Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy holds up the Stanley Cup during a Vegas Golden Knights victory parade on the Las Vegas Strip Saturday, June 17, 2023. The Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday to win the Stanley Cup Final.
Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 | 2 a.m.
It’s six days before the Vegas Golden Knights begin the defense of their Stanley Cup championship. The vibes are still pristine, both on the ice during training camp and in the locker room. Players continue to soak in the memories of what happened four months prior and the celebrations that came with it.
Coach Bruce Cassidy felt nothing wrong with that. He wanted the players to remember what it was like to be the last team standing and hoist the 35-pound silver trophy at the end of the season.
It was a point that the Golden Knights’ coach also worked his whole career to reach. Even when he got to celebrate the championship on the ice with his wife, Julie, and children Shannon and Cole, it was one of the closest feelings to an out-of-body experience that he’s had.
Claiming the Cup is one thing, he said, “then the banner goes up that you could stare at for the rest of your life, if you want to. To the victor goes the spoils. You should be able to do that.”
As quick as the four months were for the Golden Knights to celebrate winning the first Stanley Cup in team history, the past four months since the start of their title defense has gone by just as quickly. The Golden Knights have 23 games left to play. The trade deadline is March 8.
Everything has crept up suddenly where, barring an unthinkable second-half collapse, the Golden Knights will be back in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years.
And for the second straight year, the job done by Cassidy may go overlooked.
Cassidy finished fourth in the Jack Adams Award voting last year given to the league’s coach of the year. That was despite leading the Golden Knights to the most points in the Western Conference, while not having captain Mark Stone for the second half of the season and using as many as five goalies throughout the run.
Unless the Golden Knights storm their way past the Vancouver Canucks atop the Western Conference in these final two months, Cassidy won’t get the recognition for that either.
But this year is setting up for a similar path. The Golden Knights just got defenseman Shea Theodore back after missing 35 games with an upper-body injury that required surgery. Star center Jack Eichel has been out since mid-January with a lower-body injury that also required surgery.
That doesn’t factor in the two months goalie Adin Hill missed due to injury and the month center William Karlsson was out. That’s a blip of the eight players who were put on injured reserve at one point this year.
It’s part of the journey of motivation Cassidy is on. It’s not for the personal accolades, and it’s not to prove he’s still one of the best coaches in the NHL. He has the championship ring to prove that. The motivation is in trying to become a dynasty. He made the “Back to back!” proclamation at the championship parade, because it was how he felt, and how defending champions should feel in that moment.
To be in the same breath as the Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning—the teams that are remembered for multiple titles in the past 15 years—is now what drives Cassidy.
“You remember the last decade, teams like Chicago that made it three times and won, Boston made it three times and only won once, but they were always there,” Cassidy said.
“They didn’t settle for one and done. No disrespect to Washington (in 2018)or St. Louis (in 2019) but they got their Cups and they’ve gone (up and down). That’s my motivation to get the message to the guys: Do you want to be Chicago? Boston? LA? Pittsburgh? Or that one and done? Is that good enough?It’s a little bit of that, motivation to be a dominant team of the decade.”
Winning can change how players and coaches approach a new season. That hasn’t been Cassidy. He’s not a loud, in-your-face coach. He articulates the game plan and expects his players to execute. When they do, the praise is clear. When they don’t, the criticism is evident.
That’s not to say Cassidy hasn’t had to look at the mirror himself to change things. He’s acknowledged he’s needed to change his approach over the years, especially after spending nearly 15 years with the Boston Bruins organization.
“You don’t want him to change. You want him to have that same approach, that same mindset, that same desire to push us to be better and the desire for himself to be better,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “That’s what pushes you through the season. I think it’s a good thing that he hasn’t wavered from who he was last year to now.”
Despite the ongoing waves of adversity, Cassidy has found ways to adjust, and it’s worked. Though the Golden Knights aren’t in first place in the Pacific Division right now, they’re still firmly in a playoff spot. They’re going to get a chance to repeat.
Just getting into the field of 16 and getting a chance to win is all that matters for Cassidy.
“I have a better idea of what it takes now. I was close once, and so were several other players here,” Cassidy said. “That would be my goal every year, to go into the year every year with expectations to win the Stanley Cup.”
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
