The Canucks organization and its fans need a mental reset. It feels like we have been on a rollercoaster since the firing of Alain Vigneault and Mike Gillis. The twilight of the Sedins career added to the lack of identity of this team. Having to live through the Benning years and the plethora of coaches, there was a hope that Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin could get the team moving forward and map out a future with some of the players that were drafted under Benning.

Two coaches later I am left to wonder if there the map was made of water-soluble crayon, and the rainy winter destroyed it. We all knew Bruce was not the answer, as his teams could score and then get scored upon more often. There were doubts in my mind about the hiring Tocchet in 2023, just due to his average coaching record before, but he was a fresh breath of air, when it came to defensive responsibility and holding players accountable. His actions were seen as he benched stars at the start and players accepted that there was a team they needed to all players to do their job. This team building worked and led to a surprising 2023-24 season and hope was back with this organization and its core group of players.

If you take a closer look at the 2023-24, you could argue that this year’s Canucks were a continuation of last year’s team, starting in February. The Canucks went 17-12-4 from Feb until the end of the year. Injuries to Petey (who kept playing) and Demko during this time led to fundamental changes to the Canucks 5 vs 5 structure. Some would say that the Canucks started to play a playoff structure earlier and this led to a less aggressive offence. The Canucks score 4+ goals only 8 times in those 33 games. The Nucks had scored 4+ goals 26 times in the previous 49 games.

One of the knocks against Tocchet when he was hired was that he had his system preferences and knew how to coach those.  The downside was he would stick to those systems no matter the outcome. His belief that the system would bring the results if played properly was a wall he was able to climb over. Some would argue he is right. A properly played system would get positive results. That mantra ignores a couple of key factors though. First off, expecting players to be able to stick to a system perfectly ignores the ebb and flow of situations and there is no way to plan for every situation. Secondly, when you play a system, other coaches study your system and come up with ways to break it. It seems that Tocchet ignored those two things. Add in the fact that the team he had in 2023-24 was not the same team this year. Tocchet believed that the system could have almost any player slide into a role after learning it. The Canucks were noticeably weaker at the start of the year on defense and the new guys didn’t have the same skill and didn’t fit right into the system.

I will give Tocchet his props when it came to the powerplay as he let players work things out, along with his suggestions on how to get shots. But I would argue that coaches who succeed have teams that play a strong 5 vs 5 game. Tocchet’s team this year was average at best.

As you can tell, I am not sad to see Tocchet go. His hiring was due to his relationship with Rutherford and it was understandable given the situation at the time with the team. The team was able to make some changes at the end of the 2022-23 year that led to success last year. But was Tocchet the type of coach for the core of players Vancouver had? No.

The shitshow of a dressing room and conflict between two star players, is an indication of Tocchet’s mentality. He let the players try to solve this and it blew up in the team’s face and led to one leaving. I don’t know about you, but I would think a coach would try and intervene in something that affects the whole team. I never heard a reporter ask the question, “What are you doing as a coach to get these players to work things out?”. The reporters all knew there was an issue and didn’t press the coach.

Will the Canucks be a better team next year without Tocchet? Who the fuck knows. That question might be easier to answer once the big decisions are made, like who will the Canucks hire before the draft? What will management do about Brock and Suter? Can they get rid of OEL’s dead weight contract? Will they choose Demko or Lankinen? Is Petey on his way out as well? What can management do to keep Quinn?

I don’t blame Tocchet for all of this, but better coaching this year could have got this team into the playoffs and made some these issues easier to deal with.

I won’t bring in Tocchet’s personal opinions outside of hockey because I judge him on the job he did with this team. But if I was a betting man, he will end coaching in the US….probably with a team he played for.