Tocchet surprised by Gallant firing
Rick Tocchet said he was as surprised as everyone else when he learned that the Vegas Golden Knights fired head coach Gerard Gallant on Wednesday.
Tocchet, who is in his third season as head coach in Arizona, was careful with his comments to reporters after Wednesday’s practice. But it’s easy to see how the situation is getting on the nerves of the coaches left standing.
Gallant is already the seventh NHL coach to be fired this season, joining Peter Laviolette (Predators), Bill Peters (Flames), Jim Montgomery (Stars), John Hynes (Devils), Mike Babcock (Maple Leafs) and Peter DeBoer (Sharks).
Peters and Montgomery were dismissed for off-ice incidents, but the others (Gallant included) were performance-based decisions. DeBoer will be Gallant’s replacement in Vegas.
“I was shocked like everybody,” Tocchet said of the Gallant firing. “He’s a friend of mine. I mean, I think he’s a great coach. He did a great job in Florida and he did a great job in Las Vegas. I just know, for him, he’s a great coach. I feel bad for him.”
NHL coaches make up a sort of fraternity.
Many are close friends, becoming so either through various coaching trees or by playing with or against one another in the past.
Any one firing is felt across 31 teams. And lately, those firings have come one after the other with no end in sight.
Tocchet, who was hired in July 2017, is now the 11th-longest tenured head coach in the NHL.
Only Vancouver Canucks head coach Travis Green, one of Tocchet’s closest friends, rivals Tocchet in tenure among bench bosses in the Pacific Division.
“We’re all in it and we know the result,” Tocchet said. “But to get the end result, it’s a commitment to the process. There’s a process you have to go through. Sometimes the results won’t be there right away, but I agree with (Gallant). Sometimes you don’t like it because sometimes it’s not the coach’s fault. It’s hard for me to speak because I’ve been there before. You just move on. Do your best, and move on.”
Just how the Golden Knights move on from this will have a profound impact on the Coyotes and the race for the Pacific Division crown. Entering play Wednesday, the Coyotes held sole possession of first place in a crowded division, one where the Golden Knights were just three points back.
Vegas was in first place at the NHL’s holiday break, which meant Gallant was slated to be head coach for the Pacific Division at the All-Star Game in St. Louis.
Now Gallant, who led the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup Final appearance and won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2018, is without a job.
“It’s tough,” Tocchet said. “I can only speak for myself and the relationship with ownership and your general manager, the vision and all that stuff. There’s going to be bumps in the road, but you need strong leadership up top. It helps the coach, obviously. I can’t speak for what happened (in Vegas).
“If you’re on the same page, you’ve got a good chance at surviving. And obviously results, but (Gallant’s) results were pretty damn good.”
It is unclear who will replace Gallant at the All-Star Game, but Tocchet seems to be a logical choice — especially since goaltender Darcy Kuemper will be sidelined due to injury.