Vancouver Canucks’ head coach Rick Tocchet has won the Jack Adams Award as head coach of the year in 2023-24. He coached the Canucks to a 50-23-9 record in the regular season and a playoff series victory over the Nashville Predators. They ended up being defeated in the second round by the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.
“Honestly, it’s an organizational award for me,” Tocchet said after he was nominated May 3. “I mean it’s the GM, the ownership, the assistant coaches, the players, like you’re a piece of the puzzle. I think it’s an organizational type of trophy. I’ve got a huge support group that helps me. That’s the way I look at it.”
Tocchet was hired by the Canucks midway through the 2022-23 season after the team had been all but eliminated from the playoffs. He took over during an emotional period following the Bruce Boudreau firing. The team immediately turned it around on the ice with Tocchet, going 20-12-4 over the final 36 games. Over an 82-game season that would have given them around 100 points in the standings, well within a playoff spot.
Tocchet turned out not to be a flash in the pan as he coached them to an even better record in his first full season as head coach. They finished with 109 points in the standings.
The 60-year-old had a long and accomplished NHL career which included playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and Phoenix Coyotes. He played 1,144 games in the NHL, scoring 440 goals and 952 points, along with 2,972 penalty minutes. He was known as a hard-nosed player who also had the rare quality of having a lethal shot and a strong offensive IQ.
Tocchet has been coaching off and on in the NHL since his playing career ended over 20 years ago. He’s been the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Arizona Coyotes previously but only made the playoffs once in the six years he coached either of those teams. This recent success with the Canucks has solidifed Tocchet’s reputation as one of the best coaches in the NHL.
This past season has been a thrill-ride for the Canucks and they hope to continue that going into next season, with Tocchet behind the bench.
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The San Jose Sharks have ranked last in the NHL for two straight seasons. They’ve allowed the most goals-against (1,495) and scored the second-fewest goals-for (1,051) of the 2020s. And yet, it’s hard to imagine the Sharks’ headed towards anything other than an exciting, and profitable, future. With the help of the draft lottery, San Jose has built out a prospect pool that not only sits atop the league, but truly stands apart as well-crafted, high-performing, and set for cohesion at the NHL level. That’s a fairly easy feat to pull off for a team that’s landed talent as prolific as William Eklund, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. The trio have already emerged as prolific NHL scorers. Eklund reached the dazzling 40-assist mark as a 21-year-old this season. He was helped mightily along by Celebrini, who led the team in scoring with 25 goals and 63 points despite missing 12 games. That mark stands as the second-most from a Sharks rookie this century, behind Logan Couture’s 65-point rookie year. Smith ranks third on that list with 18 goals and 45 points this season. Those three will serve as the cornerstones of San Jose’s offense moving forward. Given how great the Sharks' starts have been, it’s hard to imagine the talent set to join them. San Jose landed OHL exception-status star Michael Misa with the No. 2 pick this season, following a season where he led the OHL in scoring with 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games. It was a finish in the realm of former OHL greats like Patrick Kane, John Tavares and Steven Stamkos. Misa has long been considered a superstar in his age group, and seems to have well outgrown the junior flight with his performance this season. With a hefty frame, pro-level skating and a clear scoring knack — it seems well possible that he could push into the NHL as soon as next season. San Jose had plenty of time to watch Misa as he faced off against a string of their top prospects this season. Winger Kasper Halttunen shined through as a strong, persistent sniper sat on top of the London Knights offense. He finished the regular season with 21 goals and 41 points in 38 games, then ramped to 15 goals and 21 points in 17 playoff games en route to an OHL and Memorial Cup championship. He was physically imposing, with the boost of tons of finesse on the puck and a killer wrist-shot. Those same descriptors could apply to Quentin Musty, who scored 30 goals and 59 points in 33 games with the Sudbury Wolves across the league. San Jose also laid claim to another bruting OHL winger in Igor Chernyshov, who racked up an incredible 19 goals and 55 points in just 23 games playing opposite of Misa. All three wingers seem to offer the hefty physicality and hard shot to compliment the nimble skill of players like Celebrini and Smith. If they can’t, San Jose has plenty more productive scorers rounding out its forward pool — players like Cameron Lund, Collin Graf and Joey Muldowney. While that list, and many more, fall into place on offense — the defense already seems to sit in the hands of Sam Dickinson. He won the OHL’s Max Kaminsky ’Defense of the Year’ Trophy with a lofty 29 goals and 91 points in just 55 games this season. He was electric in all aspects, showing the physical fundamentals to dominate the defensive zone and the all-out confidence to dominate on offense. Dickinson will also have a clear path to make the NHL roster out of training camp, helped along by the recent trade of Henry Thrun. Dickinson’s presence could go long in paving the path for Shakir Mukhamadullin and Luca Cagnoni. The pair have each flirted with routine NHL ice time, though Cagnoni has earned the step headed into next season with an impressive 16 goals and 52 points in 64 AHL games this season. With none of the three firmly rooted in the NHL just yet, San Jose has brought in a trio of veterans — Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg and Nick Leddy – to help man the ship in the short-term. The trio of defense prospects compliment each other nicely — with a mix of beefy, all-three-zones finesse in Dickinson, nimble skill in Cagnoni, and poised defense in Mukhamadullin. But they’re joined outside of the pro ranks by fellow physical, offensive-defenseman Eric Pohlkamp. Pohlkamp scored 35 points in 44 games with the University of Denver last season — and now seems well positioned to become the Pioneers’ No. 1-defender after Zeev Buium signed his entry-level deal. But the Sharks are well positioned to ramp up their blue-line over the next few years. The 2026 draft class is rife with blue-chip defensemen — including Keaton Verhoeff, Chase Reid, Daxon Rudolph and Ryan Lin. A top pick next year would likely mean another top defense prospect. Even if it doesn’t, San Jose could get another shot in 2027, with superstar defense prospect Landon DuPont already pushing himself above the rest of the pack. The group is backed by perhaps the top goalie prospect in the world in trade-acquired Yaroslav Askarov, who posted a .923 save percentage in 22 AHL games this season and seems well set on earning San Jose’s starting role soon. General manager Mike Grier has only promoted a few draft prospects to the NHL in his three years at San Jose’s helm. But many, many more have gone on to find starring roles on their teams and top scoring leaderboards. Grier has found that array of success all throughout the draft — from Celebrini at No. 1 overall, to Cagnoni and Pohlkamp in the fourth and fifth rounds. Even more exciting, he seems well set to continue landing draft steals through two exciting classes in 2026 and 2027. Plenty still hinges on the question of how all the pieces come together at the NHL level. There’s no guarantee that everything will click for 82 games of an NHL season, or how soon it will be until San Jose can pull their best prospects together. But it's on the ramp to success, with plenty of strong performances already behind it, and even more set to come as soon as next season. For all of the claims of how to rebuild, it’s the Sharks who seem to be truly defining how to grow through strong draft picks.
The Dallas Cowboys extended one of their stars Sunday, just not the one fans wanted them to pay. At Cowboys training camp Saturday, Dallas fans serenaded owner Jerry Jones with "Pay Micah [Parsons]" chants. The EDGE, of course, is set to play on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract this season. Jones must not have been listening. He gave tight end Jake Ferguson a new contract instead. Dallas and the 26-year-old pass-catcher agreed to a four-year, $52M contract extension, via NFL Media's Ian Rapoport. This move seems head-scratching. Parsons has won the 2021 Defensive Rookie of the Year and earned two first-team All-Pro nods since the Cowboys took him with pick No. 12 in the 2021 NFL Draft. The 26-year-old EDGE also finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Ferguson, meanwhile, is solid but not elite. In three seasons with the Cowboys, the 2022 fourth-round pick has made one Pro Bowl and has never finished with more than 761 receiving yards in a season. An extension for Parsons will devour future cap space. The Cowboys may be worried about that after giving quarterback Dak Prescott (four years, $240M) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (four years, $136M) long-term deals in 2024. Pittsburgh Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt signed a lucrative three-year, $123M extension on July 17, making him the league's highest-paid non-QB. Parsons could command a similar contract. If cap space is Dallas' primary concern, however, why would it extend Ferguson? He's now set to be the NFL's seventh-highest-paid TE. The Cowboys waited to extend Lamb and Prescott just before the start of the 2024 season. They may be doing the same with Parsons. The star defender has said, "Ownership is always gonna make [contract negotiations] drag out." Regardless, the Cowboys should've paid Parsons before Ferguson. That's a much bigger priority for the team.
The Indiana Fever’s starters turned in a strong all-around effort in Thursday’s 80-70 win over the Las Vegas Aces. The starting unit scored at least 13 points each, save for Aari McDonald, who registered nine points in 22 minutes of action. Indiana’s starters combined for 76 out of the team’s 80 points on the evening, which only means that the four other players who came off the bench accounted for just four points in the game. All that came from Sydney Colson, who went 2-of-5 in 18 minutes of playing time. Lexie Hull, Makayla Timpson and Damiris Dantas all failed to score in the win. Stephanie White Calls Out Fever's Bench Be that as it may, offense wasn’t even the biggest concern for head coach Stephanie White. In her postgame press conference, the veteran shot-caller called out Indiana’s bench for their lack of intensity on the defensive end, particularly in the first half. “Our bench has to be ready,” she said. “I felt like our bench in the second half was really good defensively. In the first half, I didn't feel that way. You got to be ready to come in and you got to be ready to guard your matchup and execute the game plan. "We have depth for a reason. We've got quality depth and we've got to be able to use it. So if fatigue is a factor in execution, then they just need to ask for a sub and I'll get them out and get them back in." It has been a bit of a busy stretch for the Fever at the midway point of the season. Thursday’s matchup against the Aces was their second game in three nights, and they will be back in action again on Sunday in a rivalry showdown against the Chicago Sky. White, however, isn’t accepting fatigue as an excuse. This is regardless of the fact that Caitlin Clark remains out with a re-aggravated groin injury. White is adamant that this roster has been built for adversity, and she didn’t hesitate to put her bench on notice after Thursday’s showing.
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh loves offensive linemen. The coach said, "We look at offensive linemen as weapons," after facing criticism for taking right tackle Joe Alt instead of wide receiver Malik Nabers (now with the New York Giants) during the 2024 NFL Draft. Unsurprisingly, the Chargers are keeping Harbaugh's arsenal stocked. Los Angeles and left tackle Rashawn Slater agreed to a four-year, $114M contract extension Sunday, via ESPN's Adam Schefter. The deal includes $92M guaranteed, making him the highest-paid O-lineman in NFL history. Slater, 26, had been working to the side at training camp instead of practicing with the team since July 18. Harbaugh has used a smashmouth offense throughout his career. During the 2024 season, the Chargers tied for the league's 11th-most rushing attempts (463). L.A. will probably continue to lean heavily on its ground attack this season. It signed running back Najee Harris in free agency and grabbed North Carolina RB Omarion Hampton (pick No. 22) in the 2025 draft. Harris is on the non-football injury list because of an eye injury suffered during a fireworks accident on July 4. Keeping O-linemen who suit the run-heavy scheme is critical. Per Pro Football Focus, Slater posted an 82.8 run-blocking grade in 15 regular-season games last season, the fifth-best mark at his position. The two-time Pro Bowler is also excellent at protecting quarterback Justin Herbert. The Northwestern product has allowed just 11 sacks since the Chargers selected him with pick No. 13 in the 2021 draft (via PFF). The only concern about Slater is his injury history. He missed 14 regular-season games during the 2022 season because of a left biceps tear and battled ankle and pectoral injuries over the past two seasons. If Slater stays healthy, the Chargers should have one of the best O-lines in the NFL. PFF's Zoltan Buday ranked the unit No. 10 in the league in a story published July 7. That should make Harbaugh smile.
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