives me permission until this contract’s up, which is at the end of next season. So if I resign, all I do is not get paid.”
Teams have to get permission to speak to a fired coach still under contract like Cassidy, but you rarely see this denied.
Vegas has a reputation for being cutthroat in their approach to a lot of things, and it was reported earlier this month that they had blocked the Edmonton Oilers — a division rival — from talking to Cassidy.
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He seemingly confirmed this, saying that two teams had been blocked from interviewing him. Other teams in need of coaches right now are the Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks.
“There [were] two teams that asked; it’s public knowledge now, and I would like to talk to them. I want to go to work. I’m a hockey coach,” he said.
This isn’t the only controversy on Vegas’ plate. After Tortorella refused to speak to the media after the deciding Game 6 in their second-round series with the Anaheim Ducks, he was fined $100,000, and the team lost a second-round pick in the upcoming draft.
The team appealed the decision, and it was upheld.
