How John Tortorella helped Vegas Golden Knights find their swagger

LAS VEGAS (AP) — John Tortorella is having the time of his life.

The sharp-tongued coach famous for blowups with the media, players and opponents is headed back to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since leading Tampa Bay to the 2004 title. He has been with Vegas for all of nine weeks — more than enough time to turn the Golden Knights into an unlikely championship favourite in what could be a bruising series against Carolina.

The 67-year-old Tortorella insists the Knights didn’t need much from him, but it’s clear this is currently as close as a love affair as you can find between coach and NHL team.

“I like being with the group,” Tortorella said. “It was such a crazy situation (several) weeks ago. I think they have kind of accepted me. I think they understand me better. I certainly understand them better. I feel more comfortable in changing as a coach in order for this to work. The bottom line is we’re trying to win. I need to give them what I think they need to help them and get the obstacles away so that they can just play.”

Don’t expect Tortorella to take the stage at one of Las Vegas’ comedy clubs, but he has shown a side to the players the public doesn’t see.

“I think he’s hilarious,” wing Keegan Kolesar said. “I laugh my (butt) off every day with him in a great way, a positive way. He’s very encouraging. It’s been great for the team, and we’re here for a reason. I think he’s been a big part of that.”

A stunning coaching change

Tortorella shockingly replaced Bruce Cassidy in late March with just eight games remaining in the regular season.

He made it clear to his new players he was along for the ride with them and they would work together to achieve what at the time seemed more like a fantasy than a realistic goal of playing for the Stanley Cup. Vegas had dropped from first to third in the Pacific Division by the time Tortorella took over, in danger of missing the post-season for just the second time in the franchise’s nine-year history.

But this is a veteran and talented team led by players such as Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, who had guided the Golden Knights to the Cup just three years earlier and had some other top talent such as Mitch Marner and Rasmus Andersson still chasing their first rings.

“You’ve got to coach the team that you have,” Tortorella said. “I think if you coach an older team like you’re developing a young team and go through the same stuff, I think you’re disrespecting the athlete. So I think that’s got to be a read on the coach’s part on how you go about it. I spent one week here, my first week, and I knew what this group was, as far as that’s concerned. The coach has to act accordingly.”

So Torts, in describing himself and the staff as more like “guidance counsellors,” coached with the players and Vegas went on a tear. The Golden Knights are 19-4-1 under Tortorella, winning the Pacific and then dispatching Utah, Anaheim and Colorado to set up a date in the final. Game 1 in Carolina is Tuesday night.

Tortorella and Cassidy not so different

For their apparent differences — Cassidy will gladly go into great detail with the media about the intricacies of hockey while Tortorella makes it clear there are certain topics he won’t discuss — there are many similarities.

Cassidy took the Golden Knights to the 2023 Cup by emphasizing a defence that forced shots to the outside, full-team participation in blocking shots and scoring beyond the first and second lines. That’s the exact makeup of this year’s team under Tortorella.

Plus, both teams received excellent goaltending in the post-season.

But messages can quickly fall on deaf ears in the NHL, and at the time of the coaching change, Stone said “the locker room had gone a little stale.”

More than simply a new voice was needed. A new direction. A new relationship with the players. General manager Kelly McCrimmon stunned the league by bringing in Tortorella, unapologetic and brusque, but also with a history of bonding with some players easier than others. Torts is an acquired taste.

With Vegas, it seems, the whole room is in sync.

“His message, his demeanour, it’s definitely felt like a group effort,” Eichel said. “He’s constantly coming to us for feedback, and I think his message has been received really well because of that. I think the guys have a lot of confidence in him and believe what he’s saying, and I think he’s done a good job of getting the most out of the group.”

Confidence in the clutch

A team with so much championship experience wouldn’t seem to have a confidence problem, but Tortorella quickly diagnosed that as an issue. He made it a priority to get the players to believe in themselves.

It’s evident in their play that confidence — “swagger,” as defenceman Noah Hanifin called it — has returned, the players stepping up when the situations demanded it most.

Vegas’ season hung by a thread in the first round when it appeared the Mammoth would take a 3-2 series lead and the chance to close out at home. Then Pavel Dorofeyev’s six-on-five goal with 52.7 seconds left forced overtime, and Brett Howden scored on a short-handed chance in the second OT to flip the series.

Dorofeyev came through again in Game 5 of the second-round series against the Ducks, scoring in overtime to again avoid playing a potential elimination game on the road.

Then there was Game 3 against the league’s best regular-season team in the Avalanche. Colorado scored three goals in the first period and appeared well on its way to cutting the series deficit to 2-1. The Golden Knights answered with three goals of their own in the second period and two more in the third to set up a jaw-dropping sweep in the Western Conference final.

Playing for his second Cup

Four more wins and Tortorella can add to the Cup he won with the Lightning. He doesn’t like to dwell on the past, but Tortorella acknowledged he wondered if he would ever make the final round again as the wait reached 22 years and eight trips to the post-season fell short of the final.

Vegas is his sixth team in that stretch and the fifth since the run with Tampa Bay ended in 2008. His last team, Philadelphia, fired Tortorella with nine games left in the 2025 season almost exactly a year before Vegas did the same thing.

“It’s one of the hardest things to do is to get back,” Tortorella said. “Just to get in, it’s a tough league, especially where it’s gone to with so much parity. Sure, you think about that. Some great players and some of the best coaches in our game haven’t gotten there. When you’re in it, make sure you’re in it because you may never get back there.”

Tortorella has 777 wins and has twice won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach. Still, the Boston native was doing broadcast appearances only a few months ago. Now he is coaching for hockey’s ultimate prize.

Tortorella has more than once expressed appreciation to owner Bill Foley, president of hockey operations George McPhee and McCrimmon for giving him this chance and to Cassidy for putting the team in position to make the transition easier from a competitive standpoint.

From the beginning, Tortorella said he would make tweaks, but leave the basic structure in place and rely on feedback from his players.

“In the short time I’ve been with them, I’ve watch them and listen to them. I’ve learned a ton from them,” Tortorella said. “I think coaches overcoach. I think we get in the way sometimes. This group, especially after being with younger teams before this, I learned more to have some listening skills when dealing with veteran players. That’s what they brought to me. Sometimes you coach at them. During the playoffs, you coach with them.”

In a reminder of his combustible nature, Tortorella failed to appear at the mandatory news conference after the Golden Knights eliminated Anaheim and was fined $100,000 by the NHL. Vegas also was docked a second-round draft pick for not making its players more available. It will be forgotten if Vegas wins a second championship.

“I appreciate the sincerity in John,” McCrimmon said. “I’ve always felt you can be hard on people if they trust you and they know you care. I can see how John does that in spades.”

Under Tortorella, the wins have come in spades, too.

“I love the room,” Tortorella said. “I think it’s a group that has fun. I think it’s a room that knows when it’s time for business. But in the grind of a regular season and how long the season is and all the things that go on, if you’re not having fun, it sucks. So it’s a good group to be that way, and it’s been fun for me to get back in the playoffs, where I haven’t been in for quite a while. And to be with this group, I feel very fortunate.”

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Mark Anderson, The Associated Press