John Tortorella still can't believe what Vegas did after one minute

John Tortorella says he's not done coaching, and he's revealing exactly how fast Vegas moved on from him after this year's Stanley Cup Final run.

Speaking out this week, Tortorella said he wanted another shot behind the Vegas bench heading into next season.

Instead, he says GM Kelly McCrimmon told him within one minute of sitting down that Ryan Craig would be taking over.

The timing stings. Vegas dropped Game 6 of the Final 0-3 at home to the Carolina Hurricanes on June 14, and the coaching change came just days later.

Craig was officially hired June 17, according to the team's coaching records.

Tortorella took the Knights to the Final with a roster built to win now. Jack Eichel put up 90 points in the regular season. Mitch Marner added 80. Mark Stone chipped in 73.

Vegas finished 39-26-17, third in a stacked Pacific Division, and rode a seven-game unbeaten stretch into the playoffs.

Kelly McCrimmon hands Ryan Craig the reins in Vegas

That's the part that makes this decision so jarring. A team with a legitimate Cup roster just fired the guy who got them to Game 6 of the Final, and did it before the ice had even melted.

Cutting a coach loose that fast after a Final appearance isn't a hockey decision. It's a message, and not a subtle one.

Craig, hired straight out of an assistant role, now inherits a locker room full of proven playoff performers. Eichel posted 22 points in 22 playoff games. Marner added 29. Stone chipped in 12 more, including four power-play goals.

Tortorella built his reputation on being blunt, sometimes brutally so, and that same bluntness is now aimed squarely at the front office that let him go.

Whether he lands another NHL bench remains to be seen. But a coach who just took a team to the Final getting shown the door in sixty seconds flat is the kind of story that doesn't just fade quietly.