Cadence Windsor/Staff reporter

Vancouver Canucks head coach surprises everyone with the effectiveness of his coaching methods, bringing the team to be a top contender in the league.

The Vancouver Canucks, despite joining the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1970, thus being a part of the first expansion from six NHL teams to 14, have never won the much-coveted Stanley Cup. The team after losing the 2011 Stanley Cup finals in game seven, have been on a steep decline ever since, not having snagged a playoff spot in nine long years. But this year, to everyone’s shock, the Canucks came out strong and played hard and not only did they secure a playoff spot, but they ended up sitting atop the entire Western Conference.

Rick Tocchet and Canucks team at the beginning of the 2023/2024 season, home game

So how did the Vancouver team go from sitting dead last just a short year ago, to snagging the win over the entire Western Conference? Rick Tocchet.

Coaching Background

Tocchet, a former NHL forward, most known for his performance in Pittsburg and helping the Penguins secure the cup, started his coaching career through the NHL in the 2002/3 season, as an assistant coach for the Colorado Avalanche. He did not remain with the team for long though, as in the summer of 2005 he was hired to be an assistant coach with the Arizona Coyotes where he soon stepped up as an interim coach well the head coach was out on leave. The team ended 2-3-0 before the head coach returned to his obligations.

Rick Tocchet reflecting on first season as coach in Coyotes post game interview

In 2008, Tocchet moved again, this time to Tampa Bay as an associate coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning where only a few months into his position the head coach was fired and Tochhet stepped up yet again as an interim coach. His first win came three games in, but unfortunately the following nine games ended in losses for the team. After being relayed of his coaching duties when the Lightning came under new management Tocchet served as a live panelist for the Flyers.

Tocchet’s luck was about to turn around though, because as 2010 rolled around, he was soon offered a coaching position on his former team the Pittsburg Penguins where he finally began to fall into the groove of his assistant coaching position, eventually helping lead the team to a history breaking, two back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. This likely reminded Tocchet of his days as a player, winning the Stanley Cup with the penguins!

As 2017 began to wind down, Tocchet was officially hired as a head coach for the Coyotes, the team he had stepped up to mentor for at the beginning of his coaching career.

Three years later, in February of 2020, Tocchet registered his 100th win as head coach, before mutually agreeing with the team to part ways at the end of the season, before taking up a steady job in broadcasting.

Tocchet at his TNT broadcasting job

Finally, on January 22nd, 2023, it was announced to the world that Tocchet was taking over as head coach to the Canucks.

Meeting the Canucks

Canucks former coach Bruce Boudreau, despite only being with the team for a year was much beloved by the fans with a familiar chant “Bruce, there it is!” following him up and down the ice.

“Bruce there it is,” chant at his final Canucks game as head coach

Despite the year of coaching the Canucks going poorly in scores, fans adored the man and as his impending firing grew closer articles like “Shame on Canucks for how they’re treating Bruce Boudreau” were released, with many throwing shame on the man who was set to replace him: Rick Tocchet.

On Tocchet’s first appearance in front of the crowd, he was booed profusely by the fans in attendance of the January 24th home game.  Just three and a half minutes into the game, a jersey was thrown on the ice.

Despite the rowdy crowd the Canucks pulled out a win on Tocchet’s debut, later remarking in the post-game, “The players bought in, there’s been some tough circumstances the last few days. There was a lot of emotions and head spinning. I threw some stuff at them today, we had longer meetings than I like, too. For them to take it in and play good, I commend the players.”

Still fans weren’t convinced of the new coach seeing as for the past three seasons, a new coach had come and gone with each. Just four days into his new job, with the second game now complete, Tocchet recalled feelings of dread he had following a hard 6-1 loss, remembering how he had stood in the Vancouver streets at 3am contemplating if leaving his stable job in broadcasting had been a mistake.

First practice with the Canucks, 2023

Miraculously, almost 15 months since he first started coaching, the Canucks have climbed the ranks and met astonishing feats, even winning the divisional title for the first time in eleven years. Since last season, they have even secured 12 additional wins!

Coaching Style

Tocchet has talked several times about his coaching style, that compared to other coaches in the NHL right now, seems rather simple.

As put by the HockeyWriters his coaching style files down to the following, “players who perform well receive praise, and those who make mistakes are held accountable.”

When coaching, Tocchet expects certain standards to be met and obtained by his players, the first of which is regarding communication.

Not only does Tocchet expect the team to communicate openly and clearly amongst each other and the staff, he holds himself to the same standard. In doing so, it can allow players to better understand the areas that need to be improved by a coach rather than the media directly.

Tocchet when speaking with the media, often isn’t afraid of pointing out areas that his players need to improve on, but he speaks respectfully of the player and often lends much praise.

The next part of Tocchet’s coaching style is perhaps the most prominent: accountability. Though straightforward the coach likes to emphasize the importance of accountability frequently, in both the negative and positive sense.

Lastly, Tocchet likes to focus on paying attention to when action is needed. For example, if Tocchet sees a player gathering excessive penalty minutes he will bench them, as seen when he benched J.T. Miller, for part of a second period despite him being a crucial player. This seemed to let Miller calm down and when the third period came Tocchet put him on, and Miller scored!

JT Miller playing at Canucks game

Tocchet’s patience, and structured coaching methods have allowed the team to become a real contender for the cup. Clearly the roster of players, despite having gone through changes since he first arrived, are exceptionally talented and just needed the right coach, which Tocchet stepped up to be. His coaching style is admirable and classic, yet still allows for conversations and discussions between staff and players.

Tocchet continues to be a flexible coach, blending with the team excellently. Just recently he remarked, “I love getting booed,” as he seemingly has no problem playing the villain, when necessary, well keeping it light, often cracking jokes.

So come down and cheer on the team in the following couple days! Different facilities all across British Columbia are putting on free watch parties for you and your friends, for example Porier Sports and Leisure Complex is holding one that anyone can attend. With hockey being as important as it is to Canadian culture, it is a fun thing for students to come cheer for and watch with their peers thus fostering a greater sense of community.

Overall, Tocchet did an incredible job of directing the team this far, the difference between last year is absolutely astounding and they almost look like a whole different team under Tocchet’s direction. Because of this, Tocchet is the fan favourite to receive the Jack Adam’s Award and even fans cheering for opposing teams have to admit that the turnaround is incredible and much of it can be accredited to Tocchet!

Images

Images (featured)

Sources