Los Angeles Kings general manager Ken Holland says his team must “move on” after the Vegas Golden Knights withheld permission from former head coach Bruce Cassidy to interview for the Kings job.
The Golden Knights, who fired Cassidy late in the season and brought in John Tortorella as his replacement, also blocked the Edmonton Oilers from interviewing their former bench boss.
“The process is, pretty much everyone is under contract to somebody, so you have to ask for permission and then it’s that team’s right to determine if they want to grant permission or if they don’t want to grant permission,” Holland told LA Kings Insider Zach Dooley. “Over the years, I’ve had some calls about maybe not head coaches, but people called and we didn’t want to let them go and we found a way to keep them. That’s your right, that’s what you’ve negotiated when you sign people to a contract.
“I’ve been around the game a long time to know that if somebody’s decided that they don’t want to grant permission, they’ve negotiated that right and you move on.”
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun passed on last week that the National Hockey League believes the Golden Knights are in line with their existing contractual rights as well as league policy in not issuing permission to teams to speak with Cassidy about a head coaching vacancy.
While he did not reveal details about specific teams, Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon told reporters last week that clubs have requested permission to speak with Cassidy, but the club’s focus is instead on the Western Conference Final.
“We’ve been consistent that our focus currently is on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the teams have respected that,” McCrimmon said Monday. “I’ve spoken with Bruce. He understands this, as well.”
The NHL Coaches’ Association said prior to McCrimmon’s statement that it believes Cassidy should be allowed to speak with other teams before his contract ends because he is not actively working with the Golden Knights.
Kings’ search continues
With Cassidy seemingly off the board, Holland is continuing his search to find the Kings’ next head coach.
Holland said a hiring is not imminent as he hopes to speak with roughly four to eight candidates, with interim head coach D.J. Smith also still in the mix.
“I am the one conducting [the search]. I’m talking to a lot of people, I’ve had some interviews and I have some more interviews planned, trying to gather as much information as I can, both through the interview process and I’ve been around a long time, so I know a lot of people in this industry and if I can’t get the information, I know that there’s people who I respect, other general managers, that I can talk to to get information,” Holland told Dooley. “I don’t need or want to talk to 20 people but certainly would like to talk to four, six, eight, keep it somewhat tight.
“The first part of my due diligence was to put a list together and gather information on all those people. Now, I’m working on the interview process. I don’t want to put a timeframe on it, but certainly before the draft and at least a couple of weeks before the draft, on the long end, and make a decision of whether we stick with D.J. Smith or if we go in another direction.”
Smith replaced Jim Hiller behind the bench this season, going 11-6-6 after taking over with the Kings being swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche. Hiller went 24-21-14 before he was let go.
