Ryan Craig has been named the fifth head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Yes, the fifth. Incredibly crazy considering the team has only been around since 2017 and has made it to the Stanley Cup Final three times since inception.
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The former Brandon Wheat Kings captain has been handed the keys in Vegas, by a familiar friend, nonetheless. Thus completing a coaching climb through the only NHL organization he has ever known from behind the bench.
Photo by Rusty Barton/Game On Magazine
Craig, 44, joined the Golden Knights as an assistant coach ahead of the franchise’s inaugural 2017-18 season and quickly became part of one of hockey’s greatest expansion stories. He helped guide the team to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in five of his six seasons as an assistant and was behind the bench when Vegas captured its first Stanley Cup championship in 2023.
From there, Craig continued building his resume with the organization’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights.
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Over three seasons as Henderson’s head coach, Craig helped the club improve each year, increasing its win total from 28 victories in 2023-24 to 29 in 2024-25 before a franchise-best 39-21-12 record and 90-point campaign in 2025-26. The Silver Knights also advanced to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs this spring.
Long before his rise through the Golden Knights’ organization, however, Craig’s leadership qualities were on display in Manitoba.
The Abbotsford, B.C. product spent five seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings from 1998 to 2003, where he played under current Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon, who was Brandon’s owner and general manager.
Craig served as the Wheat Kings’ captain for two seasons, led the club in scoring twice and was named to the WHL East First All-Star Team during his final junior season. He was also recognized as both the WHL and CHL Humanitarian of the Year.
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That leadership followed Craig throughout his professional playing career.
Selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the eighth round of the 2002 NHL Draft, Craig went on to play 198 NHL games with Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and Columbus. He also appeared in 711 AHL games and served as captain of an incredible nine different teams, including the 2015-16 Calder Cup champion Lake Erie Monsters.
Now, after years of leading as a player and developing as a coach, Craig will get his first opportunity running an NHL bench.
For the Wheat Kings, it represents yet another connection between Brandon and one of the NHL’s most successful modern – and sometimes cutthroat – franchises.
More than two decades after McCrimmon watched Craig grow into a leader in Westman, the two are reunited as they look to bring another Stanley Cup to Vegas.
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