John Tortorella might not be the Edmonton Oilers’ first choice out of Vegas Golden Knights’ head coaches. But with Bruce Cassidy’s status unknown and the perceived legal ability for Vegas to deny permission, would Edmonton consider Tortorella?

Many people believe the Golden Knights’ plan is to promote Ryan Craig, head coach of their AHL team in Henderson. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman corroborated that information on Monday morning’s 32 Thoughts podcast.

Tortorella had told Sportsnet in an interview aired before a Stanley Cup Final game that, “end of June, I’m done, as far as with Vegas.”

Would the 67-year-old consider Edmonton if they asked?

Co-host Kyle Bukauskas interrupted: “He said he’s anxious to see what happens.”

Torts has coached in Canada before, an ill-fated season with the Vancouver Canucks in 2013-14, but did not live in Canada. He commuted from Point Robards, Wash., instead of residing in Vancouver. Otherwise, the American coach has always coached in the United States.

The Oilers appear all-in for Mike Babcock, pending the results of an NHL investigation. Would they continue talking to potential candidates, should that investigation fall sideways, and Babcock is unavailable?

As general manager Stan Bowman looks to play matchmaker on a Darnell Nurse trade, one executive complained to Friedman about how difficult it is make moves right now.

According to those reports, Nurse has a trade list in the range of three to five teams.

Friedman believes he prefers going to the Eastern Conference, and not in Canada. Teams linked to Nurse include Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, with the Ken Holland relationship.

Nurse’s contract structure is about to change substantially, which may help facilitate a deal, depending on whether the Oilers are willing to retain some of the money left. Of course, his cap hit will remain $9.25 million, but his base salary is $2 million in 2026-27, and then $1.2 million for the next three years. You can see it here on PuckPedia.

Instead, Nurse will get the majority of his money through $6 million signing bonuses for the next four seasons. These are laid out in three $2 million instalments, $2 million on Nov. 15, $2 million on Dec. 15 and $2 million on Feb. 1.

The structure acted as good buyout protection for Nurse.

If the Oilers retain a certain percentage of his contract, say 22 per cent, which would be the equivalent of roughly $2 million, then they’d be on the hook for 22 per cent of the bonuses moving forward.

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