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Rick Tocchet Calls Out Canadian Media in New Interview

Originally posted on House of Hockey | By Tom Banks | Last updated May 21, 2025 9:00 PM ET

Rick Tocchet is one of many people that have left a Canadian NHL market in recent years, and like many others, he's now taken a swipe at the media.

After a highly successful 2023/24 campaign, many expected the Vancouver Canucks to be a genuine Stanley Cup threat this season, but ultimately, the team struggled under the weight of injuries, drama and the pressure of a Canadian market.

The team would ultimately fail to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and as a result, Rick Tocchet departed the team, becoming the new Head Coach of the Philadelphia Flyers early this off-season.

After that announcement, Tocchet did an interview that saw him be very complimentary of Vancouver and his time spent with the team, but in his latest interview, he's thrown a little jab at the media in Vancouver.

'I was in Vancouver and it's like you're dealing with 25 guys a day.'

Obviously that was a little bit of an exaggeration, but the pressure that comes with coaching a Canadian NHL team is like no other in North American sports, and now he's taken his first shot at the media since his departure.

Overall, the belief is that Tocchet's experience in Vancouver was mostly positive, but with the issue of the media and the training facility, it's easy to see why he's much, much happier to be with the team he represented for 11 seasons at the NHL level.

Ultimately, it's never going to be easy to coach a team in Canada, and with all of the drama that surrounded Vancouver with the J.T. Miller/Elias Pettersson drama, it was even worse for him in 2024/25, and now it's clear he's much happier to be elsewhere.

This article first appeared on House of Hockey and was syndicated with permission.

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