Rick Tocchet may ultimately coach the Philadelphia Flyers. Still, reports are surfacing that his decision to leave the Vancouver Canucks was not related to him already having the gig in Philadelphia. Tocchet himself said he doesn’t know what’s next for him in his hockey journey and reports are out there that his decision to leave Vancouver was about the Canucks and nothing else.
“I’m choosing to move on from the Vancouver Canucks,” Tocchet said in a statement. “Family is a priority, and with my contract lapsing, this becomes the opportune time. While I don’t know where I’m headed or exactly how this will play out for me over the near term, I feel like this is the right time for me to explore other opportunities in and around hockey.”
Canucks A Mess and Tocchet Wanted Out
Toccht was done with the drama in Vancouver. Steve Moutain, Rick Tocchet’s agent, confirmed the organization made a lucrative offer. It wasn’t about the money. In fact, speculation is that the offer was one that would have made him one of the top-paid coaches in the league.
Mountain said, “They stepped up, made the decision hard, you can not say the Canucks did not extend themselves.” The deal was rumored to be around the $5 million per season mark, which would have put Tocchet in the top five or so highest-paid coaches.
Don Taylor of the Donnie and Dhali Show said, “I feel really bad for the fans of this franchise. It looks right now that it is extremely dysfunctional…” He added the team is about to hire their fourth coach in the last five seasons and the team has only made the playoffs twice in that time.
Not only that, but the drama surrounding the team and the way things have been run is not attractive for sought-after coaches. The Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller feud was seen as ridiculous from those outside the franchise. Not trading Brock Boeser was a huge mistake. The fact the team could lose Quinn Hughes and there is no progress on a practice facility make Vancouver a less-than-desireable landing spot.
In other words, this team is regressing.
Tocchet Is Taking Advantage of His Popularity
The popular belief among insiders is that Tocchet will wind up in Phildelphia. Mountain said, “I’ve had zero conversations and Rick has had zero conversations with the Flyers or anyone from the Flyers. We see the same speculation that you guys see and hear.” He said he does believe that the Flyers would be interested, but he doesn’t know that and it’s not front and center.
But, even if it’s not the Flyers, Tocchet knows he’s a popular name on the market and there are currently plenty of coaching opportuntities in the NHL. Several teams need a coach and the way players on the Canucks have talked about Tocchet and how close they are to him, he’ll be coveted.
This isn’t about Tocchet leaving one job because he’s already got his eyes set on a different one. Yes, there is a history with the Flyers and, yes, he’ll probably get an offer. This is about Tocchet getting away from a team that seems to be going in the wrong direction and has a lot more working against it than it does going for it.
Another bad season and Tocchet might not have been as coveted as he is today. The narrative changes when a former Jack Adams coach is coming off back-to-back ugly seasons. One year removed from winning the award, he’s one of the hottest coaches in the NHL.
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