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Rick Tocchet

Canucks Won’t Exercise Club Option On Rick Tocchet

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The Canucks will not exercise their club option to keep head coach Rick Tocchet on his current contract for 2025-26, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford told reporters today (including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). Vancouver continues to work on a new deal to keep Tocchet behind their bench, Rutherford said, and the organization remains hopeful he’ll stay. They expect a decision on Tocchet’s future later this week, Friedman relays.

Tocchet is the only coach in the NHL on an expiring contract this offseason, and even then the Canucks could have opted to keep him in Vancouver under the terms of his current deal. Thomas Drance of The Athletic indicated last month the Canucks were operating under the assumption Tocchet would continue as their head coach next year and would exercise their option if extension talks weren’t progressing. While that didn’t end up being the case, they continue to indicate a willingness to retain Tocchet and make him the highest-paid coach in franchise history. Whether he accepts the offer or opts to explore some of the other vacancies around the league remains to be seen.

The 61-year-old just completed his second full season and third overall as Vancouver’s head coach. Last season, he won the Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year after guiding them to their first playoff appearance since 2020 and first division title since 2013. When he took over midway through the 2022-23 campaign, he was the Canucks’ third coach in two years. The club fired Travis Green and replaced him with Bruce Boudreau during the 2021-22 season, only to fire Boudreau for Tocchet one year later.

At present, there are five openings for Tocchet to explore. The Ducks and Rangers’ positions are completely vacant after firing Greg Cronin and Peter Laviolette over the weekend, while three teams, the Blackhawks, Bruins, and Flyers, ended the season with interim head coaches. There’s a clear speculative fit in Philadelphia, where Tocchet spent the bulk of his 18-year playing career, but interim coach Brad Shaw remains a legitimate contender for a full-time role after ending the year with a 5-3-1 record.

In nine years as a coach with the Lightning, Coyotes, and Canucks, Tocchet has a 286-265-87 (.516) record in 638 regular-season games. He’s only made the postseason twice (Arizona, 2020; Vancouver, 2024) and has an 11-11 (.500) record there. Since Tocchet took over in Vancouver on Jan. 22, 2023, the Canucks’ .608 points percentage ranks 11th in the league.

Canucks Notes: Tocchet, Pettersson, Chytil, Höglander

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Confirming a report from last week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes that the Vancouver Canucks are firmly committed to Rick Tocchet for the 2025-26 NHL season and beyond. Friedman asserts that Vancouver will extend Tocchet this off-season or utilize their team option for another year.

Tocchet wants to keep his upcoming extension negotiations private, stating, “I am so focused on making the playoffs that I really don’t want to make it about me right now.” In a similar vein, Sportsnet’s Brendan Batchelor prodded Tocchet about his situation with the Canucks, and he articulated that his only focus was beating the Seattle Kraken tomorrow night. Unless something drastically changes over the next few weeks, it’s all but a guarantee that Tocchet will be back behind the bench for Vancouver next season. 

Despite winning the Jack Adams Award last season, Tocchet will have a difficult time guiding the Canucks back into the postseason for a second consecutive season. Vancouver is six points removed from the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and has significant injury concerns mounting.

According to Harman Dayal of The Athletic, Tocchet shared that Elias Pettersson has skated ’once or twice’ since succumbing to an upper-body injury against the New York Rangers on March 22nd, and there’s no guarantee he’ll return for the regular season. Tocchet appeared hopeful regarding Pettersson’s injury status, but they’ll find it increasingly difficult to catch the St. Louis Blues without their top center and third-highest scorer.

Pettersson isn’t the only center the Canucks won’t have either. Batchelor reported earlier that Tocchett believes the “odds are against” Filip Chytil returning this season due to having little consistency in his concussion recovery process. Chytil, who was limited to 10 games last season due to a concussion, hasn’t played for Vancouver since March 15th after receiving a dangerous hit from behind by Chicago Blackhawks’ Jason Dickinson.

Per Tocchet’s suggestion, it’s likely Chytil will finish the 2024-25 campaign with 13 goals and 26 points in 56 games, with six of the points coming as a Canuck. He’s signed through the 2026-27 season with a $4.4375MM cap hit.

Still, it’s not all bad news on the injury front in Vancouver. Circling back to the report from Dayal, Tocchet believes Nils Höglander is the closest of the trio to returning. Höglander has been an effective secondary scorer for the Canucks this season, posting six goals and 21 points in 66 games. Höglander similarly exited Vancouver’s recent game against the Rangers in the second period due to an undisclosed injury.

Pacific Notes: Tocchet, Hertl, Pietrangelo, Zary, Blueger

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Despite being rumored as a coveted option by the Philadelphia Flyers, there’s little expectation Vancouver Canucks’ head coach Rick Tocchet will be available to other teams this summer. In an article from Thomas Drance of The Athletic (subscription required), a source from inside the Canucks organization has indicated the team will exercise their option on Tocchet’s contract for next season, and are already viewing him as next year’s coach.

Furthermore, Drance reports that the team is interested in extending Tocchet beyond next season rather than having him on a one-year contract. Plenty can change in a year, but all signs indicate Tocchet will be the only recent recipient of the Jack Adams Award, outside the Carolina Hurricanes’ Rod Brind’Amour, to remain with the team well beyond winning the award.

There’s no doubting the Canucks’ interest in an extension either. Since taking over for Bruce Boudreau halfway through the 2022-23 season, Vancouver has managed a 104-61-25 record under Tocchet’s stewardship, putting him second in organizational history in points percentage. Additionally, Tocchet helped the Canucks win their first division title since the 2012-13 season, which is even more impressive considering he had to navigate through a murky relationship between the team’s top two forwards at the time, Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • Don’t expect forward Tomáš Hertl or defenseman Alex Pietrangelo back for the Vegas Golden Knights this weekend. According to a report from Jason R. Pothier and Ken Boehlke at SinBin, neither Hertl (upper body) nor Pietrangelo (lower body) will return by the end of the weekend due to their respective injuries. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear Hertl will miss much more time, as the two reporters indicate he could return as early as next week.
  • TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that further tests will be conducted to assess the severity of Connor Zary’s knee injury. The young forward for the Calgary Flames awkwardly collided with the Dallas Stars’ Mikko Rantanen shortly into the third period of last night’s contest and required help getting off the ice after a lengthy meet with the trainer. Fortunately, Dreger believes the early prognosis of Zary’s injury was positive. Still, as the fifth-highest scoring forward on the Flames with 27 points in 54 games, Calgary will need Zary in the lineup should they have any hope of catching up to the St. Louis Blues for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
  • Moving back to British Columbia, context has been provided regarding the Canucks’ call-up of Max Sasson earlier this morning. According to Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, forward Teddy Blueger is questionable for tonight’s contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets due to the flu. Unfortunately, if his illness were to prohibit him from playing tonight, it would be the first time Blueger has missed a game all season. The consistent bottom-six forward has scored eight goals and 23 points in 72 games with Vancouver this season.

Coaching Options Ramping Up For Flyers

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While the Flyers fired head coach John Tortorella just this morning, the rumors of their next leader are already ramping up, and a former Flyers legend is on the list of names.

Despite the Canucks desire to keep their current head coach Rick Tocchet, TSN insider Pierre LeBrun notes that he is the only NHL coach currently on an expiring contract, giving him flexibility to entertain options such as the Flyers’ vacancy after the season. Tocchet recently noted that he is not thinking about his current contract while the Canucks find themselves in a playoff race and would be interested in contract negotiations only after the season concludes for Vancouver. In three seasons with the Canucks, Tocchet has amassed a 104-61-25 record and took home the 2023-24 Jack Adams Award after guiding the club to a 50-23-9 mark.

LeBrun said he can see Tocchet’s future going in several different directions, including throwing his hat in the ring for coaching opportunities outside of Vancouver. Given his history in Philadelphia, LeBrun adds that speculation will rightly ramp up surrounding mural interest between the coach and organization. In 11 seasons as a player in Philly, the fiery power forward recorded 508 points to go along with a hefty 1,815 penalty minutes. Already a fan favorite from his first stint with the team, Tocchet’s return to Philly for his final two-and-a-half seasons secured his legacy as one of the organization’s most beloved players. Following his playing career, Tocchet also served as a post-game analyst in Philly for several seasons.

With the season winding down, LeBrun added that the Flyers will rightly wait until after the season to begin their coaching search. LeBrun speculated on a few additional names, including Joel Quenneville (who is eligible to return to coaching), University of Denver Coach David Carle, and current interim coach Brad Shaw. This is the second interim head coaching position for Shaw, who experienced a similar situation with the New York Islanders during the 2005-06 season when head coach Steve Stirling was fired. Shaw guided the Isles to an 18-18-4 record and was not retained. He has since bounced around the league in various assistant coaching roles.

Canucks Notes: Tocchet, Boeser, Offseason Target, Celebrini

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Don’t expect to hear any news about a contract extension for Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet anytime soon.  Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre relays that the bench boss noted on local radio earlier this week that he has told management that he does not want to discuss a new deal at this time.  Instead, he wants to concentrate his focus on Vancouver’s playoff push.  The Canucks hold a club option on Tocchet’s contract for next season, one that’s expected to be exercised should a new deal not be reached in the meantime while Tocchet noted that his decision shouldn’t be construed as a lack of desire to remain behind the bench or a play for more leverage.

More from Vancouver:

  • The Canucks weren’t able to re-sign or find a suitable trade for Brock Boeser before the trade deadline earlier this month. Speaking with Pierre LeBrun in a piece for The Athletic (subscription link), GM Patrik Allvin wouldn’t rule out the possibility of further extension talks taking place even though the two sides weren’t close enough to hammer out a deal a couple of weeks ago, shifting them to focus toward a trade that didn’t materialize.  Boeser is having a bit of a quieter year, notching 20 goals and 21 assists through 61 games after potting 40 goals and 33 helpers just last season.  It’s believed that he turned down a five-year, roughly $40MM extension offer earlier in the season but it’s unclear what Vancouver’s most recent offer was.
  • While the Canucks picked up Filip Chytil as part of the J.T. Miller trade earlier this season, don’t be surprised if they add another center this summer. Allvin revealed in the same interview that “definitely we’ll do that in the offseason, whether that’s through trade or free-agent signing.”  Pius Suter is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer so if he departs, they will certainly have another opening down the middle to fill while Chytil’s concussion history will likely motivate them to get some more center depth as well.
  • Prospect Aiden Celebrini is expected to remain at Boston University next season, relays Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest. The 20-year-old defenseman was a sixth-round pick by Vancouver back in 2023, going 171st overall.  He’s close to wrapping up his sophomore year with the Terriers and has a goal and five assists through 26 games this season.  The Canucks hold Celebrini’s rights through August 15, 2027.

Pacific Notes: Oilers, Tocchet, Mantha

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The Oilers announced multiple hockey operations promotions and additions today, chief among them confirming Zack Kassian’s return to the organization as a pro scout, as previously reported. But that wasn’t the only notable hiring.

They’ve also promoted former NHLer Warren Rychel to their director of pro scouting. Edmonton didn’t have that role in the organization last year – it was included in assistant general manager Brad Holland’s responsibilities. But they needed to fill Holland’s duties by committee after mutually parting ways with him on Tuesday. Rychel had served as a pro scout with the Oilers since the 2022-23 season and will have his job filled by Kassian.

Edmonton also added Dominik Zrim, a co-founder of the now-defunct CapFriendly, as their director of hockey strategy. He’s held similar roles with the Blackhawks and Sharks over the past few years as well.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • 2024 Jack Adams Trophy winner Rick Tocchet has no worries about his future in Vancouver despite not having a contract past this season. He said on a radio appearance today that his “strong relationship” with GM Patrik Allvin and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford leaves him “not at all concerned” (via Sportsnet 650’s Brendan Batchelor). The 60-year-old worked closely with the pair as an assistant coach with the Penguins from 2014 to 2017. He’s guided the Canucks to a 70-35-13 record (.648%) since taking over for Bruce Boudreau midway through the 2022-23 season.
  • The Flames expect Anthony Mantha to be one of their top scoring chance generators this season after inking him to a one-year, $3.5MM contract in free agency. He said to reporters today that head coach Ryan Huska told him he’ll likely be among Calgary’s leaders in ice time among forwards and wants him to “shoot almost 300 pucks,” per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis. Mantha, 30, had 23 goals and 44 points in 74 games between the Capitals and Golden Knights last season and has started camp in Calgary on a line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil.

West Notes: Perfetti, Tocchet, Weegar, MacDonell

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Several restricted free agents have signed new deals in recent days as they ensured they’d be ready for the start of training camp.  However, that might not be the case for Jets forward Cole Perfetti.  TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on the latest Insider Trading segment that there is still a significant gap to bridge between the two sides in contract discussions.  Perfetti is coming off a season that saw him score 19 goals and 19 assists in 71 games but also saw him spend time as a healthy scratch, including in the playoffs.  This is a fairly obvious case for a bridge contract but even those can sometimes take a little longer to hammer out and this might be one of those cases.

Elsewhere out West:

  • After a surprise showing last season that saw the Canucks sit atop the Pacific Division, some wondered if they’d look to work out an extension with head coach Rick Tocchet. However, GM Patrik Allvin told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that with the team holding a club option on his contract for 2025-26, it’s too early to begin those talks just yet, noting they’ll get into those discussions when the time is right for both sides.  Vancouver has a 70-35-13 record under Tocchet so far, good for a .648 points percentage.
  • With the Flames embarking on a rebuild, some veterans have already been moved out while others might want out at some point. Don’t expect that to be the case for defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, however, as the blueliner told reporters including Josh Clipperton of the Canadian Press that he believes in the city and the team and has no desire to leave Calgary.  Weegar was acquired as part of the Matthew Tkachuk trade and quickly signed an eight-year, $50MM contract extension with a franchise that was trying to contend at the time.  Now, it appears he’ll be a key veteran to lean on during their rebuilding process.
  • Stars prospect Angus MacDonell has been drafted for the second time in as many years. After Dallas selected the 19-year-old in the sixth round last year, the NLL’s Buffalo Bandits announced (Twitter link) that they selected MacDonell in the fourth round of their draft on Sunday.  On top of recording 62 points in 61 games last season with OHL Mississauga, he also put up 29 points in 30 games in the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League, helping to earn this most recent selection.  Dallas has until June 1st to sign MacDonell to an entry-level deal and if one doesn’t materialize, he at least might have a fallback plan.

Pacific Notes: Mylymok, Goure, Draisaitl, Canucks

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The AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, the Calgary Wranglers, made a pair of signings today as Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey reports the organization has signed forward Connor Mylymok to an AHL contract and has also signed forward Deni Goure to an AHL contract. Both players will be making their AHL debuts next season.

Mylymok is not unfamiliar with professional hockey as the youngster racked up three goals in 11 games with the Idaho Steelheads at the end of last season. After finishing off a two-year stretch with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in which he scored four goals and 14 points in 47 games, the Jackson, MS native transferred to Niagara University last year. He achieved his most productive season with the Purple Eagles, scoring six goals and 11 points in 37 games.

The Wranglers should get more offensive proficiency from Goure who recently finished a five-year career with the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack. From 2019-24 (albeit losing the entire 2020-21 season), Goure suited up in 259 games for the Attack and was nearly a point-per-game player with 102 goals and 251 points. He’s a bit undersized at 5’10” but does play with a speed to his game that should transition nicely to the AHL.

Other Pacific notes:

  • Although there have been some rumblings behind Leon Draisaitl’s next extension with the Edmonton Oilers, it does not appear that a signing will happen anytime soon. Ryan Rishaug of TSN reports that the two sides have been in touch over the summer but negotiations on the extension have not commenced. The Oilers’ recent hiring of Stan Bowman to the general manager position may have delayed the signing. Still, the news is surprising as reports from earlier in the month indicated that Draisaitl and his agent were hoping for a deal to be done by the end of August.
  • Rick Tocchet and his fellow members of the Vancouver Canucks coaching staff are preparing for a three-day summit as referenced in an article from Thomas Drance of The Athletic (Subscription Article). The group’s primary focus is to address the Canucks offense for the 2024-25 NHL season and how best to score on the rush and make in-game counter adjustments. Opposing teams caught on to the fact that Vancouver’s offense was being run from the back by Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek, limiting their productivity for the rest of the season. Although the Canucks will still look for a fair bit of offense from their defensive core, Tocchet is looking to engage the entire group rather than having a one-dimensional scoring system.

International Notes: Team Canada, Kuznetsov, Chernyshov, Rendulic

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Team Canada is already making significant preparations for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament that is set to take place in mid-February next year. The organization announced four assistant coaches who will be on the bench with the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jon Cooper. Bruce Cassidy of the Vegas Golden Knights, Peter DeBoer of the Dallas Stars, Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks, and Misha Donskov of the Stars will all represent their native Canada in next season’s tournament.

All four assistant coaches have previously served with Team Canada in varying capacities. Cassidy suited up for Team Canada in the 1984 IIHF World Junior Championship but did not earn a medal while also playing for Canada’s National Team during the 1986-87 season where he scored three goals and nine points in 12 games. As a player and a coach, the 4 Nations Face-Off will be Cassidy’s official return to Team Canada.

Tocchet joins Cassidy as the only other member of the staff to be joining Team Canada as a coach for the first time. Tocchet played in the 1987 and 1991 iterations of the Canada Cup where Canada secured gold against the Soviet Union and the United States. Vancouver’s head coach suited up for Team Canada’s World Championship after his dominant 1989-90 season concluded.

DeBoer and Donskov have considerable experience coaching Team Canada with most of their work coming in the World Junior Championships. DeBoer served as an assistant coach with Team Canada for the 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015 tournaments with Canada winning gold in the final year. Similarly, Donskov served as a video coach to Team Canada during their pursuit of gold in 2015 while winning another gold medal with the team in 2016 as an assistant coach.

Other international notes:

  • Former forward for the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes, Evgeny Kuznetsov will be leaving for his native Russia as SKA St. Petersburg announced they had signed the veteran to a four-year contract earlier today. Kuznetsov will earn $950K in each year of his deal with access to substantial bonuses. According to Daria Tuboltseva of RG.org, Kuznetsov will earn $3.5MM if he reaches the top three in scoring, $3.5MM if he reaches the top three in goal scoring, $3.5MM if he reaches the top three in +/-, and $1.2MM for winning the Gagarin Cup. This means that on his four-year contract, Kuznetsov will have the opportunity to earn $47MM in salary if he can achieve all his bonus markers.
  • Beat writer for the San Jose Sharks, Curtis Pashelka, reports that Sharks’ prospect Igor Chernyshov has terminated his contract with Dynamo Moscow and will head to North America for the 2024-25 NHL season. There has been no indication that San Jose is trying to sign Chernyshov to his entry-level contract. Chernyshov was a potential first-round talent in the 2024 NHL Draft that fell to 33rd overall in the second round. The OHL’s Saginaw Spirit selected Chernyshov in the most recent OHL Import Draft with the 56th overall selection, and he will likely suit up for them next season.
  • Former depth forward for the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks, Borna Rendulic, has decided to extend his stay with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. According to EliteProspects, Rendulic is in agreement with St. Petersburg on an extension that will keep him with the organization for the 2024-25 KHL season. Rendulic was acquired from HC Sochi last year and 11 goals and 27 points in 51 games to close out the season.

Snapshots: Conditional Picks, Tocchet, Thunderbirds

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The final series of the playoffs gets underway tonight with Edmonton taking on Florida.  The events and outcome of the Stanley Cup Final will also affect the draft order in the next three years.  As CapFriendly notes (Twitter link), the following four late-season trades will be finalized based on whoever wins this series:

Ducks/Oilers: The 2025 fifth-round pick that went to Anaheim in the Adam Henrique trade will upgrade to a 2025 4th round pick if Edmonton wins.

Sabres/Panthers: The 2024 seventh-rounder acquired by Buffalo for Kyle Okposo will upgrade to a 2024 fifth-round pick if Florida wins.  (Florida would also incur a $500K cap penalty next season in this scenario as that is payable to Okposo if they win.)

Senators/Panthers: The 2024 fourth-round pick that Ottawa received for Vladimir Tarasenko will become a 2026 third-rounder if Florida wins the series.

Penguins/Panthers: The 2025 seventh-round pick Pittsburgh acquired for Magnus Hellberg will convey if Hellberg plays in two games this round.  Hellberg is on Florida’s active roster as a Black Ace recall but has yet to play this postseason.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is heading into the final guaranteed season of his contract next season though there is a team option for 2025-26 as well. The bench boss told reporters including Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province that there have yet to be any discussions about a contract extension, nor is he concerned about that.  Tocchet led Vancouver to a surprising first-place finish in the Pacific Division with 109 points, helping him earn the Jack Adams Award last month.
  • The AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds (affiliate of the Blues) announced that they’ve hired long-time NHL blueliner Jaroslav Modry and AHL veteran Chad Wiseman as their new assistant coaches. Modry spent the last three seasons coaching in his native Czechia while Wiseman had been coaching with OHL Guelph since 2018-19.  They join NHL veteran Steve Konowalchuk on a new-look coaching staff.

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