Tocchet is a good choice by Rutherford
The process was unusually and unnecessarily messy. Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford — remember him? — was typically candid during a news conference Jan. 16 when he all but said he was going to fire Bruce Boudreau as coach of his underachieving team.
“All I can say is that Bruce is our coach right now,” Rutherford said, adding he had talked to outside candidates and that “major surgery” was needed to fix the Canucks’ many problems. But Rutherford didn’t fire Boudreau until Sunday — six days later — making the popular Boudreau a sympathetic figure to the point that Vancouver fans chanted his name in support during his final two home games over the weekend.
Boudreau, who is well-respected in the hockey world, deserved better than to be savaged by Rutherford’s brutal honesty.
But say this about Rutherford: He redeemed himself by hiring Rick Tocchet on Monday to replace Boudreau.
I long have considered Tocchet one of the best hockey people. Certainly, the toughest; remember him fighting twice with a broken jaw during his playing days with the Pittsburgh Penguins? Absolutely, one of the brightest; he proved that as a player on the Penguins’ Stanley Cup-winning team in 1992 and then as an assistant coach to Mike Sullivan during the franchise’s Cup years in 2016 and 2017.
Tocchet’s work with Penguins young forwards Conor Sheary, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust was terrific, as was his patience and ability to coexist with enigmatic Phil Kessel. The team wouldn’t have won those two Cups without Kessel, who often drove Sullivan crazy.
“I have so much respect for Tocc,” Sullivan said a few years ago. “He’s a real good hockey mind. He’s a team guy, too. He doesn’t care who gets the credit. He just wants to help everybody win and have success. That’s what I love about him.”
Tocchet is quick to say he became a better coach working for Sullivan, who is widely regarded as one of the top coaches in the National Hockey League. That’s why it was easy to believe Tocchet at his introductory news conference in Vancouver on Monday, when he said his first goal with the Canucks was “building relationships. I’m a relationship guy.”
“Sully is so good at managing people,” Tocchet has said.
“It’s not a dictatorship with him. He doesn’t bark and yell at you. He makes it a little bit of a partnership. He makes the players feel a part of the process . ...
“He delegates and he allows you to coach. He isn’t afraid to say he doesn’t have all the answers. He wants our input. One of the best things he does is gather information. He doesn’t want a bunch of ‘yes men’ around him.”
Tocchet failed in his two previous head coaching gigs with Tampa Bay and Arizona. He wasn’t ready for the Tampa job, and the Arizona Coyotes job was the worst in the NHL because of poor ownership and a horrible arena. It was a miracle he got the team to the playoffs in 2020.
Rutherford knows all about Tocchet from their time together with the Penguins. Now, Rutherford is hoping history repeats itself.
After the 2013-14 season, Rutherford fired Dan Bylsma as Penguins coach and replaced him with Mike Johnston. He quickly realized the Johnston hiring was a mistake and hired Sullivan to replace him in December 2015. You know how that decision turned out.
Early in the 2021-22 season, Rutherford, who had quit on the Penguins in January 2021, was hired by the Canucks, just a few days after Boudreau was hired as coach. Just 13 months later, Rutherford has attempted to correct the Boudreau mistake by hiring Tocchet and bringing on Sergei Gonchar — another former Penguins player and Sullivan lieutenant — and Adam Foote as assistants.
No, I’m not going to predict Tocchet will win consecutive Cups. The Canucks don’t have a Sidney Crosby. They will miss the playoffs this season for the seventh time in eight years.
But I’m not going to bet against Tocchet being successful, either. He is that good.