Bet on Coyotes pays off for Tocchet
The odds sure seemed stacked against Rick Tocchet.
So perhaps it makes sense that the latest chapter in his personal story of redemption has occurred as head coach of the equally improbable Coyotes of Arizona, a team that has somehow survived in the desert. This was the team Tocchet played three seasons for, the team that employed him as an assistant coach to Wayne Gretzky until Operation Slapshot came tumbling down on him, damaging his reputation for his involvement in an illegal sports gambling operation.
That was 12 years ago, but in terms of the NHL’s shifting morality, it seems long ago, Victorian times almost.
Today, the NHL has a team in Las Vegas, a city once viewed as a den of iniquity by pro sports, a gambling city that you had to avoid at all costs. Just last week, meanwhile, the NHL got fully into bed with gambling interests, partnering with one of the biggest casino interests in the world, MGM Resorts International.
Far from distancing itself from gambling, the league is now taking a cut.
Looking back, it seems almost quaint to review the scorn heaped upon Tocchet for getting caught with his hand in the gambling jar. That controversy, you’ll recall, was followed by a brief head coaching stint in Tampa in which he won only 53 games in two years. After all that, many coaches wouldn’t have received another head coaching opportunity
Others in Tocchet’s shoes, meanwhile, might have preferred not to go back to the uncertainty of the Coyotes. Still, Tocchet signed on to be the club’s new head coach in the summer of 2017.
“It’s been a weird coaching journey for me,” says Tocchet.
“I don’t know if I was fearful. But I probably thought in my head, ‘Hey, I may not get another shot at being a head coach.’ I’m not a bitter guy. I’m lucky I even played in the NHL. But yeah, I would have been upset if I didn’t get another chance. You have to be lucky, eh?
Tocchet’s Coyotes are right now one of the NHL’s hottest teams, a club being eyed nervously by the other 30. Friday’s overtime win at home over Carolina on Michal Grabner’s winner — Clayton Keller’s spectacular 30-foot saucer pass to create Grabner’s goal is well
“It’s been a weird coaching journey for me.” RICK TOCCHET COYOTES COACH
worth searching out the video to see it yourself — was the fifth straight for Arizona.
The Coyotes are the NHL’s best defensive team, having given up a miserly 24 goals in 12 games going into Monday’s game against Philadelphia.
“I’m a big keep-an-even-keel guy,” says Tocchet. “If you don’t keep doing the right things, it can switch on you pretty quick.”
Unlike the last Coyotes edition to make the playoffs in 2012, a team led in scoring by a trio of thirtysomethings, this squad is a pleasing blend of elite draft picks and intriguing young vets picked up by resourceful GM John Chayka over the past two years.
Chayka, learning the ropes as the youngest GM in NHL history, took something of a gamble by hiring Tocchet, although by that point the Scarborough native had reestablished his bona fides by being an assistant coach with back-to-back Pittsburgh Stanley Cup teams.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better tutorial to get another head coaching chance,” says Tocchet.
“(Sidney Crosby) really helped me become a good coach. He really challenges you.”
Tocchet wasn’t the only bold move made by Chayka. The organization waved goodbye to long-time stalwart Shane Doan and traded popular goalie Mike Smith.
Last summer, Chayka traded Max Domi straight up for Alex Galchenyuk, and took on Marian Hossa’s contract from Chicago to get forward Vincent Hinostroza and defenceman Jordan Oesterle in return.
Antti Raanta, meanwhile, came in the Derek Stepan trade with New York. He was injured early last season, and at Christmas re-dedicated himself to being in better condition and had a strong second half.
This year, the 29-year-old is playing like a goalie who plans on being in the Vezina Trophy conversation. Even his backup, Darcy Kuemper, isn’t giving up much, The fact the Coyotes are doing it with goaltending and defence, and were a top-10 team after Christmas last season, makes their rise seem more convincing.
Still, from Tocchet to Chayka, you get the feeling being in Glendale the past two years has been a grinding, challenging experience just to stay on course. The team started a dreadful 1-11-1 last year under Tocchet, then got out of the gate 1-4 this season. Many wondered if the GM or the coach really knew what they were doing.
Instead of panic, however, there seems to have been an atmosphere of patience under Andrew Barroway, who took over as the sole owner of the team in 2017. Stability, it’s fair to say, is something the Coyotes have needed for years, along with a new arena.
“Rebuilding is not for the faint of heart,” says Chayka. “But now we’re starting to see some traction.”
In a reprise of an old theme, fans still aren’t lining up to buy tickets. Less than 11,000 showed up to see Raanta stop 48 of 51 shots against the Hurricanes.
“We’ve got to make our own energy,” says Tocchet.
“Hopefully, next game there will be another thousand people. Then another thousand. Remember, I played here when we sold out in downtown Phoenix.
“I just want us to be relevant. I don’t want to walk into another team’s building and have them think it’s cookie night, that they can play their backup goalie because they’re playing us.”
Betting on the success of the troubled Coyotes has long been a risky proposition, at least partly because consistent, winning hockey has been a missing ingredient. That Tocchet, once an NHL exile, could be the person to deliver it would be a fascinating twist in this story.