Rick Tocchet Won't Return as Canucks HC After 2024-25 NHL Season

Rick Tocchet will not return for a fourth season as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, the team announced Tuesday.

Canucks president hockey of operations Jim Rutherford called Tocchet's departure "very disappointing news."

The update comes eight days after Rutherford told reporters the franchise had declined a one-year option on Tocchet's contract in favor of offering him a longer extension.

Tocchet stepped in for Bruce Boudreau midway through Vancouver's 2022-23 season. He led the Canucks to 50 wins in 2024 but saw his team miss the playoffs this spring.

Rutherford said last Monday the Canucks had wanted Tocchet to sign a longer contract because "we don't feel it's right to have somebody here that may have his mind somewhere else."

"We believe that, and I believe that, Toc and his coaching staff did as good a job coaching this team this year as they did the year before when he was coach of the year. ... We're hoping that he takes that contract and stays," Rutherford said, per ESPN's Ryan S. Clark.

Elliotte Friedman reported on Sunday's episode of his 32 Thoughts podcast that Tocchet was bothered by the Canucks being the only team in the NHL without a dedicated practice facility.

Tocchet said in a statement shared by the Canucks that he feels "like this is the right time for me to explore other opportunities in and around hockey."

The Canucks are now set to join the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Seattle Kraken as the eighth team with a head coaching vacancy this offseason.

Tocchet has ties to Pittsburgh, where he served as an assistant coach behind the recently dismissed Mike Sullivan during the Penguins' back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017.

That stint also connects him to Kraken general manager Jason Botterill, who was serving as assistant GM in Pittsburgh at the time.

Tocchet is also a former teammate and longtime friend of Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones.

Friedman has additionally said he expects the Rangers to be interested in Tocchet, although he added the franchise's priority could be Sullivan now that the Penguins have parted ways with their former head coach.

Given Tocchet's ties to multiple franchises with coaching vacancies, as well as his experience in a cycle that saw the dismissal of multiple first-time coaches, it seems likely he will be back behind the bench before the start of next season.