What does history say about Islanders, Golden Knights late-season coaching change?
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What does history say about Islanders, Golden Knights late-season coaching change? originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
For most of the NHL’s 2025-26 regular season, the coaching carousel was slow, almost too slow. As we approached the end of March, it was looking like we might get through a full season with just the one coaching change.
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But in a span of only eight days beginning on March 29, we’ve had two coaches fired, with the Vegas Golden Knights first firing Bruce Cassidy and hiring journeyman coach John Tortorella – then, on Sunday afternoon, the New York Islanders pink-slipped Patrick Roy, replacing him with former Dallas Stars bench boss Peter DeBoer.
Although there is a history of NHL GMs making late-season coaching changes, is there a track record of success that should reassure Golden Knights and Islanders fans that these moves will pay off? From this writer’s perspective, we’re not entirely sold.
To begin, the Columbus Blue Jackets replaced Dean Evason with veteran Rick Bowness this season and received a major bump. While the timing differs from that of the Golden Knights and Islanders, the Blue Jackets went on an outstanding run from January onwards, putting them in a playoff spot recently.
They now sit two points back of a playoff spot while competing with six other teams. The verdict remains undetermined if their move completely pays off, but at the very least, it gave them a chance, something they didn’t have before.
Furthermore, legendary New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello indeed made the right choice when he fired coach Robbie Ftorek with only eight games left in the 1999-2000 regular season. Under replacement Larry Robinson, the Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup that year, underscoring Lamoriello’s ruthless brilliance – something he would show again in the 2006-07 season when he fired Devils coach Claude Julien with just three games left. But the move did not pay off that time, as the Ottawa Senators eliminated New Jersey in the second round of the playoffs.
MORE: Islanders Fire Patrick Roy With Four Games Remaining; Name Pete DeBoer Coach
So, while the addition of DeBoer and the structure he’s provided to multiple teams over the years will probably help Isles stars Matthew Schaefer and Mathew Barzal, we’re more skeptical of Tortorella’s impact on the Golden Knights.
Vegas did win its first three games under Tortorella, beating the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, and Edmonton Oilers. Still, the Golden Knights are likely to have a much tougher road in the first round when they take on either the Oilers or the Anaheim Ducks. There’s a reason why Tortorella has bounced between five different NHL teams since his debut in 2001 – his coaching style tends to wear thin with players fairly easily.
At the same time, Tortorella has been able to get the best of his players in short instances. When players buy into his play style, immediate results seem to follow.
In any case, the firings of Roy and Cassidy show that no NHL coach is 100 percent secure at any time. You can see why GMs might buy into the idea that changing the person in charge of the players will provide the jolt needed to ensure players perform at their best. Still, if that’s all it took to motivate players into winning a Cup, every team in the league would be doing it every season.
The truth is that firing a coach toward the end of the season is an enormous gamble. You do it out of desperation, or because you think the coach has lost the room. Bringing in someone with experience who can provide a boost to players with a mere handful of days left to turn things around.
The Islanders and Golden Knights took different approaches to their new coaching situations: Vegas hired Tortorella on a shorter-term basis, while the Isles gave DeBoer a multi-year contract. But who’s kidding whom – if DeBoer can’t coax a better performance out of Islanders players, he won’t be around Long Island for very long.
The coaching business is cutthroat. Everywhere you look, there’s a potential pitfall that could get you fired as a coach. As we’re seeing once again this season, you could be fired at virtually any moment. It’s no wonder coaches feel pressure, but that’s the world in which we live.
You are hired in coaching to be fired in coaching, and that’s as true as ever. So the next time someone is fired, maybe in the second round of the playoffs this year, or maybe this summer, don’t act surprised. The coaching carousel continues, and nothing is going to change it.
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