Rick Tocchet won’t return because the Vancouver Canucks head coach subsequent season.
The NHL workforce introduced the information on Tuesday, saying Tocchet has chosen to step away after discussions with the workforce and administration.
“I am selecting to maneuver on from the Vancouver Canucks,” Tocchet stated in a press release launched by the workforce.
“Household is a precedence, and with my contract lapsing, this turns into the opportune time. Whereas I do not know the place I am headed or precisely how it will play out for me over the close to time period, I really feel like that is the correct time for me to discover different alternatives in and round hockey.”
Tocchet had a 108-65-27 report after taking up the Vancouver bench on Jan. 22, 2023, and his contract gave the Canucks the choice of preserving him for subsequent season.
Vancouver’s president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, stated earlier this month that the workforce wouldn’t train that possibility, however needed to maintain Tocchet behind the bench and would proceed negotiations.
“That is very disappointing information, however we respect Rick’s determination to maneuver to a brand new chapter in his hockey profession,” Rutherford stated Tuesday.
“We did all the things in our energy to maintain him, however on the finish of the day, Rick felt he wanted a change. He is an effective pal, a great coach, and we won’t thank him sufficient for all he did for our group. Toc is a stand-up man, and we want him nothing however the perfect transferring ahead.”
Tocchet guided the Canucks to their first playoff look in 4 seasons final 12 months earlier than Vancouver was eradicated by the Edmonton Oilers in a gritty seven-game sequence within the second spherical.
The 61-year-old former NHL winger received the Jack Adams award because the league’s prime coach final season and was named an assistant coach for Canada on the 4 Nations Face-Off match in February.

Season’s struggles
Nonetheless, the Canucks struggled via the 2024-25 marketing campaign, ending with a 38-30-14 report and lacking the post-season by six factors.
Requested at Vancouver’s end-of-season information convention whether or not he’d wish to return, Tocchet stated he wanted time to work via “a course of” earlier than making a call.
“All 12 months I’ve barely breathed,” he stated. “Through the break day, I used to be at 4 Nations, you are attempting to get this workforce into the playoffs, coping with plenty of stuff. So I have not actually considered myself. … I do must take a breath and undergo it. With respect to either side, you do must undergo the method. It’s a must to.”
The Canucks handled accidents and off-ice drama for a lot of final season.
Centres J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson each carried out beneath expectations as rumours circulated about an ongoing feud between them. The Canucks tried to treatment the difficulty by dealing Miller to the New York Rangers on the finish of January, however Pettersson did not regain his offensive prowess following the transfer.
WATCH | Rift between star forwards confirmed:
What gave the impression to be a promising season for the Vancouver Canucks has been upended amid considerations that two of the workforce’s star gamers cannot get alongside.
Star defenceman Quinn Hughes missed 14 video games with a sequence of illnesses, and a knee damage saved beginning goalie Thatcher Demko out of the lineup till Dec. 10. The star netminder had bother staying wholesome following his return.
“It isn’t the season you need,” Tocchet stated. “All people’s bought to take a look at one another, what might have been totally different? It has been a tough 12 months, however it’s additionally been a 12 months the place you possibly can enhance from studying these classes from adversity.”
Rutherford stated on April 21 that Tocchet and his employees had achieved a fantastic job of weathering tough conditions all season, and that the Canucks want to see him again behind the bench.
Stanley Cup winner
Tocchet performed 18 seasons within the NHL as an influence ahead with the Flyers, Penguins, Kings, Bruins, Capitals and Coyotes, and received a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 1992.
He later moved into teaching, serving as bench boss with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Arizona Coyotes, and received back-to-back Stanley Cups as an assistant coach for the Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

Canucks winger Conor Garland performed for Tocchet in each Arizona and Vancouver, and stated he means rather a lot to him as an individual and coach.
“I had him after I was youthful, and now I am 29 with a household, so it is a totally different stage of my life and profession. And he is sort of helped me via plenty of the stuff, clearly, on the ice as a participant and rising and off the ice,” Garland stated.
“I believe each participant within the league desires to be a key participant on a workforce that wins a Cup or goes deep within the playoffs, not only a workforce that is on the backside of the standings. So it is a large distinction as a participant, and he is one of many main causes I used to be capable of make that leap.”
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