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John Tortorella Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights have been docked a second-round draft pick, and head coach John Tortorella has also been issued a fine.

The Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 on Thursday night to advance to the Western Conference Finals with a 4-2 series win. They will next play the Colorado Avalanche, the Stanley Cup favorite.

After the Golden Knights beat Anaheim, coach Tortorella refused to speak to the media, which goes against league policies. As a result of not speaking to reporters, Tortorella has been fined $100,000, and the team has lost a second-round draft pick in June’s NHL Entry Draft.

NHL Issues Statement on Golden Knights

On Friday, the NHL issued a statement on why the Golden Knights lost a 2026 second-round pick and why coach Tortorella was fined. In addition, the league noted that the Knights can appeal the sanctions next week.

“The National Hockey League announced today that, as a result of flagrant violations of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Media Regulations following Game 6 of their Second Round series against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, May 14, the Vegas Golden Knights will forfeit a second-round pick in the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft. In addition, Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella has been fined $100,000. The imposition of these penalties comes after previous warnings were issued to the Club regarding their compliance with the Media Regulations and other associated policies. Vegas has been offered the opportunity to appeal these penalties to the Commissioner’s Office. That appeal would be held in person next week in New York,” the NHL said in a statement.

Vegas Among Final Four NHL Teams

After the Golden Knights beat the Ducks, they punched their ticket to the Western Conference Finals against the vaunted Colorado Avalanche. The Golden Knights will enter this series as the underdog, given that the Avalanche are the best team in the entire league, but you can’t completely count them out. After all, it was just three years ago that the Knights captured the first Stanley Cup in the team’s history when they beat the Florida Panthers in June 2023.

For the Golden Knights, the position they are in now is one that many did not feel was possible just a few months ago, when the team was floundering under former head coach Bruce Cassidy. It was then that the Golden Knights made the bold move to fire Cassidy with just a few weeks to go in the regular season and replace him with Tortorella, the fiery and brash coach who won the 2004 Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

While it was a head-scratching move at first, the decision to fire Cassidy and bring in Tortorella looks genius in hindsight, as the Knights look like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. However, they are going to have to let the media ask them questions the next time they play, or else the league is not going to like it, and could potentially impose even harsher sanctions on the team. Based on how severe this punishment is, look for Tortorella and the Golden Knights to open up their locker room to the media the next time so this doesn’t happen again.