Third coach in six months
Ryan Craig takes over the Vegas Golden Knights bench tonight, when the team opens its season at home against the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks. He becomes Vegas’s third head coach in a six-month span. Bruce Cassidy was fired on March 29, and interim boss John Tortorella then guided the club to the Stanley Cup Final, where it lost in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes. Tortorella was not retained.
Craig, 44, knows the building. He spent the past three seasons running the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights, and before that he served six seasons as a Vegas assistant under Gerard Gallant, Peter DeBoer and Cassidy. He also played 198 NHL games for Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and Columbus.
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A roster built to keep winning
Craig inherits a veteran group led by Jack Eichel, captain Mark Stone, William Karlsson and Mitch Marner. Vegas has missed the playoffs just once in nine seasons and won the Pacific Division at 39-26-17 for 95 points in 2025-26. Eichel scored 90 points and helped the U.S. win Olympic gold. Marner added 24 goals and 80 points in the regular season, then 29 points in the playoffs.
Stone, 34, signed a two-year, $18 million extension through 2029, and he does not expect a big overhaul. “I don’t think (Craig) is going to have to change a whole lot when we just came two games away from winning another Stanley Cup,” he said. Craig agreed, saying “We’re going to tweak some things.”
The real hole is on the scoresheet. Pavel Dorofeyev, who led the team with 37 goals, including 20 on the power play, was traded to the New York Rangers in June for draft picks.
Chicago starts without its center
The Blackhawks finished last in the Central Division at 29-39-14 for 72 points and open without Connor Bedard, who had 30 goals and 75 points in 69 games and is out until November after left shoulder surgery. Chicago added 37-year-old Patrick Kane on a two-year, $16 million deal and traded for defenseman Bowen Byram, who had 11 goals and 31 assists with Buffalo.
Coach Jeff Blashill wants to “build back our confidence and swagger.” The Blackhawks play three straight on the road before hosting St. Louis on Oct. 6.
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