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Coaching and management changes around the league

There’s no extortion per se (that other tweet from earlier is beautiful satire that I wish I thought of myself). But it certainly would be great to see the league collectively blackball the Knights.
Holy crap I fell for that? Ok... I'm an idiot. I thought that was real.
 
I'm not disputing any of this. But no matter how you look at this, it's a dick move.

You fired the guy and are trying to extort teams who might be interested in him? If he meant so much to you why did you fire him?

I just have no respect for that organization.

There is likely a clause in his contract - which Cassidy signed.

Teams signed coaches to guaranteed contracts for say 4 years. They then fired him after two for example. There was a time when coaches could go get another job and be potentially paid by two teams. So the contracts quickly evolved to prevent double dipping: when the coach is relieved of his coaching duties, he remains under contract with his team (potentially providing consulting opinions for example) and has to terminate that contract before accepting another. Millions of dollars are now involved. So the situation morphs into maybe tampering territory or contract violation territory ...

If the Oilers land Cassidy and a decent goalie, that's trouble for Vegas ... so their position isn't hard to figure out.

Having said that, Cassidy is a good Cup winning coach and it is in the best interests of the league to have him behind a bench in the NHL.

The devil is in the details.
 
Focusing on the playoffs? Right…

Too focused to remember to tell Torts to talk and too focused to answer an email… during their 6 days between rounds…

"Secondly, regarding Bruce Cassidy, teams have asked for permission to speak with Bruce. We've been consistent that our focus currently is on the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the teams have respected that. I've spoken with Bruce, he understands this as well.”

So "the Devil in the details" is buried below the BS
 
There is likely a clause in his contract - which Cassidy signed.

Teams signed coaches to guaranteed contracts for say 4 years. They then fired him after two for example. There was a time when coaches could go get another job and be potentially paid by two teams. So the contracts quickly evolved to prevent double dipping: when the coach is relieved of his coaching duties, he remains under contract with his team (potentially providing consulting opinions for example) and has to terminate that contract before accepting another. Millions of dollars are now involved. So the situation morphs into maybe tampering territory or contract violation territory ...

If the Oilers land Cassidy and a decent goalie, that's trouble for Vegas ... so their position isn't hard to figure out.

Having said that, Cassidy is a good Cup winning coach and it is in the best interests of the league to have him behind a bench in the NHL.

The devil is in the details.
So Cassidy confirmed that:
“It’s upsetting, I’m going to be honest,” Cassidy said of his situation. “Once you’re fired, your contract is basically terminated, but the one thing people don’t realize is all the deals, with NHL bylaws and this and that, you’ve got no-compete clauses. So I can’t resign today and go work for someone tomorrow...I can’t work until Vegas gives me permission and this contract is up at the end of next season.”

In the case of the Oilers, I do have some sympathy with Vegas. Vegas paid Cassidy to know the Vegas players intimately. To have him head to Edmonton and use that against them in next year's regular season and playoffs (they're in the same conference) - I can see Vegas' concern and why they would be reluctant to release him to do so. They negotiated the clause and Cassidy signed the contract. I also get that it would be very frustrating for Cassidy and lousy for the league to be without his coaching for a year.

If I'm Vegas and I have that clause in my ex-coach's contract, I'd probably do the same thing - for teams in my conference at the very least.

As for Leafs fans, maybe that increases the Leafs chances to land Cassidy ... (though I have my doubts the Leafs situation would appeal to Cassidy)
 
The fact that it's never been enforced like this before and that it went public with a team with a history of ruthless and questionable decisions, who are in the final, it definitely adds to the perception that Vegas can be douchebags.
 
Handily win the President's trophy
Get upset in the Conf Finals
A week or so later, after 11 seasons and a Cup, you are with another team

I don't recall seeing that very often.
 
Handily win the President's trophy
Get upset in the Conf Finals
A week or so later, after 11 seasons and a Cup, you are with another team

I don't recall seeing that very often.
He wanted full control, which never happened with the Avs and likely wasn't ever going to happen anytime in the near or even distant future with Sakic above him. I would guess even his initial promotion to GM 4 years ago was mostly just a salary/title bump than anything in order to keep other teams from poaching him (like Anaheim wanted to do before the promotion).

I think Nashville's also a really appealing spot for a guy like him to take charge over. Good draft pick situation, good cap space situation, 5th best prospect group (according to the Athletic at least), no-tax state. If he's got the go ahead for a rebuild there's also a number of good assets there that could easily be dealt before the team goes on a tank year for Dupont.
 
Handily win the President's trophy
Get upset in the Conf Finals
A week or so later, after 11 seasons and a Cup, you are with another team

I don't recall seeing that very often.
Not often but Cliff Fletcher comes to mind.
 
He wanted full control, which never happened with the Avs and likely wasn't ever going to happen anytime in the near or even distant future with Sakic above him. I would guess even his initial promotion to GM 4 years ago was mostly just a salary/title bump than anything in order to keep other teams from poaching him (like Anaheim wanted to do before the promotion).

I think Nashville's also a really appealing spot for a guy like him to take charge over. Good draft pick situation, good cap space situation, 5th best prospect group (according to the Athletic at least), no-tax state.
Thx for filling me in.
Makes sense.
For the amount of effort the Preds have put in with what I recall of their UFA signings, etc, I didn't think they'd win anything but I expected they would be better than they were. I have not followed them very closely - that is just the impression I got from whatever I observed from the outside.
It appears he is going to an ownership that is willing to try with his $$

Avs were in a similar place as the Leafs in terms of too much cap $ devoted to their top players - not enough for the depth players. They recognized it and thus the Rantanen deal. I'm still shocked Vegas swept them. I do not think that result fairly represents the talent that roster has.
I will watch with great interest to see what Sakic does to 'correct' that roster.
 
Here's the official NHL position on Cassidy's contract
Because Vegas is paying Cassidy his full salary, they have complete control over his employment status for the next year. Cassidy has garnered interest around the league— namely from two division rivals, the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings— but Vegas has not granted teams permission to speak with him.

During a media availability prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, the NHL passed its ruling in the case of Cassidy v. Vegas Golden Knights.

“Obviously, we don’t find it unreasonable, because we’re allowing it to happen,” said deputy commissioner Bill Daly. “I do think Vegas is clearly within their contractual rights to do what they’re doing. We understand and appreciate that they’re on a Stanley Cup run right now, and they don’t need the distraction necessarily… We’ll get to the end of the season, and we’ll see where we go from there.

“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.”

“When you sign and insist upon a long-term contract, there are certainly, under league policies, consequences of that,” agreed NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. “And so, where we find ourselves is completely reasonable.”

The silver lining might be that they will review it again at the end of the season.

It does look like Vegas has the legal power to pay him $5 mil next year to not coach. (So he's not going to starve to death)

Clearly, Vegas is currently holding Cassidy to the terms of the contract he signed so my sympathies are limited. If he didn't like those terms, he shouldn't have signed the contract with those terms.

Having said that, if he is not coaching in the league next year, that is a loss for the league. Hopefully, they find some compromise (maybe let him coach the Leafs in the East ..)

I saw a media report today from a Vegas reporter that gave Cassidy some credit for the foundation of what Vegas is doing in the playoffs ...
 
Here's the official NHL position on Cassidy's contract


The silver lining might be that they will review it again at the end of the season.

It does look like Vegas has the legal power to pay him $5 mil next year to not coach. (So he's not going to starve to death)

Clearly, Vegas is currently holding Cassidy to the terms of the contract he signed so my sympathies are limited. If he didn't like those terms, he shouldn't have signed the contract with those terms.

Having said that, if he is not coaching in the league next year, that is a loss for the league. Hopefully, they find some compromise (maybe let him coach the Leafs in the East ..)

I saw a media report today from a Vegas reporter that gave Cassidy some credit for the foundation of what Vegas is doing in the playoffs ...
Wtf does 'insist upon a long term contract' mean?
 
Wtf does 'insist upon a long term contract' mean?
The coach wanted a long term deal.
Because of that, other clauses got added to deal with the coach being fired before his contract had ended - more likely to happen with a longer term deal. The coach wanted a guarantee he would still get paid for the whole term of his deal if they fired him (to help discourage them from firing him too easily - to get out of paying him). So the team kept the coach retained under contract for the whole term - even if he had been relieved of continuing to perform his coaching duties. Vegas controls his coaching services until his contract ends. That is what they agreed to in that contract. It is pretty clear cut contract law. Cassidy doesn't like it but it is highly probable his lawyer laid that out for him before he signed it.
Cassidy knows Vegas players intimately. Vegas paid him millions to learn about their players. Vegas probably doesn't want that knowledge used against them should they face Edmonton or LA next season.
 
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