The Vegas Golden Knights hired former Boston Bruins bench boss Bruce Cassidy as their next head coach.
Cassidy guided the Bruins to the postseason in all six of his years at the helm, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019. The 57-year-old won the Jack Adams Award in 2019-20 after leading the Bruins to the Presidents' Trophy, and he ranks 12th all time in points percentage among coaches with at least 82 games.
The Bruins were a premier defensive team under Cassidy. During the five seasons he coached from start to finish, Boston never ranked outside the top five in goals against per game or the top three in expected goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Cassidy's first stint as an NHL head coach did not go as well, though. The Washington Capitals fired him midway through his second year in 2003-04 after posting a 47-47-9-7 record. He then coached the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs before joining the AHL's Providence Bruins for three years as an assistant and five years as the head coach. Cassidy made his NHL return in 2016-17.
Fittingly, the general manager who hired Cassidy in Washington, George McPhee, is currently the Golden Knights' president of hockey operations.
The Ottawa native will become the third head coach in Golden Knights franchise history. Gerard Gallant led Vegas to the Stanley Cup Final in his first year and a playoff berth in his second. However, he was fired midway through his third campaign. Peter DeBoer guided the Knights to back-to-back league semifinal appearances, but the team fired him after failing to make the postseason in 2021-22.
Although Vegas missed the playoffs, Cassidy is taking over a veteran Golden Knights roster in win-now mode.