Vancouver Canucks officially fire Bruce Boudreau, hire Rick Tocchet
The Vancouver Canucks made the official announcement Sunday that Bruce Boudreau has been fired as head coach and Rick Tocchet has been hired to replace him.
Boudreau, 68, had guided the Canucks to a 32-15-10 record last season after replacing Travis Green as coach. The Canucks, however, sputtered to a 18-25-2 record under him this season, and his impending firing was the worst kept secret in the league. He coached his final two games with the team with the knowledge that they would likely be his last and was openly emotional speaking to reporters about it heading into the weekend.
In addition to the Boudreau firing, assistant coach Brent Cull was let go as well. After Tocchet was officially hired, the Canucks announced that former NHL defensemen Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar will be joining his coaching staff as an assistant coach and defensive development coach, respectively.
Tocchet presumably chose Gonchar and Foote because it helps to have familiar faces on the coaching staff. Tocchet was the assistant coach for the Colorado Avalanche in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, while Foote was playing there. Gonchar and Tocchet know each other from being around the game overlapping as coaches while with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Bruce and Trent for their contributions to this organization,” said Canucks GM Patrik Allvin in a team release. “We appreciate their dedication and wish them nothing but the best moving forward. This was not an easy decision to make, but one that we felt was necessary for this franchise.”
He also spoke about the hirings of Tocchet, Foote, and Gonchar to the coaching staff:
“Rick Tocchet brings a wealth of knowledge to this team from both a coach and player perspective. He has had more than two decades of coaching experience, guiding teams of various styles,” Allvin said. “As a player, he displayed a high level of character, grit and intensity, while recording impressive offensive numbers.”
“We are also excited about the additions of Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar to our coaching staff. Both individuals enjoyed long, successful playing careers as NHL defensemen and together provide a wide range of expertise on both sides of the puck. Tocchet, Foote, and Gonchar all bring a championship pedigree to the organization and we look forward to welcoming them to Vancouver.”
Tocchet is an 18-year NHL veteran who played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and the Phoenix Coyotes during his career. Tocchet was a hard-nosed goal-scorer and a Stanley Cup champion with the 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins team.
In his career, he scored 440 goals and 952 points in 1144 games. He ranks 10th all-time with 2972 penalty minutes.
Tocchet began his coaching career right after hanging up the skates for good. He would work as an assistant coach for the Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Coyotes, and Tampa Bay Lightning from 2002-2009. Part of the way through the 2008-09 season, Tocchet got his first head coaching gig when the Lightning fired Barry Melrose after a poor start to the season.
Tocchet only coached one full season in Tampa, missing the playoffs. He left coaching for a few years and in 2014-15 he joined the Penguins as an assistant coach. His three years there earned him the nickname “The Kessel Whisperer” as he would be the one handling the emotions of Penguins’ scorer Phil Kessel during heated matchups.
Tocchet was the head coach of the Arizona Coyotes for four seasons from 2017-2021. They competed in the postseason once during his tenure, in 2019-20. Since the 2020-21 season, he has been working as a TV analyst for NHL on TNT.