Golden Knights Budge On The Bruce Cassidy Saga – Just Not Enough

Now that the Vegas Golden Knights' season is over, the job status of former coach Bruce Cassidy has bubbled to the surface of the news radar. 

Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon's decision to focus solely on the playoffs before deciding whether to grant teams permission to interview Cassidy drew criticism, but we all lived with it. But now that the post-season has ended, the Golden Knights' decision during the playoffs and Cassidy's employment status will be discussed until he's finally hired elsewhere. And with only one coach opening left in the NHL, it's still clear Vegas handled Cassidy's situation the wrong way.

McCrimmon told reporters on Wednesday he had finally granted a team permission to speak with Cassidy, and he will deal with it on a case-by-case basis moving forward.

Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reported that team was the Toronto Maple Leafs, which hired Jim Hiller on Wednesday, and Sportsnet's Mark Spector reported the Edmonton Oilers were not granted permission.

In any case, Cassidy is the coach who delivered the Golden Knights their only Stanley Cup in franchise history, so firing him and then preventing him from talking to multiple teams while there were more job openings was not appropriate.

Only the Oilers are still without a coach, and they likely still have a legitimate interest in bringing Cassidy aboard, even if they're linked closely to Mike Babcock.

There was never any good reason for Vegas to prevent Cassidy from interviewing for that job, but now that the playoffs are over, the original reasoning of focusing on the playoffs no longer applies.

In fact, there's no good reason to deal with any team that wants to talk to Cassidy on a case-by-case basis. Enough with the picking and choosing on where he can work, no matter what his contract says, and give permission to any squad to talk to him. Cassidy does not deserve this.

The Golden Knights had Cassidy behind the bench for four seasons, and this year, it didn't work out. That's partially on Cassidy, but certainly not all on him.

Then, they went with John Tortorella for a couple of months. The decision looked promising as the Golden Knights went on a hot streak and advanced to the Stanley Cup final, but that ultimately did not work out either. That's not Cassidy's fault.

Cassidy has shown he knows how to have ultimate success with a team. That's likely why Vegas has been mindful of where he could coach and made it difficult or impossible for division rivals in Edmonton and Los Angeles to hire him. He has a terrific track record, and he's going to be extremely motivated to win outside of Vegas.

But there's a reason the NHL Coaches' Association released a statement regarding Cassidy and the Golden Knights' refusal to let him interview for other coaching gigs. This is an unprecedented situation, and the justification for it is as weak as it gets. If they believe they can win the Cup, then surely it wouldn't matter who's coaching their rivals.

That's why people who are neither a fan of the Golden Knights nor any other team find Vegas' reasoning for blocking Cassidy so indefensible. McCrimmon is free to attempt to justify keeping Cassidy in limbo; we just don't agree with it.

In fact, no amount of rationalizing will convince this writer that it's defensible to do to Cassidy what the Knights have done to him. 

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