There has been plenty of speculation into the reasons why Rick Tocchet left the Vancouver Canucks, where he spent just two-and-a-half seasons as head coach.
Did he want to be closer to family in the east? Was he burnt out by the drama of last season? Did he know something we don’t about Quinn Hughes’ future in Vancouver?
“It was a very, very positive experience when I was in Vancouver,” said Tocchet in an interview with Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal. “So, you guys will think, why the hell did you leave, you idiot?”
The exact reasons why Tocchet left will only ever be known fully by Tocchet himself, as it certainly would be understandable if he kept some cards close to his chest. But Tocchet has generally been open and honest in interviews, so he’s revealed at least some of the reasons why he left.
What a coach wants, what a coach needs
In his press conference where he was introduced as the new head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, Tocchet gave some of the reasons why he signed with Philadelphia, and it’s easy to see how the inverse of those reasons could explain why he left Vancouver.
“What do coaches want?” said Tocchet. “There’s a lot of draft picks. There’s a lot of prospects. Untapped talent. The stability of ownership. I walked around that practice facility, I walked around here, the inside, the bowels, right? There’s so many tools to work with. The practice rink has three sheets of ice. As a coach, you’re like, ‘Oh my god.’ These are the things you want as a coach.”
The Flyers have picked six times in the first two rounds in the last two drafts and have seven picks in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft; the Canucks have picked in the first round just twice in the last five years and seem likely to trade their 2025 first-round pick for immediate help.
Given the imbalance in picks made in recent years, the Flyers’ prospect pool is also better than that of the Canucks, though the gap is not as big as it might have been with Matvei Michkov graduating to the NHL this past season. But the Flyers’ prospect pool is about to get a major injection of talent, while the Canucks’ pool could take a hit if they need to move out a prospect in a trade for a top-six centre.
Tocchet praised the Flyers’ stability of ownership; the Canucks’ ownership group just saw the departure of one of the Aquilini brothers.
Then there’s the practice facility. Once the Calgary Flames finish construction on their new arena, the Canucks will be the only team in the NHL without a practice facility — in fact, they’ll be the only professional hockey team in Vancouver without one.
While some Canucks fans might dismiss the lack of a practice facility, thinking it’s not a big deal, for Tocchet, seeing the Flyers’ facility was an “Oh my god” moment: “These are the things you want as a coach.”
Whatever makes him happy and sets him free
It’s certainly easy to read into Tocchet’s comments about the Flyers, but Tocchet himself gave different reasons for leaving Vancouver when he spoke to Taylor and Dhaliwal.
“A little bit of a fresh start, get back east, some other little things,” said Tocchet. “I was there two-and-a-half years, incredible experience. The market, the fans — I mean, I lived downtown, I used to walk the city, just incredible people. It’s hard to explain why with all these positives: obviously, the ownership with Francesco Aquilini was unreal to me. Jim [Rutherford] and Patrik [Allvin] will always be lifelong friends. And, obviously, the players did a hell of a job for me.
“So yeah, it’s hard to really tell you guys why. I just felt it was the right decision for me.”
So, it wasn’t an issue with ownership, and he had no issue with the fans or the city — or the media, he made clear later on — but it still felt like the right decision. He expanded on that thought a little bit later in the interview.
“Sometimes in life, you have decisions you’ve got to make,” said Tocchet. “You hit the crossroads, you’ve got to go right or left, and sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you don’t. You’ve got to go with your conviction. It wasn’t a quit thing, it was just something I felt for me to evolve and just in my life, this was the right decision.
“There are other things, you know, I can’t — I’m not going to dive into it. I just feel like this was the time.”
And he's thanking you for giving it to him
Still, Tocchet had to admit the practice facility was a factor in his decision.
“Listen, I’d be lying if [I said] it wasn’t,” said Tocchet. “It’s not that bad in Vancouver. UBC is nice, it’s not horrible. But I will say the Flyers’ facility is state-of-the-art. It’s got an 8000 square foot gym. It’s got all the amenities. I mean, they’ve spared no expense, and it’s a good tool for a coach. It really is.”
It’s worth noting that joining the Flyers is a homecoming for Tocchet. The Flyers drafted Tocchet in the sixth round of the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. His playing career started and ended in Philadelphia, with stops in five other cities in between. There’s clearly a lot of love in his heart for the city and its fans.
“I’m so excited to be in this area,” said Tocchet at his introductory press conference. “I was a young kid at 19 when I came over the Walt Whitman Bridge to play my first game at The Spectrum. Now I’ve been gone for about 20-something years…How do you not love Flyers fans?”
The answer may be as simple as that. As much as Tocchet enjoyed Vancouver and wanted to bring the Canucks their first Stanley Cup, he has a nostalgic connection to the Flyers. He never won a Cup with the Flyers, winning his lone Cup as a player the season he was traded to their hated rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Perhaps he sees this as unfinished business.
If that’s the case, perhaps 20-something years from now, Tocchet will return to Vancouver for the business he left unfinished here.
