NHL delivers bad news for Edmonton Oilers' head coach search
The Edmonton Oilers won’t be getting any help from the NHL in their pursuit of head coach Bruce Cassidy.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly met with the media on Tuesday before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes.
During the press conference, the two league bigwigs discussed a variety of topics pertaining to the NHL, including expansion, league revenue, and even gave their perspective on Vegas preventing the Oilers from interviewing Cassidy.
You might think the league wouldn’t want such a silly story to distract from the Stanley Cup Final, but it seems as though the Golden Knights have full support from the NHL to continue what they are doing.
“Obviously, we don’t find it unreasonable, because we are allowing it to happen,” Daly told reporters. “I do think Vegas is clearly within their contractual rights to do what they’re doing.
“We’ve talked to all the parties involved in this, including Bruce, so he knows what our position on the subject is, and he might not be happy about it, but he was accepting of it.”
Though Cassidy was fired near the end of the regular season, his contract with the Golden Knights runs through next season. This means that Vegas has the ability to prevent other teams from hiring their former coach until that contract expires.
Cassidy has publicly said he isn’t a fan of his former employer blocking him from a potential new job, but has said he understands their focus is on the playoffs. The Golden Knights recently shifted the blame to the Oilers for making this such a big story.
Bettman added that this is part of the deal when you agree to a long-term contract as a coach.
“When you sign and insist upon a long-term contract, there are certain, under league policies, consequences of that,” Bettman said. “Where we find ourselves is completely reasonable.”
This isn’t a blanket statement for all long-term coach contracts in the NHL. Daly went on to say that there are certain deals across the league that would prevent this from happening, but Cassidy’s contract is not one of them.
It’s bad news for an Oilers team that seems very keen on making Cassidy their next head coach. He fits the bill as a hardline coach who can get results out of his lineup, and though he does appear to have a limited shelf-life with teams, the Oilers really only need to win in the short-term to help convince Connor McDavid to re-sign.
There was some hope among fans that the league would step in and force Vegas to allow Cassidy to go to Edmonton, but that will not be the case based on the presser.
The one bright spot during the press conference was that Daly appeared to infer that the situation could change once the Stanley Cup Playoffs are over.
“We’ll get to the end of the season and see where we’ll go from there,” Daly said.
There had been rumours that Vegas may soften their stance once their playoff run is over. It’s a bit strange that they would drag this storyline out in the middle of their Stanley Cup conquest.
Oilers fans already had bad blood with Vegas, and this will only add to the rivalry in the coming seasons. Whether or not Cassidy will stay a part of that rivalry remains to be seen.