Kelly McCrimmon may have planned John Tortorella's replacement three years ago
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Daniel Lucente
Jun 11, 2026 (1:13 PM)
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Photo credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images
The Ryan Craig conversation did not start this week.
When John Tortorella confirmed his Vegas exit during the Stanley Cup Final, every outlet immediately pointed to Craig as the next man up.
Elliotte Friedman floated the name on the FAN Hockey Show, and the logic seemed simple enough - he is already in the organization.
"I'm not sure if Vegas is planning on keeping [John Tortorella]...maybe they'd be going to Ryan Craig...I'm wondering if some team's gonna look at the job Tortorella's doing and say...this guy can still coach."
- Elliotte Friedman
- Elliotte Friedman
That framing treats Craig as a convenient fallback. The timeline tells a different story.
McCrimmon moved Craig out of the Golden Knights assistant role and appointed him Henderson Silver Knights head coach on June 26, 2023, days after Vegas won the Stanley Cup.
That was not a lateral move. That was McCrimmon giving his future NHL coach a three-year runway to develop as a head coach on his own bench.
The succession trail hides in plain sight
Craig joined the Golden Knights as an assistant in the 2017-18 inaugural season. He worked under Gerard Gallant, Pete DeBoer, and Bruce Cassidy before McCrimmon moved him to Henderson.
Nine years inside the organization and three different NHL coaching systems is not a typical AHL resume.
It is a coaching apprenticeship built on purpose.
Henderson went 39-21-12 under Craig this season, and the development pipeline kept producing NHL-ready players.
McCrimmon does not need an interview process to evaluate that track record. He built it.
Tortorella's exit was always the trigger
The temporary agreement between Tortorella and McCrimmon only makes sense if McCrimmon already had a succession plan he trusted.
You do not hand a Cup contender to a short-term coach unless you know exactly who comes next.
Craig checks every box McCrimmon values - organizational knowledge, system continuity, and a locker room that already knows his voice.
Friedman also noted that other teams may look at what Tortorella did in Vegas and come calling.
That only accelerates the timeline for McCrimmon to formalize what he quietly set in motion three years ago.
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