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Stan, we have a problem here
May 19, 2026, 17:00 EDTUpdated: May 19, 2026, 17:44 EDT
Stan Bowman is throwing rocks up to hit Bruce Cassidy’s bedroom window, but Bruce just shakes his head, grounded, unable to talk. Cassidy can wipe his tears with $100 bills, a well-paid hostage for a year if Bill Foley deems it the case.
Cassidy is “unquestionably” their top choice as their head coach – to use Frank Seravalli’s words – but the Vegas Golden Knights are doing something we haven’t seen with such a high-profile hockey man since the league rid itself of compensation.
“Permission?” says Foley with a smirk. “Why would we give permission to you to improve?”
There’s been this underlying belief that eventually, Cassidy will be allowed to interview with the Oilers or any team across the league, that a semblance of common sense or league business as usual will prevail. Just a hiccup, it’ll get done.
But the longer the situation goes on, legitimate doubt grows.
When you hear words like “contract law is contract law,” those who aren’t intimately familiar with standard contracts and coaching contracts – a guy like me, let’s say – it sure sounds like the NHL doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
As much as Bettman would love to keep the coaching ecosystem flowing like usual, if the Knights keep paying Cassidy, what can the Oilers do?
On Tuesday morning, Elliotte Friedman’s tweet after Vegas’ appeal with the league (on other indiscretions) didn’t touch on this coaching issue.
The usually quiet NHL Coaches Association made a statement Tuesday afternoon. Monitoring. Unprecedented. The situation is still unfolding.
Now, another team needs a head coach, as Adam Foote is out in Vancouver. There are three vacancies in the Pacific Division. Meanwhile, Toronto waits in the wings, apparently not as interested in Cassidy.
But you’d have to assume the Leafs would at least throw an ask to Vegas. Would Vegas grant permission to the Leafs? They don’t reside in the Pacific Division sitting outside the conference. They’d only meet really in a Stanley Cup Final.
If they were concerned about optics – and I don’t think they are – it does give them an out to say, hey, we aren’t denying Cassidy the ability to work. He’ll just have to do it on the Eastern seaboard.
Can Cassidy just walk away and void the contract? Would the Oilers have to do some dummy trade, send a draft pick for future considerations, and then poof, permission is granted?
Who else?
The key is, if the Golden Knights want to screw over the Oilers, they would just have to delay the process by a few weeks. Like Knoblauch was for 36 hours, the Oilers flit in the wind.
I was on board for a Knoblauch-Cassidy swap. But if the Oilers can’t talk to him or have to wait multiple weeks, they are in trouble. To my eyes, the rest of the list is a pick your poison of experienced retreads. Stauffer guaranteed the Oilers’ next coach will have experience. The talk is about former Stanley Cup winners.
Peter Laviolette has a long resume, and has taken three separate teams to the Stanley Cup Final. He’d be my next name, but he’s burned out quick in his last jobs.
On the surface, interviewing Craig Berube doesn’t concern me…but hiring him does.
Misha Donskov is an intriguing name, but with an elevated place with Hockey Canada, is he in a hurry to leave?
David Carle is many people’s coaching crush, but how much money and control are the Oilers willing to surrender for a first-time coach? One that’s already turned down a reportedly $25 million and has a comfortable seat in Denver.
Cassidy’s name seemed to bear the lowest risk, the one you’d feel most comfortable entering a season that’s the “Most Important Since ___.”
The coaching search is off to a running start.
It’s always something
From an Oilers fan perspective, these unprecedented situations are sure getting old. No team had ever been double-offer sheeted before until the Oilers were, and thieved out of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.
Every contender’s favourite tactic of LTIR is then watched like a hawk with the Oilers and Evander Kane.
You had the claim-me-waive-me pissing match over Raphael Lavoie. Draft pick compensation on the James Neal trade when he didn’t actually score enough goals to meet the conditions…and so on.
The Oilers don’t help themselves with optics, but they also seem to get shafted in rarely seen ways.
Here, the Golden Knights have the sword, and so far, it doesn’t appear they’re going to lay it down.
Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.