Knights promote Ryan Craig from AHL affiliate to head coachRyan S. ClarkJun 17, 2026, 01:56 PM ETClose
- Ryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.
A day after moving on from John Tortorella, the Vegas Golden Knights unveiled Wednesday that they have promoted Ryan Craig, who coached their AHL affiliate, to lead their NHL team.
Craig, who is 44 and will be a first-time NHL head coach, takes over the Golden Knights after their season ended Sunday with a 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
He played for three teams over his eight seasons in the NHL. His playing career ended in 2017, with Craig transitioning into coaching months later.
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Although he never played for the Golden Knights, his connection to their front office goes back to his time playing junior hockey with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. Craig, who was a two-year captain, played five seasons for the Wheat Kings at a time when current Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon was Brandon’s GM and franchise co-owner.
Vegas hired Craig as an assistant coach in 2017, and he remained in that role until 2023, when he was named the head coach of the Henderson Silver Knights in the AHL.
Craig guided the Silver Knights to the Calder Cup playoffs this season, and they advanced to the Pacific Division semifinals before losing in three games.
He becomes the first homegrown coach the Golden Knights have produced to take over the team. But he’s also the third head coach they’ve had since late March and the fifth since their inaugural 2017-18 season.
Their first 2026 search for a head coach began with eight games remaining in the regular season when the Golden Knights fired Bruce Cassidy and hired Tortorella, who guided the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup in 2004.
Vegas won seven of its eight regular-season games under Tortorella before going into a postseason that saw it advance to the Stanley Cup finals after defeating the Utah Mammoth, Anaheim Ducks and Colorado Avalanche.
A double-overtime win in Game 3 gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 series lead before the Hurricanes won the next three games and clinched the Cup by becoming the first team this postseason to shut out the Golden Knights.
Tortorella’s deal with the Golden Knights was set to end June 30, which is the end of the NHL calendar. He went 21-8-1 with the club between the regular season and the playoffs.
Craig will now inherit a roster that will have many of its core players under contract or under team control for next season, such as Pavel Dorofeyev, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Tomas Hertl, Mitch Marner, Brayden McNabb, Mark Stone, and Shea Theodore.
That also comes with the context that McCrimmon and his front office staff are facing some significant financial decisions ahead of free agency July 1.
PuckPedia projects the Golden Knights have $4.625 million in salary cap space to address a roster that has four unrestricted free agent forwards. The team also has four UFA defensemen, which includes Rasmus Andersson, whom Vegas acquired in a blockbuster trade in January that saw it move on from Zach Whitecloud and a first-round pick as part of a package to the Calgary Flames.
