Flyers Name Rick Tocchet Head Coach
3:01 p.m.: The Flyers have made Tocchet’s hiring official. Brière had the following statement:
I am very happy to welcome Rick Tocchet as our head coach. During this process it became clear that Rick was the absolute right coach to lead our team. He has enjoyed the highest level of success both as a player and coach. Rick’s ability to teach and understand his players, combined with his passion for winning, brings out the best in young players at different stages of their development and has earned the respect and confidence of highly talented All-Stars and veteran players alike.
10:32 a.m.: The Flyers are close to announcing Rick Tocchet as their next head coach, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet confirms Wednesday. ESPN’s John Buccigross implied yesterday that things were moving in that direction.
It’s far from an unexpected move from general manager Daniel Brière and the rest of the front office, who were linked to Tocchet almost immediately after firing John Tortorella late in the regular season. Friedman said Monday that things were moving slower than expected for Tocchet landing a new role after not having his option picked up by the Canucks but that he remained high on the list of Philadelphia’s preferred candidates.
Tocchet returns to some familiar stomping grounds in the City of Brotherly Love. He played parts of 11 of his 18 NHL seasons as a player there, ranking 16th in franchise history in scoring with 508 points in 621 games as a Flyer. His now decades-long coaching career hasn’t yet taken him back to Philly, though.
He walks into a familiar situation with the Flyers, who are not quite out of the woods of their rebuild but have aspirations of being so in short order. As was the case in his most recent stops in Arizona and Vancouver, Tocchet assumes control of a forward group with a young, foundational piece in Matvei Michkov, supplemented by some veteran anchors in Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny.
Tocchet brings nine seasons of experience as an NHL head coach to the Flyers’ bench. He’s posted a career 286-265-87 (.516) record in 638 regular-season games, including a Pacific Division title and Coach of the Year honors with the Canucks just one year ago. He began his career with a year-and-a-half stint with the Lightning in the late aughts before resurfacing as Arizona’s head coach in 2017.
While it’s the first big offseason move for the Flyers, it can’t be their only one if they’re serious about improving their record in 2025-26. Their coaching hire’s impact will be virtually invisible if they can’t find a fix to their goaltending situation, which tanked Philly’s otherwise decent control of scoring chances at 5-on-5 last season. The trio of Samuel Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov – all of whom remain under contract for next year – combined to allow a staggering 42.5 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck.
Tocchet’s support staff also remains up in the air. The Flyers also let go of two assistants and their skills coach after the season ended. Brad Shaw, who took over as interim head coach for the final few weeks of the season, is expected to stay on as an assistant, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic said last month.
Image courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.
PHR Live Chat Transcript: 5/14/25
View the transcript from today’s PHR live chat with Josh Erickson at this link.
Canucks Sign Tom Willander To Entry-Level Contract
The Canucks announced they’ve signed Tom Willander, the organization’s top defense prospect, to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning next season. The deal carries a $950K cap hit with an $855K base salary and a $95K signing bonus each year, per PuckPedia.
It’s been a rocky few months for Vancouver and Willander, whom they selected No. 11 overall in the 2023 draft. After a repeat performance of his strong freshman performance at Boston University in his sophomore year in 2024-25, most expected he’d turn pro with the Canucks as soon as BU’s season ended.
That didn’t happen, and reporting quickly indicated a rift in contract talks related to how much they were willing to give Willander in Schedule A performance bonuses. General manager Patrik Allvin even said shortly thereafter that Willander informed them he planned to return to BU for his junior season. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports Willander’s ELC affords him up to $800K in A bonuses each season, short of the $1MM max but above the $475K they entered talks with, Dhaliwal said last month. PuckPedia confirms his deal averages $800K in A bonuses per season – up to $500K in 2025-26, $900K in 2026-27, and the maximum $1MM in 2027-28.
Willander, 20, will now have the chance to make the Canucks’ roster out of camp in the fall. He’ll begin his professional career with AHL Abbotsford if he doesn’t. Signing his contract prohibits him from returning to college, and since he’s a first-round pick, Vancouver doesn’t have to offer the Swede on loan to the Swedish Hockey League team that owns his rights (Rogle BK) before assigning him to the minors.
A 6’1″, 190-lb righty, Willander has good offensive tools but isn’t an all-out point producer. He plays more of a well-rounded game and racked up a +57 rating in 77 games over two years with the Terriers, including six goals and 43 assists for 49 points. He was named to Hockey East’s Second All-Star Team in each of his two collegiate seasons.
Willander has also done well for his country at the last two World Junior Championships, posting eight points and a +12 rating in 14 games. While Sweden didn’t medal at this year’s tournament, he won a silver medal with them last year. He ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the Canucks’ system behind winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki in Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s most recent team-by-team breakdown. He’ll first be eligible for restricted free agency in 2028.
Examining The Penguins’ Options For Ryan Graves
When Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas took over the organization just before the draft in 2023, he had little time to do an organizational assessment. But one glaring hole was on the Penguins’ top defensive pairing next to Kris Letang, where long-time fixture Brian Dumoulin was set to depart after a rocky final season in Pittsburgh. Dubas recognized the gaping hole and swiftly signed defensive defenseman Ryan Graves to a six-year contract in free agency worth $4.5MM per season.
The contract immediately became an albatross for Pittsburgh as Graves struggled on the top pairing, fell down the hierarchy to the bottom pair, and was eventually a healthy scratch on many occasions this season. The deal has been a disaster for the Penguins and will be challenging to navigate going forward.
There’s not much Dubas can realistically do to get out from under the Graves deal. Thanks to the signing bonus structure of the contract, it is essentially buyout-proof (per PuckPedia) and would offer the Penguins very little salary cap relief. The only significant reduction would come next season, a year when the Penguins probably need it the least out of the next few years, and it would tack on additional years in which the Penguins would be paying for the buyout.
The next option is probably the likeliest: to bury Graves in the minors and have him play for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL. This situation wouldn’t be unprecedented, as plenty of NHLers on big-money deals have gone to the AHL before. There’s even a recent example in Pittsburgh, where netminder Tristan Jarry had two stints in the AHL this past season. Graves is no stranger to the AHL, having played four seasons in the league before beginning his NHL career with the Colorado Avalanche, but has not played there since the 2018-19 season. This option would allow Pittsburgh to save the league minimum salary plus another $375K, equaling $1.15MM in cap savings for the Penguins.
An option that is less likely to happen, but probably the most interesting, is that the Penguins could try to trade Graves and his brutal contract. That option is sure to generate an audible snicker from readers. Still, bigger contracts to lesser players have been traded before, so it is not impossible. What better time to do it than the summer? The NHL is ripe with bad contracts, and it is very possible that the Penguins could find someone to swap another undesirable contract for a player that hasn’t worked out.
After signing a massive eight-year deal, Damon Severson in Columbus has also been a bust. Pittsburgh isn’t likely to take on two extra years on a player whose numbers have fallen off recently, but this is the type of player the Penguins will have to target if they want to do a one-for-one change-of-scenery trade. There are plenty of players on much bigger cap hits that Pittsburgh could target, but those contracts are mostly more extended than the four years Graves has remaining. The risk would probably be greater for the Penguins, especially given that they could be turning the corner on their retool and still owe on massive deals. Given that Severson is a right-shot, it’s only a realistic scenario if Erik Karlsson is also moved this summer.
If the Penguins want to move Graves’ contract using a sweetener, that could get ugly. Pittsburgh received a second-round pick in exchange for taking on two years of Kevin Hayes‘ contract just last summer, and his cap hit was just $3.57MM, nearly a full million dollars less than Graves’ cap hit. Using that as a comparison, there is no doubt that the Penguins would need to use at least a first-round pick to shed Graves’ contract, which is something they simply won’t do at this time.
The Penguins could also keep Graves on their roster and hope he finds his game. It’s not impossible if Pittsburgh hires a more defensive coach who can utilize some of Graves’ strengths, as the Devils did in New Jersey before Graves joined the Penguins. The issue with that is that Graves played on a talented Devils team and was insulated from some of his shortcomings; in Pittsburgh, that is not the case, nor will it be for the foreseeable future. Graves does have a skill set, and although Penguins fans might disagree, he could be sheltered and used in situations that better suit those skills. He can shoot the puck, has good size and reach, and his transition game isn’t horrible. If the Penguins can find the strengths in his game and exploit them, they could build his trade stock up to the point that they could move him without having to retain any of his contract.
The flip side of that coin is that Graves plays poorly next season and is part of a team that falls to the bottom of the standings, something that is very possible. The Penguins could re-evaluate a year from now and look at their options again if they want to get out of under Graves’ contract.
Misses on depth players are what tank roster construction and unfortunately for the Penguins, the Graves deal has been a massive miss. It’s far from the only miss as their roster has been littered with poor depth contracts since Ron Hextall took over GM duties from Jim Rutherford back in the 2020-21 season. The Penguins have missed on almost every mid-range contract since 2021, but they do have options going forward, and while none of them are perfect, there is a choice that exists. The Penguins will have to make the one they feel best serves the organization as they try to turn the corner and compete again.
Canucks To Name Adam Foote Head Coach
12:27 p.m.: Vancouver made Foote’s hiring official in short order. General manager Patrik Allvin had the following statement:
Adam is a strong leader, good teacher and person who knows what it takes to build a great culture and winning attitude. His past experiences on the ice have translated nicely into a coaching style that fits our organization’s goals and vision. He has worked extremely hard the past few years, gaining our players respect and trust for his strong communication and honest straight forward opinion. He knows this group better than anyone else we interviewed and has inside knowledge and understanding of what it will take to get us back to where we want to be. Adam brings structure, accountability, and a detailed oriented approach to his coaching, a process that will send a clear message to our group about the way we want to compete, practice, and play hockey. We are very happy to have him take over as the new Head Coach of the Vancouver Canucks.
11:50 a.m.: The Canucks will promote assistant coach Adam Foote to fill their head coaching vacancy, according to Darren Dreger of TSN. Foote’s deal will run for three seasons, per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK.
Foote joined the Canucks’ bench midway through the 2022-23 season, hired alongside Rick Tocchet – the man he’s replacing as bench boss in Vancouver. It was his first NHL coaching job in a sparse staff resume since ending his playing career in 2011. Before being hired by Vancouver, Foote’s only behind-the-bench experience came with some of the Avalanche’s youth programs in 2014-15 and the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets from 2018 to 2020.
The 53-year-old Foote’s duties under Tocchet, who’s now landing a head coaching role with the Flyers, mainly revolved around team defense. Of course, Foote was a top-20 rearguard in his prime for the Avalanche around the turn of the century, routinely averaging upwards of 25 minutes per game and leveraging his 6’2″, 220-lb frame to be one of the league’s most effective two-way defenders. As for his success in Vancouver, the Canucks played an extremely low-event style this year – but it did yield above-average results defensively.
While Vancouver ranked 18th in the league with 3.06 goals against per game, other metrics were quite promising. Their 82.6 penalty kill percentage this year ranked third, and they also ranked in the top 10 in shots, shot attempts, expected goals, scoring chances, and high-danger chances against per game at 5-on-5.
Generating enough offense was the Canucks’ biggest issue last season, making a defense-focused hire in Foote an eye-opening decision at first glance. It seems they’ll do the heavy lifting to fix that problem later in the summer with player personnel changes, not coaching staff ones.
With the Canucks promoting Foote, four coaching vacancies remain ahead of the 2025-26 season: the Blackhawks, Bruins, Penguins, and Kraken.
Image courtesy of Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images.
Jay Woodcroft Among Bruins’ Head Coaching Candidates
Former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft is among the possibilities to become the Bruins’ next head coach, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, who described him as a “leading candidate” for the vacancy on Wednesday’s Morning Cuppa Hockey podcast. Rick Tocchet also remained in consideration this morning, but he’s on the verge of being scooped up by the Flyers.
Aside from serving as an assistant coach for Canada at the 2024 World Championship, Woodcroft has been out of work since the Oilers fired him one month into the 2023-24 campaign. He held the Edmonton job for less than two calendar years but pulled together an exceptional 79-41-13 (.643) record in that time, including one of just four 50-win seasons in Oilers franchise history in 2022-23.
Despite the relative lack of head coaching experience at the NHL level, Woodcroft is no stranger to the league. This past season was his first without working in the NHL in some capacity since the 2004-05 lockout. He was picked up by the Red Wings as a video coach when play resumed and, three years later, was hired by the Sharks as an assistant. He remained in San Jose through 2015, when Edmonton hired him as an assistant. He also spent a few years as head coach of their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield before being promoted to the NHL in a head coaching capacity for the first time.
Boston’s interest in Woodcroft makes sense considering their explicitly stated desire for more offense in 2025-26. During his tenure, the Oilers led the league in goals per game (3.80), power play percentage (29.3%), and were sixth in shots per game (34.0).
His name hasn’t come up a ton this cycle aside from being mentioned as a person of interest in the Ducks’ coaching search a few weeks ago before they opted to hire Joel Quenneville. AHL Ontario head coach Marco Sturm was also reported as being in the running within the last week.
Antti Raanta Signs In Finland
Former NHL goaltender Antti Raanta is continuing his career overseas on a one-year deal with Finland’s Lukko, his hometown club, the Liiga club announced today.
Raanta was linked to Linköping HC of the Swedish Hockey League shortly after his season ended in March, but that didn’t come to fruition. Last year was Raanta’s first overseas in over a decade, ending his 11-year NHL career to sign with Geneve-Servette HC in Switzerland’s National League.
The stint in Switzerland marked somewhat of a bounce-back for the 36-year-old. While injury-prone and rarely capable of carrying a starter’s workload, Raanta always was one of the league’s best goalies statistically throughout his career. Things came crashing down in his final NHL season, though. He posted just a .872 SV% in 24 games for the Hurricanes in 2023-24 and conceded 9.3 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck.
With Geneve-Servette, the 6’0″ Finn improved his numbers to a 2.74 GAA, .902 SV%, one shutout, and an 11-10-0 record in 24 games. While not world-beating numbers, they were enough to prove the one-time Jennings Trophy winner can still play in a top-flight European league.
He’ll now get the chance to do so again with Luuko, where he played the entirety of his youth/junior hockey before making his Liiga debut with them in the 2009-10 season. He posted a 2.49 GAA, .915 SV%, three shutouts, and a 12-14-6 record in 35 appearances for the club across three seasons before spending two years as the starter for Assat, where his 2012-13 campaign for the record books earned the undrafted free agent an NHL contract with the Blackhawks for the following season.
Flyers Re-Sign Rodrigo Abols
The Flyers are keeping depth center Rodrigo Abols around for another season, PuckPedia reports. It’s a one-year, one-way deal with an $800K cap hit.
It’s a significant raise in real cash for Abols, who signed a two-way deal with Philadelphia last summer. The 29-year-old Latvian was a seventh-round pick by the Canucks in 2016 but had spent most of his professional career overseas, a one-year run in the Panthers’ farm system in 2019-20 notwithstanding.
After establishing himself as a quality middle-six center with good defensive instincts in the Swedish Hockey League with Orebro HK and Rogle BK, Abols decided to try North American hockey again in the 2024 offseason. He didn’t make the Flyers’ roster out of camp but got some extended looks in the latter half of the campaign, marking his NHL debut.
The 6’4″, 205-lb center played 22 games for the Flyers, almost exclusively in a fourth-line role. He averaged just 9:11 per game but did manage a pair of goals and three assists. Most of his positive impact was felt in the faceoff circle, where he won 66 of his 113 draws (58.4%). He didn’t have sterling defensive impacts, but things weren’t as bad as his -10 rating in limited action suggested, either. Philadelphia controlled 49% of shot attempts and 46.1% of expected goals with Abolts on the ice at 5-on-5.
Given Abols’ track record of quickly returning to Europe when things didn’t work out stateside, some believed it was likely he’d do so again this summer upon reaching unrestricted free agency. Philly would almost certainly need to give him a one-way commitment to retain him – evidently, that’s what they’ve decided to do. Whether the deal indicates they’ve pencilled him into a fringe roster spot remains to be seen.
If not, Abols was a good producer for AHL Lehigh Valley. He posted a 15-17–32 scoring line in 47 games for the minor-league club.
Mattias Ekholm Could Return For Oilers In Conference Finals
Edmonton Oilers defender Mattias Ekholm remains day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, but coach Kris Knoblauch said Tuesday that the veteran could be available for the conference finals if the Oilers advance, reports NHL.com staff writer Derek Van Diest.
Ekholm has played just once since late March, returning for a single game on April 11 after a seven-game absence, only to aggravate his injury again. The 34-year-old has missed all 10 of the team’s playoff games, but Knoblauch mentioned he’s back skating and could return soon.
As Knoblauch stated: “Mattias has been on the ice for light skates,” Knoblauch said. “He will not be joining us this series. We’re hopeful that he can join us next series if we can get to that.”
The Oilers have performed impressively despite missing one of their top defenders and are now just one win away from another trip to the conference finals. But getting Ekholm back in the lineup would undoubtedly bolster the team’s Stanley Cup hopes. Ekholm posted nine goals and 33 points in 65 regular-season games and is just one season removed from posting a career-high 11 goals. However, Elholm’s playoff experience is where his value is felt most. He has appeared in 112 playoff games over his 14-year career and was a key contributor during the Oilers’ deep playoff run last season, recording five goals, 10 points, and a plus-nine rating in 25 games.
In his absence, the Oilers have used a variety of combinations on the back end, which includes the likes of Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher. Emberson has appeared in nine playoff games but has averaged just 9:29 of ice time per game. Stecher replaced Emberson in the Game 4 lineup, logging 16:46 of ice time in the shutout win.
Logan Stanley Set To Be Healthy Scratch For Jets
Despite a clean bill of health, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley is expected to be a healthy scratch for Game 4 against the Dallas Stars, per Mike McIntyre of Winnipeg News.
Known for his physical presence, Stanley was injured in Game 6 of the team’s first-round matchup against the St. Louis Blues. Before his injury, he posted 42 penalty minutes in five games and had no points and a negative plus-minus to show for it. The massive 6’7” presence could give the team a physically imposing force on the back end, but his style of play may not be the best matchup against Mikko Rantanen and the Stars’ skill-heavy attack. The 26-year-old recorded one goal, 14 points, 88 hits, 76 blocked shots, and 78 penalty minutes in 63 regular-season contests this season.
As the Jets look to even the series, Haydn Fleury will remain slotted into the lineup on the team’s third defensive pairing alongside veteran Colin Miller. Fleury recorded seven assists and a minus-12 in 39 regular-season games. However, his playoff metrics have looked much better, as he’s produced a plus-two rating and chipped in two assists in five games thus far. Additionally, he has averaged 17:24 of ice time per game in the playoffs — a solid increase from his regular season average of 15:56 — showcasing a growing level of trust in the 28-year-old’s play. That figure was certainly inflated by their double-overtime victory in Game 7 of the first round. However, that opportunity provided Fleury with the platform to highlight the impact Fleury can have on the blue line, as he logged a career-high 33:02 after Josh Morrissey left in the first period with an injury.
Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel recently told media, including NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers, that Fleury provides the team with a mobile option on the back end. “Again, another skillset. He’s real mobile, he can skate out of trouble. Another guy that can be a part of that rush, a part of what we’re talking about getting after Dallas here and getting on our toes. And that’s what he brings to our game,” Arniel said.