- Vegas named Ryan Craig the fifth head coach in franchise history on Wednesday
- The 44-year-old takes over for John Tortorella after three seasons running AHL Henderson
- Read below for Craig’s climb from Vegas assistant to the top job
Vegas didn’t wait around to find its next head coach.
The Golden Knights named Ryan Craig the fifth head coach in franchise history on Wednesday, one day after the team said it wouldn’t bring John Tortorella back. GM Kelly McCrimmon made the call.
Here’s the announcement from Vegas:
Craig isn’t a new face around the organization. He joined Vegas as an assistant for their inaugural 2017-18 season and stuck on the staff for six years, working under Gerard Gallant and Peter DeBoer before Bruce Cassidy. He was on the bench for the 2023 Stanley Cup run.
His past three seasons came as head coach of the Henderson Silver Knights, Vegas’ AHL affiliate. Craig’s teams got better every year, jumping from 28 wins to 29 to a franchise-record 39 this past season. Henderson finished 39-21-12 for 90 points, both club records, before falling to the Colorado Eagles in the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs.
The Silver Knights gave their former bench boss a proper sendoff:
McCrimmon knows exactly what he’s getting. Craig played five seasons for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, two of them as captain, back when McCrimmon ran the show in Brandon.
Tampa Bay drafted Craig in the eighth round, 255th overall, in 2002. He put up 63 points in 198 NHL games with the Lightning, Penguins and Blue Jackets.
The hire wraps up a chaotic stretch in Vegas. Tortorella took over for Cassidy with eight games left in the regular season, ripped off a 7-0-1 finish, and pushed the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final before they lost to Carolina in six.
Craig is the third man to run the Vegas bench this calendar year. He inherits a roster he already knows inside and out, and the only NHL team still hunting for a coach now is Edmonton.
