Entering his third year as bench boss of the Golden Knights, coach Bruce Cassidy said this year's locker room has just as much of a winning culture as the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2023.
LAS VEGAS -- Coming off a tough loss in the first-round series to the Dallas Stars in May, all eyes are on how the Vegas Golden Knights will respond.
Before their first preseason game, coach Bruce Cassidy reflected on his team just a couple of days into training camp, and the road the franchise has taken since he took over as head coach in July of 2022.
Cassidy knew the framework behind a Cup-winning team was in place when he took over for Peter DeBoer; he just needed to put his stamp on the way the team played and believed the current players could get them there.
Fast forward to this current roster, two seasons removed from Vegas hoisting Lord's Stanley Cup, and Cassidy says things look the same as the day he stepped in.
"I still feel that way," said Cassidy, whose Knights improved to 3-0-1 in the preseason after Tuesday's 6-1 win in Colorado. "This year, I feel like there's a lot of those pieces there - strong down the middle of the ice… you've got a big, mobile, hard-to-play-against D corps."
Cassidy addressed direct switches from two years ago and said they were pretty straightforward. Tomas Hertl replacing Chandler Stephenson in the center or the switch from Alec Martinez to Noah Hanifin. Either way, the depth is still there, veteran for veteran.
Before goaltender Adin Hill joined the team in 2022, Cassidy said there was also uncertainty due to Robin Lehner’s health. Hill became his starter between the pipes by the time the Stanley Cup Final rolled around, and once again there is no uncertainty. Behind him is veteran Ilya Samsonov, who could be ripe for a resurgent season in new surroundings.
Bottom line, Cassidy is confident in this team's abilities, so it’s really up to the players on how this season shapes out with impressive parts in place to make a deeper run in the playoffs after last year's early exit.
"I feel this team is a winning team with a winning culture," Cassidy said. "We just got to get back to playing the way we need to every night to be the best in our division, and we'll take it from there."