Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is returning to the panel on NHL on TNT broadcasts for the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it certainly seems he has a little work to do to get back in the good books of his on-air counterparts.
TNT shared a funny video to its Twitter account on Saturday satirizing Tocchet’s return to the network. It certainly seems as though the network moved on pretty quickly after Tocchet’s departure …
Of course, this is all in jest (or is it? … ). Tocchet was a popular fixture on the NHL on TNT panel for the better part of two seasons, appearing on the network from the start of 2021–22 until the Canucks hired him on Jan. 22 to replace Bruce Boudreau as head coach.
Tocchet, 59, has served as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Arizona Coyotes, and Canucks since retiring as a player in 2002. Over parts of seven seasons behind an NHL bench, Tocchet has guided his teams to a 198–212–64 record and has qualified for the playoffs once (with Arizona in 2020).
As a player, Tocchet spent 11 of his 18 NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, but it was the Pittsburgh Penguins with whom he won his only Stanley Cup championship in 1992. He later won the Cup twice more as an assistant coach with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017.
Tocchet scored 440 goals and 952 points in 1,144 career NHL regular-season games with the Flyers, Penguins, Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals. He added 52 goals and 112 points in 145 postseason contests.
The Canucks finished the 2022–23 regular season in sixth place in the Pacific Division — a dozen points outside the playoff picture — with a 38–37–7 record and 83 points in 82 games. Tocchet guided the club to a 20–12–4 record after taking over for Boudreau in January.
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