Happy Monday y'all! I hope you had a great weekend and hopefully you have advanced to the next round of your fantasy playoffs!

We had some shocking news Sunday afternoon after we learned that the Vegas Golden Knights fired their head coach, Bruce Cassidy, after winning 178 games through his three plus seasons with the organization. Cassidy won two division titles and a Stanley Cup in 2023. If you would have told me that the expansion team awarded to Las Vegas would be on their fourth head coach while their NINTH season in existence was still being played, you would think that they have had a rough first nine years, but we know Bill Foley isn't afraid of shaking things up and making quick decisions to do what is best for business.

Even though Cassidy was in his fourth season, he was the longest tenured coach in the Golden Knights short history. After bringing in Mitch Marner last offseason, this team was labeled as a Stanley Cup contender, but this season has been up and down all year. Coaching has not been the downfall for this team, but it is the easiest scapegoat and General Manager Kelly McCrimmon certainly brought in the one coach who can light a fire under these guys in John Tortorella. His contract is only for the rest of this campaign plus the playoffs so there is no guarantee he is back for the 2026-27 season, even more incentive for Torts to push this group to their limit. 

Since returning from the Olympic break, Vegas was 5-10-2 and the team was held to two goals or fewer in 10 different contests. Historically, we see skaters fall off towards the end of the season if said player was selected to represent their country at the Olympics and the Golden Knights had eight guys participate in the 2026 games so it is tough to see a man lose his job with a lot of outside factors, but like I said, Foley is a competitive man and Torts is a coach who can spark this club for the rest of the season.

You can say ownership is learning from history and hoping it happens a second time, but I will leave you with this. When the New Jersey Devils fired Robbie Ftorek in 2000, they were in first place and had a record of 5-10-2 in their previous 17 games with eight left on the year. The Golden Knights are in a fight for their division with eight games left and have a record of 5-10-2 since the Olympic break. Once again, Torts is a coach who can wake this group up so do not be shocked if they are representing the Western Conference for Lord Stanley.

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Not even a month ago, the St. Louis Blues were dealing Colton Parayko to the Buffalo Sabres, Robert Thomas was on his way out, and fans were reading up on a ton of prospect reports in hopes of a lottery pick. Now it is the end of March and they did deal some of their veterans, but Parayko and Thomas are still in St. Louis and if they beat the San Jose Sharks tonight and Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, they will be in that second wild card spot. 

The Blues have been the complete opposite of the Golden Knights since the Olympic break with a record of 11-2-2 and have been receiving contributions up and down their lineup. Jordan Binnington is 4-2 and has allowed two or fewer goals in five of his six starts. Joel Hofer has been carrying the mail, recording two shutouts and only one game where he has allowed more than three goals as well. Offensively, Dylan Holloway has nine goals and 19 points in these last 15 contests, and a strong, youthful energy has entered the lineup after dealing some veterans and scratching some others in the midst of this late season resurgence. 

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The Blues may be the hottest team right now pushing to make the postseason, but there are four other clubs looking to push the Nashville Predators out of that final wild card spot.

LA Kings – Another team that has fired their coach because of disappointing results thus far, the Kings started a seven game homestand with a huge loss to the Utah Mammoth and have games against the Blues and the Predators on Wednesday and Thursday. If the team can't get up for Anze Kopitar's final home stand of his career for a playoff push in these next two games, the Kings are cooked.

Seattle Kraken – Another team that could have taken control of a wild card spot in the month of March, but the Kraken are 5-9-2 since the Olympics ended with inconsistent effort (they have beaten the Carolina Hurricanes and the Tampa Bay Lightning, but have two losses to the Blues and two to the Predators during this streak). 

Winnipeg Jets – The Jets have climbed up the standings since the end of February, but with five overtime losses in the last month, those five extra points could cost them a ticket to go meet Mr. Stanley.

San Jose Sharks – An organization that has been carried by Macklin Celebrini may have lost their steam because he lost some of his. While going to Italy and representing his country was a childhood dream (especially at 19 years old), all of that extra hockey and travel may have taken some wind out of his sails. I'm definitely not blaming him because the Sharks have given up five or more goals in six games during the month of March, but in all honesty, no one pegged San Jose as a playoff team so we can say the clock has struck midnight for this Cinderella story.

I hope you have a great week and good luck to any of your teams that are still in a playoff battle! Hit me up on Twitter, @LAM1926, if you have any lineup questions!