Flyers Rumors: Canucks Decline Club Option on Tocchet

Mention the Flyers search for a new head coach and there’s one name that has been in the running multiple times over. Rick Tocchet, a longtime player inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame in 2021.

But at the time of the Flyers most recent coaching change, relieving John Tortorella of his duties on March 27, Tocchet was still coaching the Vancouver Canucks. Tocchet has been the head coach in Vancouver since Jan. 22, 2023. 

On Monday, the door was opened for that possibility as the Canucks announced that they have declined the club option on Tocchet’s contract for the 2025-26 season. 

“I believe the communication has been good this year, and it’s even better since the season’s ended,” Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford said. “We don’t feel it’s right to have somebody here that may have his mind somewhere else. I’d say that about anybody, this is not just about him.”

With multiple openings looming, including one with the team that drafted him in 1983, the speculation is sure to already begin. But Rutherford had nothing but positive things to say about Tocchet and the job he’s done in Vancouver. 

From the Canucks’ standpoint, this is more about providing Tocchet with a long-term extension rather than dismissing him into the free-agent pool among coaches.

“I believe he and his coaching staff did as good a job coaching this team this year as they did the year before when he was coach of the year,” Rutherford said. “He was dealt a totally different hand this year, but the team won the division.

“We talked enough about the [J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson] incident that happened and affected the chemistry of the room and affected the play of the team in the first half that forced the trade. But with all of the going on, how he handled the situation and how he handled the team was really good. So I give him and his staff kudos for the job they did this year.”

The contract officially expires on June 30, but the Canucks are expecting to have a decision from Tocchet this week. In addition to the Flyers’ coaching vacancy, the Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers, and Seattle Kraken have all fired their head coaches this week. Boston and Chicago also finished the season with interim head coaches.

The Canucks finished the 2022-23 season with a 20-12-4 record in 36 games under Tocchet. 

In 2023-24, the Canucks won the Pacific Division with a 50-23-9 record. They also made it to the second round of the playoffs, winning seven playoff games. Tocchet was named the Jack Adams Award winner for that season.

This season, the Canucks had a 38-30-14 record, finishing fifth in the Pacific Division and missing the playoffs.

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.