{"id":822029,"date":"2026-07-25T01:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822029\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T01:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:38:10","slug":"john-tortorella-opens-up-about-getting-fired-by-vegas-after-losing-the-stanley-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822029\/","title":{"rendered":"John Tortorella opens up about getting fired by Vegas after losing the Stanley Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Normally, when a coach leads a team to the Stanley Cup Final<\/a>, even if they lose, they’re back behind the bench the following season.<\/p>\n

Not former Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> coach John Tortorella, however.<\/p>\n

Despite only taking over with eight games left in the regular season, he led Vegas to the franchise’s third Cup final in nine seasons.<\/p>\n

GOLDEN KNIGHTS MAKE SURPRISE DECISION ON JOHN TORTORELLA AFTER SHOCK HIRE LED TEAM TO STANLEY CUP FINAL<\/a><\/p>\n

\"John <\/p>\n

In a new interview, former Vegas Golden Knights coach John Tortorella commented on his surprise firing. (James Guillory-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

But after Vegas dropped Game 6 to the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>, the team didn’t waste any time announcing that Tortorella would not be returning and that Ryan Craig \u2014 coach of Vegas’ AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights \u2014 was replacing him.<\/p>\n

“I guess the word I\u2019d use is \u2018disappointed,\u2019” Tortorella said. “I was honest with Kelly (McCrimmon, Vegas GM). We met the next morning (after Game 6),” Tortorella said in a new interview with The Athletic. “Kelly is very honest, and he let me know within one minute of sitting down in that meeting \u2014 he basically told me, \u2018Ryan Craig is coaching the team next year.\u2019 I told him what I thought, and we had an honest conversation. I truly respect where the organization is going.<\/p>\n

“We didn\u2019t finish the job, and I wanted some more time with that club to try to finish the job. That\u2019s not my call. That\u2019s the general manager and president\u2019s call. You just get about your business after that.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tortorella <\/p>\n

Tortorella led the Golden Knights to their third Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history. (Rob Gray-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

It’s wild how much the Golden Knights embody their city<\/a>, because, man, do they ever like to gamble, and they’re usually on the money. It’s insane.<\/p>\n

Sure, Craig was the heir apparent, and they wouldn’t want to lose him after investing so much in his development.<\/p>\n

But Tortorella is a Cup winner (22 years ago, I know, but it still counts), and really had the team firing on all cylinders… so they make a change?<\/p>\n

\"Vegas <\/p>\n

The Vegas Golden Knights lost this year’s Stanley Cup Final to the Carolina Hurricanes in six games. (Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

Hey, their last gamble, axing Bruce Cassidy and bringing in Torts, worked out well.<\/p>\n

But if the team struggles out of the gate, there’s a good chance the front office faces some questions.<\/p>\n

Matthew Reigle is a writer for OutKick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Normally, when a coach leads a team to the Stanley Cup Final, even if they lose, they’re back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,300794,85,2137,7529],"class_list":["post-822029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-outkick-sports","tag-sports","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-vegas-golden-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}