Ex-Rangers coach stunned to land in Vegas after being ‘bombed out of Philly’
John Tortorella certainly had his share of volatile moments when he coached the New York Rangers. But he’d be hard pressed to find a wilder swing of events than what transpired over the past 12 months in his career.
The Vegas Golden Knights introduced Tortorella as the fourth head coach in franchise history Monday, one day after he replaced the fired Bruce Cassidy with just eight games remaining in the regular season. This comes after Tortorella was let go by the Philadelphia Flyers almost a year to the day — March 27, 2025 — last season.
“I got bombed out of Philly with nine games left last year, and now I come here with eight games left in a new job. It’s a couple crazy situations I never been involved with before,” Tortorella said with a smile creasing his lips. “But that’s the League, that’s pro sports. I think as coaches and pro players, when you get to this level, the highest level of the game, you need to be prepared to handle that stuff.”
When it comes to seeing just about everything you can see, and doing everything you can do, as a coach in the NHL, Tortorella sits near the top of the list. Vegas becomes the sixth team to hire him; the previous five each fired him. He’s a Stanley Cup winner (2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning), as well as someone who failed to reach the playoffs in his previous four seasons coaching in the NHL (three with the Flyers and one with the Columbus Blue Jackets).
Tortorella’s been fined for his actions involving fans — who can forget his water bottle throwing incident as Rangers coach during the 2009 postseason series against the Washington Capitals? — and ridiculed for his verbal badgering of reporters and players. But he’s also mellowed, both as a coach and human being.
To that end, Tortorella reached out to Cassidy on Sunday night to thank him for the incredible job he did as Golden Knights coach, including winning the Stanley Cup in 2023.
Simply, Tortorella is complex.
“Listen, I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way,” Tortorella admitted. “I answer questions, I’m going to answer them honestly. I’m not going to say I’m the greatest guy in the world after games because you’re in the fight with the players … sometimes emotion gets in the way. It’s a good thing, it’s a bad thing. Right?”
Former Rangers coach embraces new opportunity, says “I never wanted to stop coaching’
There’s no questioning Tortorella’s success nor the typically immediate positive impact he has on the teams he coaches. Torts is ninth all-time on the NHL coaching wins list with 770, and the second winningest United States-born coach, behind another former Rangers bench boss, Peter Laviolette (846).
Tortorella’s 171 regular-season wins are fifth all-time in Rangers history and his 319 games coached (including four when he was promoted to interim coach after John Muckler was fired near the end of the 1999-2000 season) is sixth most.
He said Monday that “I never wanted to stop coaching” after the Flyers fired him a year ago. But he never imagined this opportunity would happen either, especially at this late stage of the season.
So, he gets back to work Monday night, when the Golden Knights host one of his other former teams — the Vancouver Canucks. Vegas is third in the Pacific Division, three points behind the second-place Edmonton Oilers and four up on the Los Angeles Kings, who sit fourth in the division.
However, the Golden Knights lost three in a row (0-1-2), six of seven (1-4-2), and are 4-10-2 since Feb. 27.
Tortorella knows the mandate here. It’s to win. The Golden Knights are built to be a Stanley Cup contender. Now they just need some Tortorella magic, if you will, to get them back on course.
“I’m very fortunate to get the opportunity to work with this management group and players because this organization is so well respected. I don’t want to let them down.”
