Rick Tocchet was out of a job in the NHL for just 15 days.
Tocchet parted ways with the Vancouver Canucks on April 29 and was officially announced as the 25th head coach in Philadelphia Flyers history on Wednesday. The Flyers fired John Tortorella with nine games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season, and associate coach Brad Shaw replaced him on an interim basis to finish the year.
The 61-year-old former NHL forward was drafted by the Flyers in the 1983 NHL Draft and recorded 508 points (232g, 276a) in 621 career games for the club over 11 seasons. Tocchet played an additional 523 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and Phoenix Coyotes.
Under Tortorella, the Flyers posted a 97-107-33 record, missing the playoffs all three years of his stint with the team. Tortorella publicly clashed with Philadelphia’s top young star, Matvei Michkov, several times this past season, even healthy scratching him for multiple games in November.
“I am very happy to welcome Rick Tocchet as our head coach,” general manager Daniel Briere said in a statement. “During this process it became clear that Rick was the absolute right coach to lead our team. He has enjoyed the highest level of success both as a player and coach. Rick’s ability to teach and understand his players, combined with his passion for winning, brings out the best in young players at different stages of their development and has earned the respect and confidence of highly talented All-Stars and veteran players alike.”
Tocchet has nine seasons of prior head-coaching experience in the NHL, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning (2008-2010), Arizona Coyotes (2017-2021), and Canucks (2022-2025). He has an overall 286-265-87 record as a head coach in the league, guiding his teams to two playoff appearances.
While with the Canucks, Tocchet took home the 2023-24 Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year after Vancouver finished first in the Pacific Division. Tocchet took over with the Canucks when they fired Bruce Boudreau midway through the 2022-23 campaign.
Tocchet also has prior experience as an assistant coach with the Coyotes, Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins as an assistant on Mike Sullivan’s staff in 2016 and 2017. He had previously won a Cup with the Penguins as a player in 1992.
The Canucks announced Wednesday that they would be replacing Tocchet with assistant coach Adam Foote. Foote’s only prior experience as a head coach came at the junior level with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets for 63 games during the 2019-20 season.
After Tocchet and Foote’s hirings, just four head-coaching vacancies remain throughout the NHL, including with the Bruins, Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, and Seattle Kraken.
