On Wednesday, the Philadelphia flyers announced the hiring of Rick Tocchet as a new head coach.
Tocchet, 61, spent games of 11 seasons with the flyers during his player career.
Now he joins the franchise to effectively replace John Tortorella, who was dismissed in March with the boxing team towards his fifth consecutive season without a berth in the playoffs. Brad Shaw took over as an acting coach of the Flyers, who finished tied for the last place of the Eastern Conference with a file of 33-39-10 (76 points).
“I am very happy to welcome Rick Tocchet as a chief coach,” said the director general of Flyers Daniel Briere in a press release. “During this process, it has become clear that Rick was the right absolute coach to lead our team. He appreciated the highest level of success as a player and coach. Rick’s ability to teach and understand his players, combined with his passion for victory, highlights the best players and veterans of their development and has won the respect and confidence of the All-Stars and the very tight veterans.”
Tocchet separated from Vancouver’s Canucks after the expiration of his three-year contract at the end of the 2024-25 season.
It was only an abolished season to win the Jack Adams prize as NHL-year coach, when Vancouver won the Pacific division and then lost against Edmonton’s Oilers in match 7 of the semi-finals of the West Conference.
The Canucks did not succeed in the playoffs this season, going 38-30-14 (90 points) and finishing six points behind St. Louis Blues for second place at the Joker.
Tocchet has experienced previous head coach sessions with the Tampa Bay Lightning (2008-10) and Arizona Coyotes (2017-21). He replaced Bruce Boudreau behind the Canucks bench in January 2023.
He has a record of NHL NHL in a career of 286-265-87 in the regular season and 11-11 in the playoffs. He had 108-65-27 in Vancouver, plus 7-6 in the playoffs.
Tocchet played 18 seasons from 1984 to 2002, totaling 952 points (440 goals, 512 assists) and 2,970 minutes of penalty in 1144 games with six teams. He made three of his four star teams with the Flyers and won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992.
– field level media
