Veteran head coach John Tortorella is hopeful his brief stint with the Vegas Golden Knights wasn’t his last behind an NHL bench.
“Oh, I want to coach,” Tortorella told The Athletic’s Joe Smith. “I want to coach now. I’m not sure if that happens, and that’s where I am in my career. But I wanted to coach that Vegas team. I told (general manager Kelly McCrimmon) that.”
Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy in a shock hire with eight games remaining in the regular season and subsequently guided the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup Final appearance. Vegas went 7-0-1 under Tortorella in the regular season and 14-6 in the playoffs.
Despite the impressive run, Vegas opted to promote Ryan Craig from the club’s AHL affiliate instead of signing Tortorella to a new contract.
“I guess the word I’d use is ‘disappointed,'” Tortorella said. “I was honest with Kelly. We met the next morning (after Game 6). Kelly is very honest, and he let me know within one minute of sitting down in that meeting – he basically told me, ‘Ryan Craig is coaching the team next year.’ I told him what I thought, and we had an honest conversation. I truly respect where the organization is going.
“We didn’t finish the job, and I wanted some more time with that club to try to finish the job. That’s not my call. That’s the general manager and president’s call. You just get about your business after that.”
Tortorella is ninth on the NHL’s all-time coaching wins list with 777. He won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004 and has also had stints with the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Philadelphia Flyers.
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Source: Sports Hockey – The Score
