The Vegas Golden Knights are making a late-season move in the hope it can swing their fate the way the New Jersey Devils did at the start of this century.
Twenty-six years and about seven days ago, Jersey GM Lou Lamoriello axed Robbie Ftorek with eight games to go in the Devils season — the same number Vegas has left now — and replaced him with Larry Robinson. While the Devils — who were the top team in the East when Ftorek got canned, but had gone 5-9-3 over a 17-game stretch leading to the firing — finished just 4-4-0 under Robinson to close out the year, they caught fire in the playoffs and claimed the 2000 Stanley Cup.
As it happens, John Tortorella officially coached his first four NHL games at almost the exact same time the Devils installed Robinson, as the underperforming 1999-2000 New York Rangers club Tortorella was an assistant with axed head man John Muckler just before the season ended.
The next season, “Torts” was the top man in Tampa Bay and, a quarter century later, the 67-year-old is being tabbed by Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon to grab the fast-dropping Golden Knights by the lapels and elevate them back up to the contender status they’re supposed to hold.
It won’t be easy.
Since Jan. 19, under deposed coach Bruce Cassidy, Vegas holds a .370 points percentage, a mark worse than everyone in the league save Toronto (.365) and Vancouver (.271). In that span, the Knights are averaging just 2.67 goals per game, which rank 25th in the NHL.
And, of course, there’s the season-long issue of goaltending. Vegas sports an .874 team save percentage this year and if it drops even two points to .872 it’ll be the worst number in the entire NHL, behind even the burn-it-to-the-ground Canucks.
Remember the “25 per cent rule,” when Tortorella blasted former Bolts goalie John Grahame after one of every four Ottawa Senators shots beat him in the 2006 playoffs? Well, he might get some horrifying flashbacks in the desert if Adin Hill and Akira Schmid can’t turn things around quickly.
If Vegas is hoping to alter its outlook with this move, there’s a redemptive element for Tortorella here, too. He’s a decorated coach, no doubt, with more wins (770) than every American bench boss except Peter Laviolette (846), a Cup ring from his time in Tampa and, most recently, an Olympic gold while serving as an assistant for Team USA.
But last year ended ugly for Tortorella, being dismissed in Philly with nine contests to go as the team slid into oblivion and he had a reported non-physical confrontation in the dressing room with defenceman Cam York.
Now, heading his sixth different NHL team, one of hockey’s loudest personalities has a chance to pen another chapter.
Finding the success New Jersey did all those years ago might be a stretch, but who’s more ready for a battle than Tortorella?
Weekend Takeaways
• What a weekend for Pavel Zacha and the Boston Bruins. Zacha tied Boston’s game in Columbus on Sunday with 11 seconds left in the third, netting the B’s third goal of the frame after they’d fallen behind 3-0 in the opening 20. The Bruins went on to claim a critical 4-3 shootout win 24 hours after they’d doubled up the Minnesota Wild 6-3 in Boston. Zacha had a pair against the Wild and two more versus the Columbus Blue Jackets, driving his career-best goal total to 28 and putting him well in range of the first 30-goal season of his career.
Since the calendar flipped to 2026, the Bruins have the second-best points percentage (.727) in the entire league, behind only the Buffalo Sabres (.743) squad they could see in the first round.
• While we’re at it, the three best points-percentage teams of 2026 are Buffalo, Boston and Tampa (.721), all members of the Atlantic Division. Throw in Montreal (.676) and Ottawa (.643), and five of the best eight marks in the back half of the season belong to Atlantic teams.
By the way, you have to drop down to Dallas at No. 9 (.632) to find the top points percentage by a Western Conference club since Jan. 1.
• Given everything we just mentioned about the Atlantic, what is that group going to look like next year when the Florida Panthers come back rested, healthy and ready to reclaim their championship turf?
The Cats lost 5-2 to the Isles on Friday and 3-1 to the Rangers 24 hours later at Madison Square Garden. They’ll be officially eliminated from the playoffs as soon as Tuesday, but — even with some uncertainty in the crease, where 37-year-old Sergei Bobrovsky is a pending-UFA — it’s hard to imagine they won’t bounce back in a big way next fall.
Red and White Power Rankings
1. Montreal Canadiens (42-21-10) The Canadiens gathered two huge weekend wins with back-to-back W’s in Nashville on Saturday and Carolina 24 hours later. With five straight victories, Montreal is on pace for 105 points, a number the club has reached just once (110 in 2014-15) since the 1988-89 Habs posted 115 on their way to losing in the Cup final.
2. Edmonton Oilers (37-28-9) The Oilers host two non-playoff teams this week — Seattle and Chicago — before Vegas visits Edmonton on Saturday. If the Oilers — winners of three straight after downing Pacific-leading Anaheim on Saturday — are going to make a play for the division title, this is the week.
3. Ottawa Senators (38-25-10) With injuries on the back end, Jordan Spence — a healthy scratch at times early in the season — is averaging over 26 minutes per game in his past four outings and found the net during Saturday’s deflating 4-2 setback in Tampa.
4. Winnipeg Jets (31-30-12) Jonathan Toews will play as a visitor in Chicago for the second time in his career on Tuesday. It goes without saying the Jets absolutely must leave the Windy City with two points to remain relevant in the Western Conference wild-card chase.
5. Toronto Maple Leafs (31-30-13) If Radko Gudas — who sat out Saturday’s game with an injury — plays on Monday night, somebody on the Leafs is going to seek retribution for the knee he hit Auston Matthews with in mid-March that ended the latter’s season. Maybe Michael Pezzetta will get in the second fight of his brief Leafs tenure after dropping the gloves one second into his Blue and White debut a couple weeks back in the very game that Gudas took out Matthews.
6. Calgary Flames (31-34-8) After scoring in Saturday’s 7-3 win over Vancouver, Morgan Frost is two goals away from his first 20-goal campaign. Frost posted a career-best 19 three seasons ago in Philly.
7. Vancouver Canucks (21-43-8) John Tortorella’s debut as Golden Knights bench boss comes on Monday against the Canucks club he coached for one season in 2013-14. You have to think Vegas, under the circumstances, will come out flying on home ice and a loss would represent the Canucks’ third six-game losing streak of the year. Evander Kane will be suiting up for his 1,000th NHL contest against the Knights.
The Week Ahead
• The Isles and Penguins clash in a huge Metro matchup on Monday night in New York and Matthew Schaefer, with his 23rd goal, can tie Brian Leetch for the most ever by a rookie D-man. Later that night, Nazem Kadri will see his old pals on the Flames when Calgary visits Denver. Avs centre Nathan MacKinnon is two goals shy of becoming the first player to hit the 50-goal mark this year. With three goals, MacKinnon will equal his career-best showing of 51 in 2023-34.
• Cole Caufield is also in range of 50 goals after netting his 46th in Sunday’s victory over Carolina. The Habs are in Tampa for a possible playoff preview on Tuesday and Caufield will get three more chances this week to reach the magical half-century mark.
• Quinn Hughes will face the Vancouver Canucks for the first time in his career when his former squad visits Minnesota on Thursday, while the Flames will see an old friend for the second time in a matter of days when they drop into the Vegas desert to face Rasmus Andersson and the Golden Knights. That same night, Ottawa begins a vital five-game homestand by hosting Buffalo. Meanwhile, Porter Martone — the sixth-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft — inked his entry-level deal with the Flyers on the weekend and could make his debut in the Flyers’ next home game, versus Detroit, on Thursday.
• A 15-game slate on Saturday features Colorado and Dallas meeting at 3 p.m. ET for the final time this regular season in Texas, as Avs defenceman Brent Burns can become just the second NHLer after Phil Kessel to skate in 1,000 consecutive games. Burns, who turned 41 earlier this month, hasn’t missed a contest since November of 2013 and could pass Kessel for the all-time mark (1,064) if he plays next season. Saturday also features Rick Bowness facing the team he “retired” with when the Jets visit Columbus and the Tortorella-led Golden Knights battling the Oilers for the first time with their new coach when Vegas travels to Northern Alberta.
