Well, you knew this was coming.
After weeks of speculation and every NHL insider confirming that the Canucks had informed Rick Tocchet that he was going to be their next head coach, it’s official.
On Sunday morning, after a 9:30 AM meeting with him, the Vancouver Canucks have fired Bruce Boudreau. Along with Boudreau, the Canucks have fired assistant coach Trent Cull, the coach in charge of the defence.
To replace them, the Canucks — as you were expecting by now — hired Tocchet and Stanley Cup winner Adam Foote. Sergei Gonchar has also been hired as a defensive development coach. Both Tocchet and Gonchar have preexisting relationships with both Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin from their days in Pittsburgh.
“We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Bruce and Trent for their contributions to this organization,” said GM Patrik Allvin. “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.
“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. 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 defencemen 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.”
Foote last served as the head coach of the Kelowna Rockets in 2019-20, and has served as a development consultant for the Colorado Avalanche in the past. Gonchar served as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
Tocchet takes over with six seasons of head coaching experience under his belt, with a career record of 178-200-60 during stints with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2008-2010 and the Arizona Coyotes from 2017-2021. He won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins as an assistant coach in 2016 and 2017.
Tocchet will be introduced to the media at a 1 PM press conference today, and we’ll have plenty of coverage surrounding that.
More to come.
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