Former Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy is interested in speaking to the Toronto Maple Leafs about their vacant HC job.
The Maple Leafs have still not filled their head-coaching vacancy since firing former head coach Craig Berube last month. New Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka told reporters recently that the team has interviewed 55 candidates in the job hunt, but at this point, Cassidy is not one of them.
That’s because Vegas is blocking Cassidy from speaking to other NHL teams about taking a HC job until at least the playoffs are over. The Golden Knights denied the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers the chance to talk to him, and the Kings hired Peter Laviolette, while the Oilers are heavily linked to Mike Babcock.
That leaves one NHL team with an HC opening: the Maple Leafs. And if they are patient and wait for Vegas’ season to finish, they may get a chance to speak to Cassidy, who is interested in coaching the team.
Bruce Cassidy Interested in Coaching Maple Leafs
Speaking to The Athletic this week, Cassidy confirmed that he is interested in coaching the Maple Leafs. He does not want to sit out next season and wants to get back behind an NHL bench. With the Maple Leafs having the only job opening, it would link him directly to the Toronto job.
“The 60-year-old told The Athletic this week that he would ‘have interest in any opening’ and was open to speaking to the Leafs, if allowed, to see if the fit was right on both sides. Cassidy has indicated that he simply wants to ‘go back to work’ after being fired by the Golden Knights in March with eight games left in the regular season,” Jonas Siegel wrote.
While the Maple Leafs have spoken to upwards of 55 people for the job so far, Cassidy has not been one of them, since the Golden Knights are not letting him speak to any other team until their playoff run is over.
But with the NHL Stanley Cup Finals ready to wrap up in the next week, the Maple Leafs would be wise to display patience and wait to speak to Cassidy before naming the team’s next head coach.
Bruce Cassidy is a Winner
When you talk about the best coaches in the NHL, Cassidy is at the top of the list.
Way back in 2002, Cassidy got his first NHL head-coaching job when the Washington Capitals hired him. He made the playoffs in his rookie season, but was fired after the Capitals struggled out of the gate in his sophomore coaching year.
It took 12 more years for Cassidy to get another head-coaching job in the NHL, when the Boston Bruins hired him during the 2016-17 season. He ended up coaching six seasons for the Bruins, making the playoffs every season with the team, before being let go after the 2021-22 season.
In 2022, the Golden Knights hired Cassidy, and in 2023, Cassidy won the Stanley Cup with them, helping Vegas break through and win a championship after several years of being a top contender.
But he was fired after the Golden Knights flatlined at the end of the 2025-26 season, and was replaced by John Tortorella, who has the team two wins away from winning the Stanley Cup.
While the way things finished in Vegas was not what Cassidy nor anyone expected, it doesn’t take away anything that he accomplished in his four years with the Knights.
Overall, Cassidy is a great coach, and the Leafs would be wise to wait to speak to him before they hire their next head coach.
Bruce Cassidy Interested in Talking to Maple Leafs About HC Job