It has been an offseason of some surprise when it comes to the coaching carousel around the league. Vegas opted to part ways with Peter DeBoer, their second coaching change in their five seasons of existence, making them one of the more prominent teams looking for a new bench boss. Recently, there was a surprise addition to the coaching market when Boston let Bruce Cassidy go earlier this week. As Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (video link), the Golden Knights have started to key in on Cassidy as their top candidate over the last few days.
Regular season success is something that Cassidy had plenty of in his days with the Bruins posting a 245-108-46 record with him behind the bench, good for a .652 points percentage. Vegas has been under that mark in two of the last three seasons. However, his track record of playoff success hasn’t been as good as Boston went 36-37 in the postseason under their former bench boss which is something that teams will certainly be considering as they work through evaluating him.
Vegas is certainly one of the more appealing teams looking for a head coach. They’re an organization that clearly has a win-now mindset and they have shown no hesitance towards spending to the Upper Limit (or higher, considering their cap management in recent years). Both of those have to be appealing to any coaching candidate although the quick trigger on coaching changes also stands out.
Cassidy has expressed a desire to jump right back into coaching and would be a good fit in Vegas so it will be interesting to see if they can get a deal done over the next few days. It would go a long way towards kickstarting the coaching shuffle as things have slowed to a crawl on that front with many feeling Barry Trotz’s decision on where to go next is holding things up. If Vegas goes a different direction and opts for Cassidy, perhaps that domino falling will get things going on that front soon after.
If they get him Cassidy better not get to comfortable. He will get fired randomly
VGK needs to pick a coach who will be there 10 years. They have had zero stability in the job by their own doing.
It’s not that they need to PICK a guy who’ll be there ten years. It’s that they have to keep their bloody hands off the guy when they do hire him.
How many NHL coaches last 10 years at one job?
Vegas was a top 3 team this season but Injuries just killed them, McCrimmon clearly overreacted.
You know who’s a good coach?
Gerard Gallant.
Seems to win everywhere he goes.
Vegas should try to find a coach like that.
buzinga
Couldn’t agree more. Karma.
If Sweeney were fired I wonder how much interest he’d garner?
Sweeney’s next gig will be as an ice rink manager in northern Alberta.
That’s too much responsibility for him. I’m thinking concession stand supervisor.
In an ideal world, he would be relegated to the Bruins Alumni team, but given that Peter Chiarelli was hired for multiple jobs in the League, post-Boston, I’m not confident there isn’t a team foolish enough to add him to their front office.
Zip, same amount with Cam Neely
Nah, He’s not qualified… maybe he’s qualified to coach a pee wee team.. and that’s stretching it!
Watching the Bruins followers yap, babble, and stumble is an amusing follow.