Report Per Elliotte Friedman – Kings not yet given permission by Vegas to speak with Bruce Cassidy

Insiders – Sharing a report from this morning, provided by Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman, pertaining to the Kings coaching search.

Per Friedman’s interview this morning, both the Kings and Oilers have not been given permission to speak with former Vegas Golden Knights Head Coach Bruce Cassidy at this time.

“As of last night, after the game, the last time I checked, I was told that the Oilers and Kings, neither one has permission to talk to him yet.”

Full video is available HERE.

Friedman added that he does not believe that Cassidy is shutting any requests down and would be open to conversations with teams, but as of now, the situation gives Vegas full control over the situation. He also noted that he does not believe this is the first time that the Golden Knights have denied teams permission to speak with their staff members at various levels.

It’s an interesting balance. When NHL Head Coaches sign contracts, those contracts remain valid throughout their entirety, regardless of whether a coach is fired. The same is/was the case with Jim Hiller and Todd McLellan when they were relieved of their duties in Los Angeles. With that means that the teams need to pay that coach for the remainder of their deals, which is what it should be. The two sides agreed to terms so the coach should be paid the remainder of the contract. However, it also creates situations like this, where teams who might look to hire those coaches have to go through the organizations that fired them in the first place. Typically, it’s mutually beneficial for permission to be granted. If a team were to hire Cassidy, the team hiring him would have to pick up some or all of his salary, depending on the new terms. That would save the organization that fired him a substantial amount of money.

In this case, however, that permission has not been granted. So, as of this time, Cassidy is not a candidate for the Kings until that permission is given. Friedman went into further detail on the 32 Thoughts podcast HERE. He calls Cassidy the top candidate available and believes that he would be of a ton of interest to the Kings, should he be available to be hired. He provided one thought as to why permission was denied, which he said was a theory, not a fact, which is that Vegas could perhaps be looking to ensure that they do not have to pay Cassidy next season and that they want to ensure that his next contract covers that entire salary. Again, that’s speculation, not a firm report, as Friedman makes clear.

The search now rolls on for the Kings. It’s ongoing behind the scenes here, as Ken Holland indicated that it would. His initial list was somewhere between 5-8 names and he said he didn’t want this process to drag out to 20 different interviews. He had a list drawn up and I’m sure that as it moves along, that list could change a bit. Toronto made a coaching change earlier today, which makes Craig Berube available. The reports in Edmonton are certainly there as well and there could assistants on teams that are currently playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and that’s a complicated process in itself.

Will continue to share updates as they come, whether that be information I am able to get myself or things that are reported in the media.