The Golden Knights have already selected John Tortorella’s replacement

Marc-Olivier Cook
The Golden Knights have already selected John Tortorella’s replacement
Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

There you go. It's done.

The Vegas Golden Knights have found their new head coach. As a reminder, we learned yesterday that John Tortorella would not be returning to lead the team next season.

So the team wasted no time.

We expected Ryan Craig to get the job, and that's exactly what happened.

Craig served as an assistant coach with the Golden Knights from 2017 to 2023 before taking the reins of the organization's farm team. He has coached the Silver Knights for the past three seasons, and now he's earned a promotion.

Well done.

The Golden Knights clearly knew what their plan was.

John Tortorella had mentioned during the playoffs that he would be leaving the team at the end of the season… and clearly, he, too, knew there would be someone else behind the team's bench at the start of next season.

It's worth noting that, as things stand, there's only one team left without a head coach for the '26–'27 season. The Leafs hired Jim Hiller earlier this morning… which means the Oilers are the only NHL team that hasn't found their man yet.

But we know that in Edmonton, they're waiting to see if the Mike Babcock situation will be resolved quickly. And Bruce Cassidy's name is also being mentioned quite a bit in Alberta… but the Golden Knights have to give him permission to talk to other teams.

Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon will assess the situation on a case-by-case basis… 

Stay tuned!


In a nutshell

– Okay.

– He's a good one.

– Well done.

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