By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — This time, the Vegas Golden Knights stayed inside their NHL organization to pick their new head coach.
He’s Ryan Craig, who got promoted to the VGK bench boss after three seasons as head coach of the Knights’ affiliate in Henderson, the Silver Knights of the American Hockey League.
A Manitoba native, Craig is 44 years old and the married father of three. He’s a former NHL player with stops with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets and played from 1997 to 2003 with the Brand Wheat Kings where Vegas General Manager Kelly McCrimmon was the general manager.
The Golden Knights, like many NHL teams, have picked their head coaches from the league’s carousel of bench leaders. They hired veteran coaches Gerald Gallant, Pete DeBoer, Bruce Cassidy and John Tortorella during their nine years in the league.
But Craig is a home grown coaching product. He retired as a player to be an assistant coach under Gallant in June 2017 and stayed on to work under DeBoer and Cassidy. After winning a Stanley Cup ring in 2023 with the VGK, Craig was named head coach of the Henderson Silver Knights in June 2023.