Vegas Golden Knights hire Bruce Cassidy as head coach

The Vegas Golden Knights named Bruce Cassidy their new head coach on Tuesday.

Cassidy, 57, was fired by the Boston Bruins last week, despite leading them to the playoffs in all six of his seasons as the team's head coach. Boston was 245-108-46 in regular-season games during his tenure, but just 36-37 in the postseason. Boston managed to reach the 2019 Stanley Cup Final under Cassidy, but lost in seven games to the St. Louis Blues.

"The Golden Knights are very pleased to have Bruce come in to coach our team," Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said in a statement. "His success in Boston over six years is extremely impressive. His teams have had a clear identity, having been among the very best in the NHL in terms of goals for, goals against, goal differential and special teams. This is the right coach for our team at this time."

Vegas debuted as an expansion team in 2017 and made the Stanley Cup Final in its first NHL season. The team reached the postseason in its next three seasons, but failed to return to the Final. In the 2021-22 season, the Golden Knights failed to reach the playoffs for the first time, finishing just three points behind the Nashville Predators for the final Western Conference wild-card berth. 

After the season, the Golden Knights fired Peter DeBoer as head coach.