Dan Kingerski
One day after Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon thanked coach John Tortorella for leading the team to the Stanley Cup Final but then sent him on his way after just a couple of months on the job, the organization promoted Henderson Silver Knights coach Ryan Craig as their new head coach.
Craig and McCrimmon have been linked for 20 years, since the general manager drafted Craig as a player for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL. Craig played professionally for 14 seasons across various leagues including the NHL, where he played for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins, amassing 198 games played. He also played in 711 AHL games, captaining the Cleveland Monsters to the 2016 Calder Cup. He began his coaching career on the same day he hung up the skates the following year. In a simultaneous announcement, he retired and joined the new expansion franchise in Vegas.
Craig, 44, was part of Gerard Gallant’s staff for the inaugural Golden Knights season in 2017-18. He remained on staff through the last three head coaches, but took over the Silver Knights following the VGK Stanley Cup victory in 2023, and he has remained the bench boss since. Craig posted a 96-95-13-12 record despite the depleted Golden Knights prospect pool. He becomes the fifth head coach of organization and has the distinction of a pre-existing relationship with the veterans, but also with the coming crop of prospects who hope for NHL work.
