Bruce Cassidy is still hoping to get behind an NHL bench after being fired by the Vegas Golden Knights late last season, but his fate still remains in the hands of his former club.
Cassidy was sought after in the off-season by the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings, but the Golden Knights blocked both clubs from speaking to him. Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said in June the team gave permission to one team to interview Cassidy, but he did not land that job.
“Nothing’s changed,” Cassidy told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic of his current situation. “They have to give permission. That’s how they left it. So, there’s nowhere to go with that until a potential opportunity comes up. We’ll see where it goes. We’ll see if something comes up. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, you know?”
Cassidy, who led the Golden Knights to the 2023 Stanley Cup, was fired on Mar. 30 with only eight games remaining on the regular-season schedule. John Tortorella was hired to replace him and led Vegas to the Stanley Cup Final before his contract was not renewed.
Cassidy, whose contract with the Golden Knights runs through this season, is currently working with Canada’s women’s national team, helping prepare the group for the World Championship in November.
Cassidy was hired by Hockey Canada last month as an advisor to general manager Danielle Sauvageau, though his focus has mostly been on working with new head coach Kori Cheverie.
The 61-year-old is hoping his time with the women’s team will help him improve and become a better coach moving forward. He found immediate success in Vegas, winning the Stanley Cup in his first season there but was unable to recreate that success over the following three years.
“You win the Cup, you want to stay at that standard. How do you get that message across without pushing the guys (too far) and trusting they know what it looks like to win?” Cassidy said, reflecting on his tenure. “The first year after the Cup, you do that, and you lose early in the playoffs — you’re like, ‘OK, we’re not the same team. We’ve got to move on. We’re not the defending champs anymore.’
“So how are you messaging that every day and yet the guys in the room know they’ve won, and they know what it takes? I think that was the biggest challenge in years three and four, that I would self-reflect and maybe say I should have done it this way or that way.”
In four seasons at the helm of the Golden Knights, Cassidy amassed a record of 178-99-43. Prior to joining VGK, Cassidy spent six seasons as head coach of the Boston Bruins (2016 to 2022) and two as bench boss of the Washington Capitals (2002 to 2004).
For his career, Cassidy has a 470-254-9-96 (.521) record across 12 NHL seasons.