Golden Knights reveal they granted Bruce Cassidy permission to speak to one team
Another piece of information has been revealed in the odd saga of former Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy’s search for future employment.
According to Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon, the Golden Knights did grant permission for one team to speak with Cassidy for, presumably, their head coach position. That team ultimately did not hire Cassidy for the job, and Vegas will handle any future requests to speak with Cassidy on a case by case basis.
Kelly McCrimmon says the Golden Knights granted Bruce Cassidy permission to speak to one team and it did not come to fruition. Moving forward he says they'll deal with it on a case by case basis.
The Golden Knights fired Cassidy as their head coach and replaced him with John Tortorella on March 29th, which turned out to be a worthwhile move as Tortorella led Vegas to the Stanley Cup Final, where they fell to the Carolina Hurricanes. Cassidy, however, remains under contract with the Golden Knights, meaning they must grant permission for other teams to interview him for their head coach position.
Vegas’ decision to play hardball with other teams regarding Cassidy was first discovered when it was reported that the Edmonton Oilers sought permission to interview him for their head coaching role, but that the Golden Knights withheld their permission.
The NHL Coaches’ Association (NHLCA) even weighed in on the situation with Cassidy and Vegas, releasing a statement on May 19th that declared “coaches who remain under contract, but are no longer working for their Club, should not be prevented from pursuing other employment opportunities. It would be unprecedented at the head coaching level should multiple teams be denied permission to speak with Coach Cassidy.”
McCrimmon did not specify which team was granted permission to speak with Cassidy, but we can reasonably guess it would have been a non-Pacific Division rival such as the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After the Leafs’ recent hiring of Jim Hiller to be their next head coach, the Oilers stand as the only NHL team left with a head coaching vacancy.