At 7:37 AM the Golden Knights announced they are relieving head coach Gerard Gallant and assistant coach Mike Kelly of their duties with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights also announced the hiring of former San Jose Sharks bench boss, Pete DeBoer as the new head coach in Vegas.
The Golden Knights have confirmed the firing of Gallant is performance-based. There is "nothing more to it."
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 15, 2020
GM Kelly McCrimmon held a press conference in Ottawa prior to the Golden Knights practice.
"We are in the unique position where we are right in the mix. This isn't a case where the bottom fell out and we were left with no choice. Proactively it was our belief that this is what was going to be the best thing for our organization." -Kelly McCrimmon
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 15, 2020
"He relates well with players. He's an intelligent guy. His teams have always had strong special teams. He's been to the Stanley Cup Finals with two different teams. He's enjoyed a lot of success in the NHL as a coach and w/ this opportunity, he'll continue to do that."-McCrimmon
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 15, 2020
"There's no reason doing what-ifs and hypotheticals. The events that have taken place have taken place and that's where we are today." -McCrimmon
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 15, 2020
"As a manager, sometimes you have a feeling that something isn't the way you need it to be or want it to be. We feel we've underperformed a little bit, and that's not to pile at the foot of Mike and Gerard but sometimes you feel a change is needed." -McCrimmon
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 15, 2020
"We thought about this a lot. It certainly wasn't something that we did in haste or something that we did based on the recent four games. It was a decision that was arrived at over time." -McCrimmon
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 15, 2020
DeBoer is expected to join the team later tonight or tomorrow and coach them in tomorrow’s game at the Ottawa Senators. Assistant coaches Ryan Craig, Ryan McGill, Dave Prior, and Tommy Cruz are expected remain with the team.
Are you pleased with the Golden Knights decision to fire Gerard Gallant and hire Pete DeBoer?
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 15, 2020
Let's talk about the firing of Gerard Gallant and hiring of Pete DeBoer. https://t.co/Mr62q6f5Y6
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 15, 2020
TimL
So this was the toxin in the locker room to speculated about a few days ago?
Summerlin Andy B
Balderdash!
RJ
This is bananas, and I do NOT agree with it, but I gotta withhold judgement until I see the results. If this team is in the Western Conference Final (or better), then I’ll have to admit this was a good move.
I’m still suspicious that this was not 100% performance based, but I’m sure we will never hear more about that from this team, so I’ll move on from my conspiracy theories.
VGK retooling begins
a necessary wake up call for this team. a coach who refused to motivate his team, and said it was “not his job”, now finds himself out of his job.
and a bunch of complacent players who have underperformed bigtime, losing to mediocre teams like LA, Buffalo, Columbus, Detroit, Anaheim etc
and shitty goaltending. quit the bs, look at the stats, look at the eye test, compare the performance of the opponent goalie at the other end each game to the Knight’ s goalie, and you will see more often than not that shitty goaltending is a vgk big problem.
Knights save % and shooting % are near the league bottom.
Now let the trades begin
Mike G
FYI that is the exact reason PDB got fired in San Jose a few weeks ago
VGK retooling begins
FYI, and that is exactly why I brought up the shitty goaltending and said let the trades begin.
Gallant red wing
Gallant will be the Detroit coach. He played there, Stevey Y likes him, and they need a change for sure.
Tim
Weather you agree that Gallant should have been fired or not everyone has an opinion but to hire our sworn enemy in Pete Deboer was shocking. That honestly has put a bad taste in my mouth. It seems like the franchise is in panic mode. Didn’t Kelly just say a couple of weeks ago we have a plan well it looks like the plan went off the rails. We live in the Wild West and it looks like it’s going to be a wild ride up to the trade deadline.
DOC Williams
We all thank THE billionaire for bring the NHL here. But, he wasn’t a very knowledgeable “hockey man”. So, he hired a GM and gave complete control; to him to put a roster together. (remember the plan: playoffs in 3 yrs, cup in 6)? Then, the miracle first season happened. That changed everything. They got greedy and started dismantling the misfits. Over the past 2 yrs they destroyed our salary cap space and made some very bad moves & player choices. All of this was the responsibility of the GM & management. (not the coach). Then the mistakes that were made started to materialize and the GM & the rest weren’t going to hold THEMSELVES accountable. So, fire the coach! Happens all the time in sports. Front office blunders often end in the coach getting the blame! It’s just been very poor management of the cap money and roster makeup. It didn’t help that Gallant continued, for weeks, to make excuses about slow starts, mistakes, lack of effort etc…… with seemingly no answers how to fix it. So now, like it or not, we have to get behind this “coach from SJ” and get our team rolling again! As fans, what else can we do????
DOC Williams
Find & READ the great analysis by Adam Gretz of NBC sports, written today about the Gallant firing!