Rick Tocchet to be named Philadelphia Flyers’ next head coach

Tocchet had two stints with the Flyers as a player, spending 11 seasons in Philadelphia. He is a member of the Flyers’ Hall of Fame.

Tocchet was connected to the Flyers almost immediately after John Tortorella essentially fired himself in March. That noise quieted down a bit, but picked back up after Tocchet announced he wouldn’t be returning to the Canucks.

The Canucks now have a vacancy at the head coaching position, and it’s believed that Manny Malhotra and Adam Foote are the front runners for the role.

Tocchet has an all time coaching record of 286-265-87 across nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Arizona Coyotes, and Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks originally hired Tocchet to replace Bruce Boudreau, and Tocchet helped lead the club to their first division title since 2012-13 during the 2023-24 season.

Through 200 regular-season games with the Canucks, Tocchet finished with a 108-65-27 record and as the winner of seven out of 13 playoff games.

It was a challenging 2024-25 season for Tocchet and the Canucks, although president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford heaped large praise onto Tocchet for the job he did navigating a dysfunctional and downright peculiar season. The Canucks fell short of the playoff bar, finishing with 90 points and a record of 38-30-14 — good for fifth in the Pacific Division and 18th in the overall league standings.