The Vegas Golden Knights have been a perennial contender in the Western Conference for a number of years now, so it came as a shock to everyone in the hockey world when they parted ways with Bruce Cassidy with mere weeks until the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In his place, they brought in an experienced veteran, the heavily polarizing John Tortorella, who would take the team all the way to within two games of hoisting the Cup for the second time in franchise history. However, it was well known that he was simply there for the 2025/26 season and that is it, and now, the veteran Head Coach has opened up on his future in the National Hockey League, with the doors not yet closed on his career.
John Tortorella Wants to Keep Coaching
GettyJohn Tortorella of the Vegas Golden Knights.
While he took on the Golden Knights role in a short-term capacity, that doesn’t mean Tortorella’s career behind the bench is over, and in a recent interview with Joe Smith of The Athletic, he expressed his desires to take on a new Head Coach role in the NHL somewhere.
“Oh, I want to coach. I want to coach now,” Tortorella said. “I’m not sure if that happens, and that’s where I am in my career. But I wanted to coach that Vegas team. I told (general manager Kelly McCrimmon) that.”
As he mentions in the interview, it’s unclear from Tortorella’s perspective if a team will give him another chance, but after taking over in late March and leading Vegas to the Stanley Cup Finals, it’s clear that when given the opportunity, he can still be a very effective coach at the NHL level. During his stint with Vegas, the team went 7-0-1 in eight games played before dominating en route to the Stanley Cup Finals, and if teams can look past the old-school style, it’s clearly a method that can lead to success.
Will Tortorella Find Another Head Coach Role?
It’s no secret why Tortorella’s opportunities right now may be sparse, as his old-school method of coaching has famously worn thin on teams very quickly, and while it worked well in Vegas over a three-month stretch, over the long-term, teams clearly don’t want to take a risk on a coach that may completely upset the culture of an organization and the locker room itself.
Despite that thought process, Mike Babcock was hired by the Edmonton Oilers this off-season, and he was most recently fired by a team before even coaching a game for them, so if there’s room for Babcock in the NHL, there may be a team out there that needs a reset of their culture, and there, they may find Tortorella an appealing option.
Ultimately though, his style is long, long outdated, but in short bursts it can lead to success, so while he’s not going to be behind a bench to start the 2026/27 regular season, don’t be surprised to see Tortorella coaching in the National Hockey League again in some capacity over the next few years.
Former Golden Knights Coach John Tortorella Reveals his Future in the NHL