One of the biggest coaching names out there is Bruce Cassidy, who was released by the Vegas Golden Knights before the end of the season and replaced by John Tortorella. Cassidy made an NHL appearance on the TNT Panel during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but wants to get back into coaching.
There was a fire on social media on Tuesday after a report by Frank Seravalli said that the Edmonton Oilers wanted to talk to Bruce Cassidy, the Golden Knights withheld permission. As NHLRumors.com reported, the Oilers aren't the only team interested in Cassidy.
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The Los Angeles Kings will be interested in him as well. Granted, no one has officially made any coaching changes, but the Kings have given DJ Smith a temporary tag. So technically, there is space in Los Angeles. But according to Jon Rosen, the Kings are interested and will bring Cassidy in for an interview. He mentioned that Amakhosi spoke to him last Friday.
However, it seems that is not the case, since the Edmonton Oilers or the Los Angeles Kings have not received permission from the Vegas Golden Knights to talk to Bruce Cassidy, according to Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, which came out on Wednesday.
“First of all, let me give you the updated news from late Tuesday night, when we were filming this, Kyle. I don't think the Oilers or the Kings have been cleared to talk to Bruce Cassidy. So as I understand it, as of late Tuesday night, when we did this pod, it wasn't just an Edmonton thing. I haven't been cleared by the king yet.
So, I think there are semantics here. I think there is some resentment as it took longer than everyone thought. But as far as I know, the answer is not 'No.' It's just, I don't know, delaying, dragging their feet, whatever you want. Not yet. Not Yes, yet. It's too late to drag your feet, whatever it is. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the best in the country.”
NHL rumors: Edmonton Oilers, and Los Angeles Kings
Friedman doubled down on the answer Wednesday morning during an appearance on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio's Morning Skate with Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin.
“As of last night, when we were recording the podcast, Vegas didn't give permission to Edmonton or LA to talk to him, because one of the things I was curious about was that there were reports yesterday, and I heard the same rumor that LA might have already interviewed Cassidy, and that would make everything unknown.
But I was told last night that they still don't have permission to talk to him. That's the best source I was told. So I'm not sure what's going on here, and I have a feeling that eventually this will resolve itself. But as of yesterday, the Oilers and the Kings did not have a permit.
As previously mentioned, Jon Rosen said the Kings have spoken to him, but Friedman didn't want to get into a fight about who is right or wrong on this issue. He reiterated what he had heard, that no group had been given permission to speak with Cassidy.
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Whether this is gameplay or semantics, it will eventually get done. Although Friedman wonders if Vegas wants a guarantee that whoever hires him won't pay Bruce Cassidy.
“The other thing I'm going to say, and someone actually made an interesting argument about this, is a theory. He doesn't know if it's true, but this is another official. He said, “What could Vegas be waiting to find out here, are they going to be guaranteed to get off the hook next year?
I believe Cassidy makes about $4.5 million. He still has one more year under contract. But his curiosity was that, he wondered if Vegas wanted a guarantee that if Edmonton hires them or LA hires them, they have to pay for everything. In Vegas you won't have to pay anything. That's just a guess, but that was an educated guess.”
As he said, the Golden Knights better have a good reason not to let these teams talk to Cassidy.
“Ultimately, though, the league has made it clear in the past that you have to have a good reason to deny someone a permit, so unless Cassidy wants to coach the Oilers or the Kings soon, unless there's a good reason we don't know about, they're going to have to grant the permit.”
It will be interesting to see how things go with Bruce Cassidy, the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings.
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