Report: Rick Tocchet was a final candidate for Ducks head coaching job

With the Ducks finding their man, there are now six teams left looking for a head coach: the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Seattle Kraken, the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks, and of course the Vancouver Canucks.

It was originally said that Tocchet was looking to move to a team in the East, to be closer to family, according to Canucks president Jim Rutherford. However it was then rumoured that he is open to taking over for another team in the west. With his name in the mix for the Ducks coaching job, it appears that the former Canucks bench boss is keeping his options wide open at this point.

Earlier Thursday, it was reported that the Boston Bruins are considering Tocchet as a top option to fill their open head coach position, and are currently working on securing an interview. Tocchet played 67 games across two seasons with the Bruins in his playing career, but the majority of his career was spent with the Flyers.

Tocchet has been on the market since parting ways with the Canucks at the end of April, with Vancouver now embroiled in a busy coaching search of their own.

Quenneville is taking over the Ducks just weeks after after Greg Cronin was sacked after two seasons with the team. Quenneville’s hiring comes under controversial circumstances, due to his time at the helm of the Blackhawks when video coach Brad Aldrich allegedly sexually assaulted former player Kyle Beach.

Following a 2021 lawsuit from Beach, a report detailed Quenneville and the organization’s initial failure to act on the allegations, stating that Quenneville was aware of the situation through the Stanley Cup playoffs. He was then banned from working in the NHL, but that was lifted in July 2024. According to Dreger, “the Ducks did an extensive background check specific to the Kyle Beach case, including the work Quenneville has done to reform mistakes made during that time.”