In his first televised comments since being fired, Bruce Cassidy said he “would’ve liked to have seen it through” before the Vegas Golden Knights let him go with eight games remaining in the regular season.
Cassidy was a guest analyst on TNT’s playoff coverage on Monday.
“You grind for 74 games and you want to be there at the end,” he said. That’s the payoff — playing for the Cup, getting your name on the Cup again,” Cassidy said.
The longest-tenured coach in Knights history was fired March 29 with the Knights sitting in third place in the Pacific Division.
He was replaced by John Tortorella, who went 7-0-1 in the final eight games and guided the Knights to a fifth division title in nine years.
“Vegas, they have their standards. They felt we weren’t there. They made a change,” Cassidy said.
Players said the message from Cassidy, who coached the Knights to their only Stanley Cup championship in 2023, was getting “stale.”
General manager Kelly McCrimmon felt a new voice needed to guide the roster heading into the playoffs.
The Knights and Utah Mammoth are tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 of their first round series at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.
“Great guys in that locker room. Great players,” Cassidy said. “I’m excited for the guys, but disappointed I didn’t get to finish the job.”
Cassidy said he felt there should have been an opportunity to at least play the rest of the season out and see what would’ve happened in the playoffs.
“We won once before, so we knew what it looked like to win,” Cassidy said. “We were a first- or second -place team for most of the year. I felt we would’ve gotten in. I don’t know where we would’ve finished at the end. That’s speculation.”
There will be teams in need of a coach at the end of the season, and Cassidy will be the most sought-after candidate on the market.
Cassidy, 60, has 470 wins in 12 seasons as an NHL coach. He was hired by the Knights in June 2022, replacing Pete DeBoer after two trips to the NHL semifinals in three seasons.
Cassidy went 178-99-43 in three-plus seasons in Las Vegas and was an assistant coach for Team Canada during the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Winter Olympics, where Canada earned the silver medal.
“I would’ve loved the opportunity (to finish the season), but it didn’t work out that way,” Cassidy said. “So you start thinking about your next challenge. “
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
