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Canucks Officially Fire Boudreau, Hire Tocchet as Head Coach

The Vancouver Canucks have officially fired Bruce Boudreau as the coach and hired Rick Tocchet. There were other coaching changes as well.

The Vancouver Canucks have officially announced that Bruce Boudreau and some of his staff have been relieved of their coaching duties and that Rick Tocchet has been hired as the next head coach of the team. The organization posted a statement noting, “Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the club has made multiple changes to its coaching staff. Head Coach Bruce Boudreau and Assistant Coach Trent Cull have been relieved of their duties.” They add, “Rick Tocchet has been hired as the 21st Head Coach in franchise history. Adam Foote has been named Assistant Coach and Sergei Gonchar has been hired as a Defensive Development Coach.”

This is not a surprising move to anyone who has been following this that Boudreau is out. Over the last few weeks, specifically the last couple of games, the focus has been on an emotional Boudreau knowing he was being released and the fans showing their appreciation for him as the inevitable announcement was coming. The Canucks have received a ton of criticism for the way this was handled and many have decided that any struggles the team has as they move in a new direction under Tocchet might be well-deserved.

Boudreau, meanwhile, has done himself a ton of favors in the way he has handled his termination with class and some insiders have suggested there will be a job waiting for him with another organization, as soon as he’d like to return to coaching.

Bruce Boudreau Rick Tocchet Canucks

Allvin said, “We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Bruce and Trent for their contributions to this organization. He adds, “We appreciate their dedication and wish them nothing but the best moving forward. This was not an easy decision to make, but one that we felt was necessary for this franchise.”

Tocchet, 58, joins the Canucks after serving as an analyst on TNT. His previous coaching experience was four seasons as head coach of the Arizona Coyotes from 2017/18 to 2020/21. He also spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is there he forged a strong relationship with Canucks’ current President Jim Rutherford.

Sean Shapiro writes, “If the reported TNT clause in Tocchet’s contract is true that he had to give 4 weeks notice before leaving the network for a coaching job, then the Canucks potentially had this formally worked out before Christmas.”

Next: Status on Red Wings’ Larkin, Bertuzzi Could Affect Horvat Interest

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4 Comments

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