Bruce Cassidy Hired as Golden Knights Head Coach After Bruins Firing

The Vegas Golden Knights announced the hiring of Bruce Cassidy to be their head coach on Tuesday.

ESPN's Kevin Weekes first reported the hire:

The Golden Knights fired Peter DeBoer in May after the team failed to reach the postseason, while the Boston Bruins gave Cassidy the ax in June, a surprising move seeing as how he took the team to six straight playoffs.

Cassidy, 57, went 245-108-46 in his six years as the Bruins' head coach and led the team to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019.

Boston was eliminated in the opening round of this year's playoffs, however, and general manager Don Sweeney decided to go in a new direction.

"After taking some time to fully digest everything, I felt that the direction of our team for both this season and beyond would benefit from a new voice," he said in a statement.

The Golden Knights have had tremendous success in their five-year existence, making the playoffs four times, the conference final twice and the Stanley Cup Final in the 2017-18 season, the organization's maiden voyage.

But missing the postseason this past year led to the team changing course.

"The decision was made based on next year; the decision was not based on last year," general manager Kelly McCrimmon told reporters after firing DeBoer. "I'm not going to be critical of Pete or point out specifics as to why this decision was made. I've got a lot of respect for Pete as a man. I've got a lot of respect for him as a coach. These decisions are made for the future."

In three seasons, DeBoer was 98-50-12 as the head coach.

Cassidy was one of the top names on the coaching market, alongside more experienced options like Barry Trotz and John Tortorella, so his hiring was a solid move for a Vegas franchise looking to have a quick turnaround after a disappointing 2021-22 campaign.