The amount of people trolling from other franchises (notably the Oilers) in this thread is more than even the usual amount. Dunno if they think that reflects well on them or something but it surely doesnt. (not saying all of them are troll posts but many many are).
As for Tocchet he was a fairly overrated coach. People keep saying PDO but refuse to go look at what actually changed in the PDO year to year. The biggest change was going from a top save percent in the league to dead last for the majority of the year. Shooting percent went from the top to above average, and they certainly could have still won with that. Demko giving Vezina calibre goaltending covered up a lot of deficiencies in that team that then were exposed when he missed more or less this entire season (had stints back but never long enough to get into a rhythm).
Big part of the picture is Ian Clark stepping back too. Canucks used 3 different goalies in the playoffs last year and had amazing results with all three and for years have had every goalie step in and do well. Last year without Ian Clark it just wasnt nearly as good and that will continue to be a problem. Tocchet couldnt get a team with one of the best offensive and possession players in the league to consistently create chances. The on ice impact for Hughes compared to when he isnt there is staggering, but none of that was Tocchet it was all Quinn Hughes. Tocchet also really didnt help the Petey/Miller situation, in fact he made it worse multiple times by commenting on it openly (him and Rutherford).
As for whether its a good thing hes gone, that isnt an easy question since it comes down to who of the available coaches would want to try to take on the Canucks job when the chance to coach Sid or the NYR is available. I have faith in management to bring in another center and make good moves, theyve consistently done so every year and have some money to work with now, but in all likelihood we end up with either a coach on their first job or someone we dont want (or id not be excited for). Im fairly optimistic for next year, especially if Demko is healthy, but a lot depends on who replaced Tocchet and what moves they make for sure.
