Texas UIL baseball bi-district playoffs set to begin later this week
Texas UIL baseball playoffs set to begin with top teams competing
Bruce Cassidy expressed disappointment over his firing from the Vegas Golden Knights with eight games left in the season, stating he would have liked to see the season through. Cassidy was replaced by John Tortorella shortly after his dismissal.
Mentioned in this story
(© Rob Gray-Imagn Images)
On March 29th, the Vegas Golden Knights made a change behind the bench with just eight games left in the regular season. They relieved head coach Bruce Cassidy of his duties and subsequently brought in John Tortorella to take his place.
From broadcasters to the media to fans, this move caught the hockey world by surprise. And when Cassidy joined the NHL on TNT intermission panel nearly a month after the incident, he admitted that it shocked him, too.
âYeah,â said Cassidy on Tuesday. âYou know, you grind for 74 games, and you want to be there at the end. Thatâs the payoff, right? Playing for the cup, getting your name on the cup again⊠Great guys in that locker room, great players. Iâm excited for the guys, but disappointed I didnât get a chance to finish the job with them.â
Throughout their nine-year history, the Golden Knights have earned a reputation as a team that will do whatever it takes to win. This move is a bit too extreme to be par for the course, but itâs not completely without precedent.
âVegas, they have their standards,â Cassidy acknowledged. âThey felt we werenât there, so they made a change.â
In 2022, the Golden Knights hired Cassidy as their third head coach in franchise history. The move immediately paid dividends, and he led them to their first Stanley Cup in 2023. Typically, Stanley Cup Champion head coaches get a longer leash; in this case, the floundering Golden Knights needed a spark, and Cassidy was the casualty.
âI think somewhere along the way, we lost our spirit, and we lost our energy as a team,â said general manager Kelly McCrimmon after the coaching change. âYou need to make hard decisions, and the easiest thing in the world to do is nothing⊠If we didnât have the expectations and the belief in our team that we do, we probably wouldâve let this thing ride out.â
Following the coaching change, the Golden Knights went on a 7-0-1 run to close out the regular season.
Bruce Cassidy was relieved of his duties as head coach with just eight games remaining in the regular season, a decision that surprised many in the hockey community.
John Tortorella was brought in to replace Bruce Cassidy as the head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Bruce Cassidy expressed that he was shocked by his firing and disappointed he didn't get to finish the season with the team, emphasizing his desire to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Texas UIL baseball playoffs set to begin with top teams competing
Elon guard Ned Hull joins Virginia Tech for the 2026-27 season
Coastal Carolina crushes UNC 12-2 in a dominant top-10 showdown!
Knicks dominate Hawks 126-97 in Game 5, taking a 3-2 series lead!
Texas A&M baseball secures a 9-7 victory over Tarleton!
NCAA eliminates prize money restrictions for student-athletes in new settlement.
See every story in Sports â including breaking news and analysis.
âI would have liked to see it through, Iâll definitely say that,â Cassidy admitted. âWeâd won once before, so we knew what it looked like to win⊠Yes, I would have loved to have the opportunity. But it didnât work out that way, so you start thinking about your next challenge.â