Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - VEGAS PANIC MOVE?? Cassidy OUT, Torts IN 🤯 | BB Clips

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

Boomer and Rhett react to the shocking news that the Vegas Golden Knights have fired Bruce Cassidy and named Jon Tortella as their new head coach with just eight games left in the regular season. The guys break down what led to this sudden move, why Vegas hasn’t lived up to expectations this year, and what this says about the pressure inside that organization. With so little time left, can Tortella spark a turnaround and save their season, or is this a desperate move from a team already in trouble?Video Link: https://youtu.be/V-U3MLSjxcg#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #vegasgoldenknights #vegasCHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTShttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There was some eyebrows raised yesterday as the Vegas Golden Knights made a coaching change. We talked, we've been talking, anybody that's watched, you don't need to be some, you know, G.I. Genie. If you watched the Vegas Golden Knights, not just, not even just recently, for a while now, they just haven't looked good. The results haven't been there. That's one thing. And they're in this division.

Were they not in the Pacific, they would be in big trouble? as with most teams, Oilers included. But Vegas has just kind of been kicking it around. They haven't looked great. They have 32 wins, 24 regulation wins.

That's the same number as Calgary, who is near the bottom looking at lot of odds. And they fire Bruce Cassidy yesterday in favor of John Tortorella. It was, I mean, it's beautiful to have torts back. I don't know.

Cassidy is one of those guys, if you listen to what people, he can be pretty abrasive. He's, he pisses people off in Boston. He pisses, yeah, he pisses people off. It's what happened in Boston. And you're like, well, look at the record. These guys got a great record. Yeah. But so I don't know what it is.

Do you, do you point to Vegas? Because the thing with Kelly McCroman in Vegas, they don't care. They fired Gerard Gallant, left him at the building without a ride to the airport anywhere. Just, yeah, you can get your own. You handle it. your own bags, get your own flight, figure it out. They, it was not very popular the way that they said farewell to Mark Andre. Flurry, they are about winning, or at least the way they go about it is non-traditional.

Yeah, they, they just do it. They have eight games left and have fired their head coach and brought in John Tortorella. And I guess there's a few layers to it. I guess thoughts on, I guess, Thoughts on gassing the coach with eight games left? Well, I'm fine with it with eight games left because it's better to do it with eight games left than to throw a season if that's the reason you're not playing well. And they aren't playing well and they look soft and lazy. So I don't know if that's Butch Cassidy's issue or Bruce, Butch.

Yeah. But whatever. So I'm fine with it. I think some of the traditional approach is traditional for the sake of being tradition, not for effectiveness. so I don't now is torts the guy I think old torts is the guy I don't know if or you know what I mean like I don't know this is old torts so maybe how do you say it young this was to younger torts to me would have yeah yeah yeah more sense than older torts because I feel like and I I love torts I think he's a hell of a coach and I think he has has done some really good things for a lot of players and teams

I just don't know if Sarich said it. Part of the reason I questioned it is because Serich said it, he's, he's meldlet out a bit. He's gotten older and he's meld out a bit. So I don't know. He's going to go in there and kick doors down.

Maybe he doesn't need to. Maybe they just needed a change and torts is fine. Maybe they're tired of the other guy. 100% and any kind of a change. And if you could bring torts in, I know John Shannon had a tweet that torts is not signed beyond this year. He's coming in for the final.

of the regular season and playoffs if they get there and then reassess at the season's end. The thing about torts, and that's the question, is torts the guy and you can trot out his record here the last little bit? It did not go well in Philadelphia, and he's obviously Columbus and that before that. The reason, if you remember, he kind of got balanced in Philly

is because they were a non-playoff team. They were terrible. And he said, I'm not the guy to coach. It's on me. I should be doing a different, it should be a different job. I should be doing better. I'm paraphrasing, but I'm just not really interested at this point of my career, basically saying, I don't want to be a rebuilding team.

I don't want to have to coddle younger players and monitor ice time and this. I just want to be able to take a team and go and try and win. That's what he's got now in Vegas. And it's, you could argue it's maybe the first time in a while where he's had a team whose interest is in winning right now at all costs. So maybe the goal tendons. has kind of been what's let them down in a lot of ways. I don't know. You talk about all the time.

You played in front of incredible goaltending. I would think it's got to be confidence sucking a little bit. Oh, it's crushing. When you're playing and playing and then your goalie continually, no fault of his own, Aden Hill, great guy, continually lets in bad goals after bad goals. it's it just yeah I've not paid attention to the goaltending numbers in Vegas their efforts

to me from what like in the little bit that I've watched haven't looked inspiring maybe it is because the goaltending is letting in a soft whatever game and when that happens it takes the window to yourself he's got an 866 safe but I'll tell you why John Tortorella can't do step into the net

right like unless Hill is playing like shit because he hates Cassidy or hated. I don't know. Yeah. Okay, sure. Maybe Cassidy's all over. He's like, screw you.

If you're behind, yeah, behind the doors, they, they know what's going on. There's also some thought they do have Carter Hart there. Heart was, is there something with Philadelphia? I just think Kelly McCriman knew.

I'll say this. I give McCriman credit. If he believes and he sees that the coach is the thing, well, we could just write it out and is, you know it's not. going to work. And I agree with them. If he, if he was watching his team and thinking, we're not going to win right now with this coach the way it's going. I agree with them. And if, if it takes some balls or

whatever to go and fire the coach, eight games left and everybody's going to point fingers and all. Hey, Krimmer doesn't care. He's, he does not care about that stuff. So I give him credit for that. The easy thing is to just ride it out with Cassidy. He won you, he was the Stanley Cup winning coach. Everyone is going to criticize and say, what do you expect with eight games left? But that's what he's done because he thinks that they need a change. So I do give him credit for that. Yeah, and he's been watching it all year and he's going to have the info he needs to make that decision. I'm all for it. Go ahead. Torts has been available for a while. I just wonder why and Vegas has been, we've been talking about it for months. They've been spinning their wheels for

so long. Maybe it's a testament to the loyalty to Cassidy that they let it go this long. I don't know. But it's great having Torts back in the league. well you hope so he's not as quotable as he used to be when he was with the Rangers fighting with the Bruxie yeah right but no I think

I have torts around is wonderful come back with his little sweater the kind of zettered half or the three quarters zip or whatever they do there yeah be good but it is surprising I think there's other teams that have done it Robinson got hired in Jersey

once didn't he late in the year you're like, I don't know, like I said earlier, not firing them because it's late in a year. Doesn't make sense to me. There's a Chris Johnson. People were taught because it's having a few times. Lou Lamarillo for a while was kind of the notorious guy for doing it. Incredibly rare for a playoff bound team to change coaches this late. Golden Knights have eight games left.

Hope to follow the 2000 New Jersey Devils who won a Stanley Cup when Larry Robinson replaced Robbie Fittoric after 74 games. Well, it's not like the gold knights are a young team. You know what I mean? Where you're, you got to, these guys know how to play and what's expected. So Torch is just having a new voice might be all it takes. I don't know. They can't. We've been very suspect of their play for most of this season.

Something's not right. Goaltending clearly isn't good right now. So that's probably the biggest thing. But why? why does it look like the rest of the team's not really given full effort in big games? You always do the, okay, so the coach is going to come in. I wonder how it's going to go. There's Mitch Marner, John Tortorella, how is this marriage going to happen?

Mitch Marner, coach killer, I don't know. I think there will be some players who will like the change because I do think that there were some that were done with them. It sure seems like Cassidy. It rubbed some people the wrong way. And especially when things start going bad and you don't pull punches. And if you're backed into a corner and you think you're losing your job, things can go poorly,

quickly. But I do wonder how some of the guys are going to feel if torts comes in and it's about accountability. And I don't know. I feel like some of it is overblown because I do think, it was kind of like with with Keenan. Oh, Mike Keenan is this and that. he can't send guys to the miners. He can't banish them to your,

you know, by the time. Yeah, it was, it was just a different time then, but. It's fun to watch. I honestly, I don't think, yeah, I don't think it's going to make a lot of difference. They don't, depending on who they face in round one,

they just seem to be, they need to do a lot of convincing, I guess, in the next eight games. Flames will see. Well, you have to go through the lineups again. I think the talent's there. So if he can get him playing, but you can't overcome bad goalton. And if Hill's not playing well because he's not good, then that's an issue.

Yeah. He's not playing well because he didn't like the coach. Okay, well, here you go. Have out of it, kid. And heart's been hurt, right? Heart's been hurt. Yeah. So there's the, it's good enough.

Like Pavl Dorofiav is a 30 goal guy, Thomas Hurdle, Tomas, Tomas, Marner, Eichel, down the middle. I call Marner, Hurdle down the middle should be. You'd give, yeah. Plenty good. Yeah, you'd give up your left arm to have that kind of center depth. McBad, Theodore, Hannifan, Anderson. Again, should be good.

Should be good. Good luck, torts. We're rooting for you. We certainly want torts and the knights to do better than the other team in this. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Although the flames do have their first round pick.

So there is also that. Yeah, anyway.