Mitch Marner has now watched a head coach get fired twice in two cities and the pattern speaks for itself
Photo credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Sheldon Keefe was fired when Mitch Marner was in Toronto. Bruce Cassidy was fired after Mitch Marner arrived in Vegas and now he's had four coaches in three seasons with a clear pattern pointing straight to the star winger.
Sunday's relatively slow news day came with a big surprise as Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy was fired with only a handful of games to go, being replaced by no-nonsense bench boss John Tortorella.
It's a move meant to give a more motivating and disciplined voice to a team who had such high expectations and have failed to deliver. They are 30-26-16 which looks good on paper but is actually an overall 30-42 record — hardly a contender.
Vegas may have just indirectly told the Maple Leafs too exactly what they need when it comes to Craig Berube's status as well: You need to bring a dragon in order to have some fire.
Mitch Marner is the common denominator as Vegas dumps one Stanley Cup winning coach for another
But as quickly as Tortorella was brought in, he can very well be on the outs. Not only is the deal only for the remaining 10 games and the playoffs; if they don't make the postseason they have to keep looking for a new coach, all thanks to a dragon slayer named Mitch Marner.
Clearly, there's been success in Marner's first season but amidst a slew of positional changes, a lack of real offensive spark and some unfortunate defensive lapses, it's been a struggle in the desert to say the least.
Perhaps Vegas thought Marner was getting a bit too complacent already and wanted to bring in someone to whip him into shape. It's kind of what Toronto did when they fired Sheldon Keefe and brought in Berube; they wanted to add some more grit.
It was a success for sure, but it lasted one season. It's clear Marner needs someone who can keep him focused, yet it's also becoming a pattern. Keefe, Cassidy, and potentially Tortorella will mean that Marner has seen four different coaches over the last three seasons.
While correlation does not explicitly imply causation — the only common denominator in all of this is Marner himself and one fan put it best on social media:
Bruce Cassidy led the Golden Knights to 146 wins in 3 seasons, 2 Pacific Division titles, and one Stanley Cup.
Then Mitch Marner arrived.
Then Mitch Marner arrived.
Vegas just fired their coach with 10 games left and Toronto should be next to pick up the phone
Give all credit to GM Kelly McCrimmon for pulling the trigger so late into the year and trying to salvage something before it's too late. Unfortunately the Maple Leafs didn't learn that lesson earlier in the year but they can certainly stand to now.
Just fire Berube and bring in someone else like Peter DeBoer or even heck...Bruce Cassidy himself. You need some injection of life and one of the key factors in turning things around is getting a new voice. The locker room is tired of Berube so why not bring in someone who encourages; not belittles.
Brad Treliving looks even worse when he had the perfect chance to shake things up both in December, and in February/early March. A new coach, and a better trade deadline could have not only turned the season around — but the future ones as well.
You can have the most expensive, luxurious, and top of the line Lamborghini on the market. But if you keep it in neutral you're just going to keep spinning your wheels.
So shift gears, buckle up, and bring in someone who can bring you from zero to 60 in eighty-two games.
Also read on Hockey Patrol :
The Mitch Marner era in Vegas just claimed its first victim as Bruce Cassidy is out and John Tortorella is in
The Mitch Marner era in Vegas just claimed its first victim as Bruce Cassidy is out and John Tortorella is in
Previously on Hockey Patrol