John Tortorella admits he was "disappointed" by the Vegas Golden Knights' decision not to retain him after their surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final but says he is already thinking about another coaching opportunity in the NHL.
Tortorella stepped in as interim coach with eight games remaining in the regular season after the Golden Knights fired Bruce Cassidy. He led the Golden Knights to a 7-0-1 regular-season finish and a sweep of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals. Vegas then led the Stanley Cup Final 2-1 over the Carolina Hurricanes before dropping the next three games and the championship.
But two days after the season-ending Game 6, the Golden Knights announced that Tortorella would not return. General manager Kelly McCrimmon stuck to the plan to promote Ryan Craig, who had led their AHL affiliate, to head coach.
"I guess the word I'd use is 'disappointed,'" Tortorella told The Athletic this week. "I was honest with Kelly. We met the next morning [after Game 6]. ... Kelly is very honest, and he let me know within one minute of sitting down in that meeting -- he basically told me, 'Ryan Craig is coaching the team next year.' I told him what I thought, and we had an honest conversation. I truly respect where the organization is going."
Now Tortorella, 68, is looking for his next job. He has coached six NHL teams in his career, winning a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-04.
The playoff run in Vegas ended a stretch of over a decade where Tortorella's teams were unable to advance past the second round.
"Oh, I want to coach," Tortorella told The Athletic. "I want to coach now. I'm not sure if that happens, and that's where I am in my career. But I wanted to coach that Vegas team.
"... I'm still, quite honestly, I'm still trying to swallow how close we were, and honestly, swallow how I really wanted to coach that hockey team, too. I loved being part of [the Golden Knights] the short time I was in it. I wanted to be in it longer."
Tortorella said he understood the Golden Knights' decision and praised Craig as a "good coach and a good man." He said they have talked and that "I want to help him any way I can."
He also addressed what happened when he skipped a postgame news conference during the second round against the Anaheim Ducks, saying he ultimately decided to join his team after Ducks coach Joel Quenneville's availability ran long.
Tortorella was fined $100,000 and Vegas had a second-round pick in last month's draft taken away as punishment.
"That wasn't me not wanting to do the press," Tortorella said. "That was me not wanting to hold up my team. ... I'm going with my hockey team. I own that. There was no underlying [issue]. It was just bad timing."