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The Vancouver Canucks are out of the playoffs and moving into summer mode, but 2024 Jack Adams Award winner Rick Tocchet will hold onto the title of NHL coach of the year for a few more weeks.
And while things didn’t go as planned on the west coast this season, his stock has risen considerably since his last coaching job with the Arizona Coyotes ended after the 2020-21 season.
A former Philadelphia Flyer and 2021 inductee into the team’s Hall of Fame, his name was instantly linked to the team as soon as John Tortorella was let go in March. He has also quickly been linked to a job on Broadway now that Peter Laviolette is out from the New York Rangers.
But don’t buy the man a plane ticket just yet.
The Canucks hold a team option on Tocchet’s services for next season. It’s unlikely that they’d keep him as a lame-duck coach if he planned to leave the organization in a year’s time, but that option is available.
More importantly, Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin has expressed the desire to lock Tocchet up for the long term and continue to build on the foundation they established last season. And while the Canucks look to create an environment that will entice Quinn Hughes to stay and build on his legacy as a franchise MVP rather than test free agency in two years, the captain made it clear that he wants Tocchet and assistant Adam Foote to stick around.
“I believe that with Rick and Footy and the way that they coach and structuring how we are defensively,” Hughes told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. “If we add another player or two and have some guys within our group play better next year than they did this past season, I think we can be a really, really successful team. We're very structured, we don't give up much, we have maybe the best goalie tandem in the league, and we have a great D-corps and others that are coming that will help us. The point is, if we get Rick back and add a piece or two, we can be very successful.”
During the season, Tocchet demurred when asked about his future. With the day-to-day grind of game preparation finally behind him when he met the media for the Canucks’ year-end media day on Friday, he sounded like a man who’d like to finish what he started.
“Of course you want to be back here, but there's a process you have to go through,” he said. “Obviously, there's a timeframe. But right now for me, there's a process I’ve got to go through with (team president) Jim (Rutherford) and (GM) Patrik (Allvin), and that's really where it's at.”
That process may come down to money. On Friday, Tocchet didn’t give any indication of discord with Canucks management.
“I have an unreal relationship with Patrik,” he said. “I think he's done a hell of a job trying to get me players. Unfortunately, you just can't go off the street and make them — you’ve got to find them. It's going to be tough. Can you do it by committee? Can you do it by really good defense, great goaltending and manufacturing goals? Yeah. But if there's a dynamic guy out there, let us know.”
In a perfect world, one ‘dynamic guy’ would be Elias Pettersson — returning to the elite form he’s shown in the past. On Friday, Tocchet spoke at length about what it will take for Pettersson to get back to his best self — starting with a strong off-season of training and extending into a more impactful leadership role on the team, as someone who wears an ‘A’.
“I'd like to see him take that role a little bit farther now,” Tocchet said. “I don't think he thinks I'm harsh because of that, but I want him to be a leader in this team and have a voice. You also have to make sure that you portray that to your teammates and on the ice. I think he has it in him, and he's going to need some help. He's going to have to take a deep dive in himself, too.”
With any luck, a revitalized Pettersson won’t be the only one who raises his game next season. On Friday, everyone from Thatcher Demko to Filip Chytil to Dakota Joshua said they’re feeling well and ready to take everything they can get out of a longer-than-desired summer. Even Jake DeBrusk expressed dissatisfaction with his career-high 28 goals and wants to get to 30.
The drama that led to J.T. Miller’s trade in January should also be in the rearview mirror. One of the team’s new leaders is optimistic that the foundation for success is in place.
“I feel like I came into a locker room that wants to win,” said defenseman Marcus Pettersson, one of the players that came back after Miller’s trade. “The care factor from all the guys is right there. Everybody loves each other and wants to push each other. We have a young group, so I think we can learn a lot from this year, both on and off the ice.”
Canucks management is scheduled for its meeting with the media on Monday.
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