(Credit: NHL.com)
Tonight, the John Tortorella-led Golden Knights are aiming for a 2-0-0 start under their new coach. Monday represented the fourth time a Golden Knights coach won in their Vegas coaching debut. Picking up two points against the Flames would make Tortorella the third VGK coach to record two victories in their first two games. Monday’s win allowed for some much-needed optimism surrounding the Golden Knights, and it was all part of the firing/hiring plan.
I want to coach. This was an opportunity that came at me pretty quickly. It’s a great organization and a great group of guys. I think I do have to make an adjustment in how I coach here. I think it’s going to make me a better coach in being involved in a situation with a group of guys that are battle tested, played a ton of playoff games and won a championship two or three years ago. I just want to join and help. –John Tortorella, VGK coach on ESPN
In 2017, the first-ever VGK coach, Gerard Gallant, picked up his first victory in the franchise’s first-ever game. Next, Peter DeBoer defeated the Ottawa Senators on the road to stop a losing skid. Freshly fired Bruce Cassidy recorded his first in VGK’s 2022-23 season opener. Fast forward 321 games, and like clockwork, new boss Tortorella became the fourth VGK coach to go 1-0-0. Sure, it’s only one night of success, but it’s a small and vital way for a coach to kick off his tenure.
In Tortorella’s case, the victory, albeit against the hapless Vancouver Canucks, snapped Vegas out of their winless streak and helped fans to quickly move on from the shocking decision to swap coaches 24 hours earlier.
For the second time in team history, the Golden Knights made an in-season coaching change and followed their pattern from six years ago. VGK’s front office set Tortorella up with the same courtesy they did for DeBoer. With a patsy opponent in the first game of the new tenure, the team wakes up from their slumber, the new coach gets off to a good start, and the fans are less upset with the decision. It’s a win for everyone involved. Arguably, it’s one of the smartest tricks the Golden Knights organization has up their sleeves.
The same strategy was first implemented in February 2020. The front office relieved Gallant from his duties a day before a manageable matchup against the 16-23-8 Senators. The Golden Knights set DeBoer up to make his debut against Ottawa. The formula worked out perfectly. Vegas broke out of their losing skid; the new coach picked up his first win, and the fans quickly forgot about Gallant’s exit. It worked out so well hardly anyone remembers DeBoer and the Golden Knights losing the next two contests, one in shootout to Montreal and the next to Cassidy’s Bruins in Boston.
Of course, it’s a calculated and somewhat duplicitous move, clever nonetheless. The front office sets up their current coach for success, boosting the club’s and fans’ confidence. What the Golden Knights need right now is points and cohesion.
Monday’s win was a mindful decision by the organization to set Tortorella off on the right foot. As is tonight’s game against the 31-35-8 Calgary Flames coming off a 9-2 drubbing in Colorado.
Emmanuel
1. The rest of the season are mostly Pacific Patsy’s so im not sure a smooth transition was planned for this specific game.
2. regarding “optimism”, yes the teams pretty ‘mid’, I still think the roster is better suited for the playoffs, lotsa grinders two way F’s.
3. I would consider dumping all the poor defensive F’s onto the same line: Bowman/Hertl/Dorofeyev and trot them out only if behind or on an offensive draw.
Drew G.
If they fired Cassidy at any point from March 15 until puck drop of the game on March 28, Tortorella’s first game with VGK would’ve come against a Playoff contender/team. The only other time since the Olympics that VGK could have given Torts a game against a non-Playoff contender for Game 1 would’ve been March 14 against Chicago, but VGK beat Pittsburgh on March 12.
They didn’t fire Cassidy for losing 6 out of 7 heading into the March 12 game against the Pens. They didn’t fire him for losing 3 straight (outscored 10-1) before the game against Dallas on March 22. Or after the March 24 loss to Winnipeg. Or the March 26 loss to Edmonton. They waited until Vancouver was next up.
Emmanuel
Good point, context is everything.
knights fan in minny
hart In the blue paint tonight Is this the end of hill
Pistol Pete
kfim want you to know I try to take to heart your criticism and will work on toning it down a bit. Fewer posts and less reacting to what I see as negative. It’s all good. GKG!
knights fan in minny
Don’t worry about it I want to see hart Take over the net and run with it the rest of the year I need to see what we have going into next year
Pistol Pete
And bring Lindbom up.
JB
Sounds good Pete. Well hold ya to it!
KnightWatch
I would guess it’s still all performance related and his to lose.
We know Hart would’ve been in under Bruce just the same tonight.
They have 8+mil in goalies and need to see if they’re better than using their “league min+” guy.
Per Tort media avail earlier today
“He has no plan on how he is going to attack it. The only thing he knows is who the goalie will be the next game”
Pistol Pete
Projected lineup shows the Marner/Eichel switch we saw beginning period 2 the Canucks game.
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Golden Knights projected lineup:
Ivan Barbashev — Mitch Marner – Mark Stone
Brett Howden– Jack Eichel — Pavel Dorofeyev
Reilly Smith — Tomas Hertl — Keegan Kolesar
Cole Smith – Nic Dowd — Colton Sissons
Brayden McNabb- Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin– Kaedan Korczak
Rasmus Andersson – Jeremy Lauzon
Carter Hart
Adin Hill
Scratched: Ben Hutton, Brandon Saad, Akira Schmid
Injured: William Karlsson (lower body), Jonas Rondbjerg (lower body)
KnightWatch
Just wanted to correct a statement you made about Butch (never thinking of) the Marner/Eichel switch.
He did indeed run the Barb-Marner-Stone line a few times. So it’s Not new.
Injuries prevented and exact match of others. No reply necessary
We’re on to the Tort era, as the medias tag line on constant repeat states.
Looking forward to Whitey’s well deserved video tribute.
Chris
Not sure people have moved on over dismissal of Cassidy. One win over the last place Canucks, and not the cakewalk that people would hope to have occurred. Torts has done a remarkable job of smoothly transitioning and tamping down the heat in the transition. But the jury is still very much out on this move.
I am interested as to what people would consider a successful result from this change. Is making the playoffs enough? Is not finishing in the wild card enough? First round victory? We seem to not really have a standard for exactly will determine whether this was the right move.
Emmanuel
2 series wins would be a ‘success’.
0 series wins requires firings.
KnightWatch
I concur with that but where are we throwing a single series win into?
That’s where I thought we would squeak into at least with , prior to the change.
Emmanuel
1 series win is the over/under.
JB
I think success would be making the playoffs, winning round one and either winning round two or making a strong showing if we lose!
NAM
This team looked like shit last year in the playoffs. They only beat MIN because Cassidy was a better coach than the MIN coach. The EDM series was embarrassing. Hertl and Doro disappeared in the post season as soon as things got tight and tough. Others weren’t much better. So with that said, all the extra money spent on this team this year, if they can’t do better than that the GM needs to be fired and creative solutions are needed to reshape this team.
JB
I was pissed when Butch was fired. But I think there was a disconnect between him and some of the core players. He is a very good coach but also very direct. After four years I think things just got rubbed raw. This happens with a lot of teams over time. It was obvious he wasn’t happy about the amount of time it took USA players to get back to the team. I just think some bad blood between them couldn’t be fixed. I like Tort and hope he can help us!