LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Vegas Golden Knights head coach Ryan Craig is leading the team into season 10. Of the franchise’s five head coaches, Craig is the only one with no prior NHL head coaching experience.
Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon has known Craig since Craig was 15 years old.
Craig said the team is starting over this season after coming within two wins of a Stanley Cup a few months ago.
MORE ON FOX5: Sitting Down with Golden Knights Head Coach, Ryan Craig
McCrimmon on the hiring decision
“His time is now,” McCrimmon said. “We’ve always hired the best available coach and that’s what we’re doing today, we’re hiring the best available coach.”
Craig on being ready
Craig said he and McCrimmon discussed his readiness for the job at the end of last season.
“Well, I think, yeah, I’m ready. We’re ready to go. We’re past that now,” Craig said. “For myself, it’s work time now. It’s the hockey stuff. Yeah, I think when Kelly and I talked at the end of the season, I felt I was ready to do the job. I believed I was. Kelly echoed that with the decision they made. So for that, it hasn’t really been talked about again. We just pushed forward at that point. It’s business that needs to get done now. Whatever I need to do to get our team prepared, that’s where the focus goes.”
Building a new identity
“Well, we’re starting over in the sense that everybody starts at zero again,” Craig said. “You know, there was the talk of the unfinished business, I think, kind of as camp started here. We have guys that are competitors and want to win the Stanley Cup. So we’re not going to shy away from talking about our goal. But you don’t get there on game one. You work, you build, you go through things. I’ve talked about hardening ourselves as a group in those situations. So when we earn the opportunity to play in mid-April and beyond, we’re ready. And we’re going to have to create our own identity that way. This team is not exactly the same as the team was last year, just like every other team isn’t. So we’ll work and forge our way through that. We’ll find out lots about each other as we go through our successes and the times there where we have to refocus or regroup, and we’ll build.”
On communication and accountability
Craig said communication and directness are central to his coaching approach.
“Well, I think part of it has to be awareness,” Craig said. “But as a player, what I went through is I wanted to be told the truth. I wanted to know where I stood. That allows you as a player to do something about it, respond to it. Yeah, I think accountability is a great word, but communication might be the most important part because in order to hold people accountable, you have to communicate with them. And, you know, that’s something that we’ll continue to do here. We’ll continue to grow as my relationship grows with the players as the head coach. But direct, we don’t need to… Something I learned from all three of the coaches I worked with before, and even when John Tortorello was my coach playing, was we don’t need to let things grow. You deal with the things you have to deal with right now. Let’s deal with those problems because we’re going to move on to what’s next, and it’s about pushing ahead.”
On leading veteran players
Craig said he does not feel added pressure leading a roster of veteran and elite players.
“No, it’s not about me. It’s about our team and what our team needs,” Craig said. “So if our team needs to hear something from me, then it’s my job to deliver it. If I need to hold somebody accountable or make an example of something like that, then it’s my job to do that. But there’s no added pressure or it doesn’t have to be about Ryan Craig and I think that’s where, for myself, having known these guys, been around these guys, getting to know a few of them that I don’t know very well, I don’t need to impart myself or do anything other than coach them, coach the team, do what’s best for our group. I’ve talked about the standards here. The standards are here. There’s no pressure with that. There comes with us trying to reach our standards.”
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