Rick Tocchet will not return as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks next season. (Friedman)
Tocchet interviewed twice with the Rangers in 2021 before they hired Gerard Gallant. Tocchet also coached JT Miller in Vancouver.
Adam Rotter: With Mike Sullivan becoming available yesterday, the Rangers have a clear cut top choice. Had Sullivan remained in Pittsburgh then I think Tocchet would have been someone Chris Drury strongly considered. I’m not sure how far that would have gone since everyone, before yesterday, guessed that if Tocchet wasn’t going back to Vancouver than he’d head to Philly where he is close with Flyers President Keith Jones and where he played more than half of his 1100 career games. But with the Penguins job becoming available yesterday it’s possible that it will be a battle of Pennsylvania for Tocchet. Tocchet won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins as a player and twice as an assistant coach to Mike Sullivan. Had Sullivan not become available maybe Chris Drury and the Rangers would have overpaid to bring Tocchet in and reunite him with JT Miller, or maybe the only reason he isn’t returning to Vancouver is because he wants the Flyers job. Either way, Tocchet isn’t going to be the next coach of the Rangers.
It will be interesting though to see if Peter Laviolette becomes a candidate in Vancouver since Canucks President Jim Rutherford won a Stanley Cup in Carolina when Laviolette was his coach. Seattle and a similar connection to Ron Francis, from their time in Carolina, could also be a possibility for Laviolette.