While the hockey in the Vancouver market hasn’t been much fun to watch, there are some entertaining playoff watches that Canucks fans can keep track of. The Wild Card race has four teams in the East (Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, and Washington Capitals) and five teams in the West (Los Angeles Kings, Seattle Kraken, Winnipeg Jets, San Jose Sharks, and St. Louis Blues), currently out of the playoffs but are within four points of the final spot.

Earlier this week, Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid described the Pacific Division race as a “pillow fight”. And that’s true. The Anaheim Ducks lead the division with 86 points. To put that in perspective, the Ducks are tied in points with the Senators and Red Wings – two teams who are out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

One of the teams looking to compete for the division title coming into the season was the Vegas Golden Knights. It hasn’t been the season Vegas envisioned to this point, prompting a big change behind the bench right before the start of the postseason.

On Sunday afternoon, the Golden Knights announced that the team had relieved head coach Bruce Cassidy of his duties. In the same post, they announced John Tortorella has been named the bench boss.

After spending 14 years in the Bruins organization (Providence 2008-2016, Boston 2016-2022), he was fired as the head coach in June 2022, following a Game 7 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. But he wasn’t out of work for long, as just eight days later, the Golden Knights hired him.

It was a successful transition for Cassidy in Vegas, as he led them to a 51-22-9 record, a Pacific Division title, and a Stanley Cup Championship in just their sixth season. But this season, it hasn’t gone as well.

Through 74 games under Cassidy, the Golden Knights sit third in the Pacific Division with a 32-26-16 record for 80 points. They trail the division-leading Ducks by six points and the Edmonton Oilers by three.

Tortorella has been out of a job since he was fired at the tail end of last season with the Philadelphia Flyers after saying he was “not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season, where we’re at right now.”

Starting his head-coaching career in 1999-2000, Tortorella has coached five teams: the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Philadelphia Flyers. Throughout his 23 seasons and 1,620 games as an NHL head coach, Tortorella has 12 playoff appearances, two Conference finals, and one Stanley Cup on his resume.

With just eight games remaining on the Golden Knights’ schedule, Tortorella will have to work quickly to implement his new systems to help turn this team around before the playoffs. And it just seems fitting that his first game with his new team will be at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.