The NHL is making the Vegas Golden Knights pay for declining to speak to the media following their 5–1 win over the Ducks on Thursday night that clinched the team a spot in the Western Conference Final.
Following the game, Golden Knights players Mitch Marner and Brett Howden spoke in a press conference, but coach John Tortorella didn’t show up to his typical postgame presser. Additionally, the public relations team told the media that the locker room wouldn’t be available Thursday night for interviews with players, as is protocol.
The NHL announced Friday that it is forcing Vegas to forfeit a second-round draft pick in the 2026 draft as a result of “flagrant violations” of the league’s playoff media regulations. Tortorella was also 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,” the NHL said in a statement.
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The Golden Knights will have an opportunity to appeal the penalties in person next week at the NHL’s headquarters in New York. In a statement issued Friday evening, Vegas said it has no further comment.
The penalty is massive. The exact details of Tortorella’s contract aren’t known, but he was hired in late March with eight regular-season games to go after Vegas fired Bruce Cassidy. His contract runs through those final eight games and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Tortorella has made plenty of money over his 24-year head coaching career, but $100,000 is a giant hit on his current short-term contract.
It’s far from the first time the NHL has taken away draft picks to discipline a team. In 2020, the NHL took away the Arizona Coyotes’ 2020 second-round pick and 2021 first-round pick for violating the league’s combine testing policy. In 2023, the Senators had to forfeit a first-round pick for their role (not disclosing a no-trade clause) in the Evgenii Dadonov trade that fell apart between the Golden Knights and Ducks.
It’s not the Golden Knights’ first public relations mess of the year, either. Back in September, Vegas escorted The Athletic reporter Mark Lazerus out of the facility and revoked his credential after he asked a question about Carter Hart, one of the five players acquitted in the Hockey Canada sexual assault case last summer. Vegas signed Hart one month later.
Why Golden Knights likely avoided talking to media after win vs. Ducks
Although no player or coach has directly come out and addressed the team’s decision, one NHL insider has a theory.
“I think it was a bit of a temper tantrum. They were mad about the [Brayden] McNabb suspension,” NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said on The Fan Hockey Show on Friday.
In the third period of Vegas’s 3–2 win over the Ducks in Game 5, defenseman Brayden McNabb was handed a five-minute major and game misconduct for a hit on Anaheim forward Ryan Poehling. Poehling was injured on the play and did not return to the game or, ultimately, the series. McNabb was suspended the following day for Game 6.
Brayden McNabb has been SUSPENDED for Game 6 as a result of this hit on Ryan Poehling during Game 5 pic.twitter.com/TX2qi1BDxb
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 13, 2026
“[The Knights] said, look, McNabb plays a mean game and he’s never been suspended in 14 years. They said he’s not that type of player. But the league disagreed, and I think the [Poehling] injury had a lot to do with it,” Friedman said.
Vegas players didn’t directly mention anything about McNabb’s suspension after Game 6, but defenseman Ben Hutton did say on the radio that the team was playing for No. 3 [McNabb].
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Likely Reason Behind Golden Knights’ Antics That Cost Them a Second-Round Draft Pick.
