Confirmed with Link: Canucks announce HC Rick Tocchet will Not Return

[orcatown]

I wonder if the dificult and frustrating prospect of trying to get something more out of Pettersson might have influenced the situation. Total speculation as is everything else being said here, but, right now, Pettersson is a huge, dark cloud hanging over the team.

Whether Tocchet is, or is not a great coach still has to be determined, but he seemed well like and respected by the players.

The trumoil around this team seems continuous and the common factor, through the years, has been ownership..

 

[Ernie]

I think Tocchet is overrated. He was obviously popular with some players, and was quote-worthy in his media availabilities, and given Quinn's comments the team had no choice but to try to re-sign him.

But it may be the best he walked away, even if it feels like a kick to the gut

A coach who has a Quinn Hughes on his team but is bottom 3 at generating offensive chances does not have an effective system. Full stop. This idea of a big, slow defence was clearly his creation and sunk the team's chances this season. He was supposed to adjust his system to make up for these deficiencies, but that didn't happen. From a viewers' perspective, his system was also mind-numbingly boring.

The idea that he is good at managing the room is also questionable. Aside from the unresolved question as to who decided it would be a good job to get JT Miller to "motivate" Pettersson this season (that alone should be a fireable offence), it was his job more than anyone's to manage that relationship. It was also his job to figure out how to get the best out of his $12m player. It was his job to keep his team motivated even when things weren't going well, which he failed to do. How many times can you hear a coach complain about his team's lack of effort?

Tocchet had a great 23-24 season, but on the merits, his performance this season was abominable. I was wiling to give him the benefit of the doubt and had hope that with a bolstered assistant coaching staff he'd have a better season next year.

Top to bottom, there is plenty of blame to spread around for the team's poor performance this season, but Tocchet absolutely deserves his share of it. At the end of the day, committing $25m to this coach was likely going to be a mistake, and let's hope the team makes a good choice for his replacement.

 

[ephmrl]

Well, that sucks.

Feels like Philly just tampered the f*** out of us and stole our coach.

Yup.

At the same time, we don’t want a coach here with one foot out the door who’s not committed to the franchise. Guess he didn’t want to embrace the hard, oh well.

Just adds another layer of uncertainty to the offseason, but generally the organization has been pretty solid with their hirings and acquisitions so hopefully they’re able to identify the right coach for this club and don’t just bring in Laviolette because of the name value.

 

[PavelBure10]

I’m warming up to the idea. Manny with Foote/experience associates and assistants/real PP coach could be something good. But rolling the dice with a rookie coach in a pivotal year seems… risky at best.

Would there be Foote though? I've read earlier that if Tochett leaves Foote and Gonchar would most likely go with him.

 

[Brookbank]

I’m sorry, it’s been a few hours, I just finished work, and while I wanna be sympathetic towards everything, and the fact that he wants to go back to the east from what he said if we take him for his word..
I just feel backstabbed, I feel like we wasted the last couple of seasons building a culture for somebody to leave after some struggle.

I don’t know if that makes me an asshole, but it’s just how I feel, I feel like he quit on the logo on the chest

Getting back into the league and staying in it was his first priority. Ironically, if 2023/24 was less successful, other teams would not have the interest in him now. And he would have been happy to just be in the league with a team with some decent pieces on paper.

And JR is from the east so he brought somebody with him from the east. Ownership should have found a GM with some roots in the west

 

[ephmrl]

Would there be Foote though? I've read earlier that if Tochett leaves Foote and Gonchar would most likely go with him.

I think Foote goes where Tocchet goes. I hope they can somehow retain Gonchar, but i doubt it.

 

[JT Milker]

Wow.

As someone who was a pretty big Tocchet supporter right through the end … what a soft BS decision to bail on the team and leave.

Team seems blindsided and this is not a great situation.

Are we entitled to compensation if/when Philly signs him given that we had a team option?

Actually this management group is Benning-tier - people who spent the season complaining about Tocchet’s system.

This does not look good on the org but it looks pretty bad on Tocchet too, and if he was willing to leave like this we don’t want him coaching the team over 2 of the most important years in franchise history.

 

[TruGr1t]

I think Foote goes where Tocchet goes. I hope they can somehow retain Gonchar, but i doubt it.

They are pretty clearly a package deal, and watch Gonchar come on full-time and not do whatever weird part-time thing he was doing here.

 

[rypper]

Ummmm...

 

[Nuckles]

I haven't really been paying attention to what's been going on in Philly. How have they supposedly tampered with the Canucks/Tocchet? (or helped influence the current outcome)

 

[MS]

Actually this management group is Benning-tier - people who spent the season complaining about Tocchet’s system.

This does not look good on the org but it looks pretty bad on Tocchet too, and if he was willing to leave like this we don’t want him coaching the team over 2 of the most important years in franchise history.

This group isn’t even on the same planet as Jim Benning who is by far the worst GM in the history of the NHL.

 

[thecupismine]

Wow.

As someone who was a pretty big Tocchet supporter right through the end … what a soft BS decision to bail on the team and leave.

Team seems blindsided and this is not a great situation.

Are we entitled to compensation if/when Philly signs him given that we had a team option?

He’s entitled to do what he wants, and I wish him all the best, but this 100% leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

To claim to be all about the crest, then be the first Canucks coach in history to simply quit on the team and crest after a season, feels hypocritical.

I still don’t think he would’ve left if he had faith in management & the team, as the only guy I’ve seen voluntarily leave a good team is Scotty Bowman (and that was for retirement? Not old enough to remember all his tenures).

Everyone comes out of this looking bad in my opinion.

 

[rypper]

Paul Maurice left the Jets as well.

 

[PavelBure10]

Tochett - When the going gets tough, leave town immediately and move on.

Preach all you want buddy about playing for the crest on the jersey. You're no better than Miller who gave up on his team. No wonder the two were so compatible.

Good riddance.

 

[Canucks LB]

Hey, I just thought of a pretty wild idea.
Make Adam foote the head coach.
He knows the system, he’s a great coach, has a relationship with Quinn Hughes, just something that popped up in my head

 

[TruGr1t]

He’s entitled to do what he wants, and I wish him all the best, but this 100% leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

To claim to be all about the crest, then be the first Canucks coach in history to simply quit on the team and crest after a season, feels hypocritical.

I still don’t think he would’ve left if he had faith in management & the team, as the only guy I’ve seen voluntarily leave a good team is Scotty Bowman (and that was for retirement? Not old enough to remember all his tenures).

Everyone comes out of this looking bad in my opinion.

Rutherford even said how rare this was during his presser ... ie. for a coach to say he just doesn't want to coach somewhere anymore.

My main question is whether this is another example of this management team leaving something too long to "take the temperature" or whatever they do. If they wanted him so badly, could they have signed him last summer after the playoffs, even at a lesser rate? These guys have a habit of letting contracts run out and then assuming that someone will sign another one for some reason.

This season was an outright, unmitigated disaster for a number of reasons, some controllable and others not, but it is costing them right now ... and may well continue to cause issues moving forward.

 

[SillyRabbit]

I kinda don't blame Tocchet?

This team regressed significantly in the past year.

We sold low on Miller, Pettersson fell off a cliff, Boeser is walking and our #1 goaltender might never play a full season again.

No coach can turn this around. This is a roster issue.

 

[4th line culture]

Well, that sucks.

Feels like Philly just tampered the f*** out of us and stole our coach.

If he can be stolen so easily he was never really our coach

 

[LordBacon]

I’ve seen enough, welcome back my friend Jim Benning.

 

[Ernie]

I wonder if the dificult and frustrating prospect of trying to get something more out of Pettersson might have influenced the situation. Total speculation as is everything else being said here, but, right now, Pettersson is a huge, dark cloud hanging over the team.

Whether Tocchet is, or is not a great coach still has to be determined, but he seemed well like and respected by the players.

The trumoil around this team seems continuous and the common factor, through the years, has been ownership..

It's the coach's job to get the most out of his star players. Pettersson looked broken for most of the season, and while a guy who makes $12m needs to be responsible for his own play, Tocchet's decision to play him away from Hughes was an odd choice given how effective they were together. Pettersson's most productive stretch of the season was when Miller was suspended and Tocchet had no choice but to play his remaining stars together. The fact that Miller was given this ice time back on his return was the wrong message to send to the team.

 

[ExarKun80]

I’m sorry, it’s been a few hours, I just finished work, and while I wanna be sympathetic towards everything, and the fact that he wants to go back to the east from what he said if we take him for his word..
I just feel backstabbed, I feel like we wasted the last couple of seasons building a culture for somebody to leave after some struggle.

I don’t know if that makes me an asshole, but it’s just how I feel, I feel like he quit on the logo on the chest

 

[Canucks LB]

I kinda don't blame Tocchet?

This team regressed significantly in the past year.

We sold low on Miller, Pettersson fell off a cliff, Boeser is walking and our #1 goaltender might never play a full season again.

No coach can turn this around. This is a roster issue.

The coach plays an important role in the locker room, the coach plays an important role to having the players be prepared, he has to be also held responsible for that poor year.

 

[F A N]

I talked about Tocchet wanting to be close to his son in the past but isn’t his offseason home in Vegas? I am guessing that he got a hint that he has a high chance of getting one of the Pennsylvania jobs?

What do you mean it's a lame excuse? The lack of a practice facility affects his job EVERY DAY, whereas with literally any other team (outside of Calgary), it doesn't. It's a clear downgrade to your daily work. Imagine if you are a standard office worker, and you would have to work in a different office multiple times a week? Not only that, you have to go to a meeting to the other side of the town, and maybe you need to do some more office work at another place so that's 3 locations a day. Also, having to stop somewhere to eat.

Now imagine, this could all be done at a single location? Do you understand how much of a difference that makes? Some people really underestimate what a practice facility for a professional sports team is. It's not just a place where you go to have standard practice on ice. You do your gym workouts there. You do your massage therapy there. You have your food and catering there. You have your team meetings and video sessions there. That is your workplace as an NHL team member.

Aren’t you a Rangers’ fan? Isn’t their practice facility 40+ minutes away (more with traffic )?

I agree with the points you made but there are only 32 head coaching positions available. We haven’t really had notable issues retaining players or coaches in the past (obviously there are individual circumstances).

 

[Josepho]

I kinda don't blame Tocchet?

This team regressed significantly in the past year.

We sold low on Miller, Pettersson fell off a cliff, Boeser is walking and our #1 goaltender might never play a full season again.

No coach can turn this around. This is a roster issue.

Leaving after your first rough year with a team (especially when one of the reasons the team regressed was his input on the defensive depth) and all the commentary about "toughness" is spineless.

I'm also extremely skeptical that Philadelphia is going in a positive direction.

 

[Nuckles]

I’ve seen enough, welcome back my friend Jim Benning.

Jim Benning built this team, get him back here.