John Tortorella was hired with eight regular-season games remaining and has quickly steadied the Vegas Golden Knights. A veteran coach with decades of experience, Tortorella has a Stanley Cup on his resume, multiple playoff series wins, more than 770 combined regular-season and playoff games coached, and was part of the staff that helped the United States win its first Olympic men’s hockey gold in 40 years.
The move followed a late-March stretch in which Vegas, despite being in a playoff spot, had lost six of seven games. General manager Kelly McCrimmon replaced Bruce Cassidy and turned to Tortorella, who most recently coached the Philadelphia Flyers in 2024-25. McCrimmon credited Tortorella’s confidence and direct communication with restoring a swagger to the roster.
Tortorella said he has adjusted his approach for a veteran group, noting a need to respect experienced players and coach differently than he did in Philadelphia. He added that while he remains involved, the emphasis has shifted toward allowing the players to own more of the process.
The results have followed. Vegas reached the Stanley Cup Final after rallying from a first-round deficit to the Utah Mammoth, breaking a 2-2 deadlock with the Anaheim Ducks in the second round and sweeping the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final. The series is tied 1-1 heading into Game 3 on Saturday.
The hire also comes amid a high rate of in-season coaching changes across the NHL. By the end of the 2024-25 season, 25 NHL head coaches had been dismissed midseason over the prior five years, compared with 32 combined in-season managerial changes across Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NFL in the same span, according to ESPN Research. Vegas is on its fourth coach in nine seasons despite winning the Stanley Cup in 2023 and reaching the playoffs in all but one year of the franchise’s existence.
