Golden Knights previously prevented Oilers from talking to assistant coach within organization
As chatter continues about the Vegas Golden Knights preventing the Edmonton Oilers (and other teams) from talking to former head coach Bruce Cassidy, The Fourth Period hockey insider David Pagnotta revealed Friday that it isn’t the first time the Golden Knights have prevented the Oilers from pursuing one of their coaches.
In a conversation with Jeff Marek on Friday’s edition of The Sheet, Pagnotta shared a story about the Oilers previously seeking (and being granted) permission to speak with a coach within the Vegas organization about an assistant coach position in Edmonton, eventually offering him the job.
However, at that point, the Golden Knights exercised their contractual right to prevent the coach from leaving for another job. Pagnotta went on to note that Vegas ultimately promoted the coach shortly thereafter, but also speculated that the ever-present Pacific Division arms race may have played a role in the decision.
Here’s what Pagnotta and Marek had to say on Friday:
DAVID PAGNOTTA: “This is not the first time Vegas has… I want to say denied yet because I guess they haven’t technically. I guess they kind of have, but they’ve pushed it off, or they’re at least dangling a carrot that, hey, you’ll be able to eventually.
“But this is not the first incident involving this scenario between Vegas and Edmonton. A few years ago, the Edmonton Oilers asked permission to speak with one of the assistant coaches within the Vegas/Henderson organization. They were granted permission. The interview took place. This individual got offered an assistant coaching job with the Oilers.
“Vegas then denied that pursuit and held on to the contract. He was then elevated within the organization about a year or so later. This is not the first time this has happened between these two clubs. So I wonder if this is just continuing because they don’t want to deal with divisional rivals. But I’m sure there’s a little more to the backstory of all of this. I found that one interesting. But this was a few years ago when this incident occurred.
JEFF MAREK: “Really? Well, that adds a little bit more spice to all of this. There’s competition on the ice, there’s competition off the ice.”
PAGNOTTA: “I’m not gonna say the (name of the individual). But I do know this happened a few years ago. I wasn’t made aware of this until recently, until after this Cassidy stuff kind of took place. I just found it interesting that this has happened before, but it’s happened with these two teams.”
Watch the full episode here: