Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman says the fracture between Vegas Golden Knights players and former head coach Bruce Cassidy started during last year’s playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.

In a stunning move on Sunday afternoon, the Golden Knights fired Cassidy and replaced him with a former Cup winner in John Tortorella for the remainder of the season.

Vegas’ regular season has not gone to plan. Sitting in third in the Pacific Division with a 32-26-16 record, Friedman believes this is a desperation move for the Oilers’ rival, who may have had a hand in Cassidy’s demise.

“Last year in the Edmonton series where the Oilers beat them, I heard right before that series ended, before game five, there was a really tense meeting between Cassidy and some of those players,” said Friedman.

“And I think at the end of last year, it kind of frayed their relationship. I know some players said some things to management. Management backed Cassidy, but it seems to be pretty obvious this year, and obviously, Vegas management realized it too; his message just wasn’t getting through anymore.

“The relationship between Cassidy and the players wasn’t as strong as it used to be, and sometimes it’s just time.”

The Golden Knights have been mired in an ugly run post-Olympics, winning just once in their last seven games. After losing to the Oilers on Thursday night 4-3 in overtime, Vegas came back from a three-goal deficit on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals, but lost in a shootout.

Cassidy helped guide the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup in 2023 after defeating the Oilers in the second round of the playoffs. He finished with a 178-99-43 record over four seasons.

A lot of money has been spent recently. In the off-season, the Golden Knights signed Mitch Marner to an eight-year, $96 million contract. Then in October, management extended Jack Eichel to an eight-year, $108 contract.

Looking to kickstart a team that has good underlying numbers, but either can’t get a save at the right time, or a goal, they’ll turn to Tortorella.

But as Friedman points out, if Cassidy’s style and personality wasn’t resonating anymore, the Golden Knights aren’t replacing him with “Santa Claus.”

“When you make the change this late in the year, you don’t have a lot of options. Tortorella has been very successful. He could be very demanding, yes, but there are a lot of players who have enjoyed playing for him,” said Friedman.

The Oilers and Golden Knights are likely to meet in the first round of the playoffs. Each team has eight games to play, and will meet one more time in the regular season on Saturday night at Rogers Place.

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was asked his thoughts about the coaching change after practice on Monday.

“First of all, Bruce is a tremendous coach, and you look at his track record and the amount of winning he’s been doing, and I guess Vegas was not in a position that they like where they are,” said Knoblauch.

“I assume they’ll be changing their style up a little bit. Obviously, they have their players and the amount of time they have in their season, it’s not going to change a whole lot. But it’ll probably give them a boost, and they’ll very have a lot of urgency to get in the playoffs, because, similar to us, the season is winding down, and those games are important. Vegas, they are a good team.”