While on the 100% Hockey with Millard & Shannon Podcast, Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford had lots to say about Captain Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson. However, he also shared some comments on what went down with former head coach Rick Tocchet, who announced he would not be returning to the Canucks for the 2025–26 season earlier this week.
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“I’ll start off with what he started off, saying this is the toughest call I’ve ever had to make, and he’s been a long time friend. He will be forever, and he did a terrific job here,” Rutherford said of Tocchet’s contract negotiations on the podcast. “It was really trending, in my opinion, towards him staying, because every conversation Patrik Allvin and I had with him was about what took place during the season, what he’d like to do different in the off season, and do different at camp, do different next year. Talked about different players. And of course, there was a period of time going through a negotiation, but at the end of the negotiation, that did not affect his decision. So he has some things going on that he’s working through now. I believe he’s sincere and saying that he wants to get back to the east, closer to his family, and we’ll see where that takes him. But we’re thankful for what he did, and we wish him all the best.”
Rutherford was complimentary about Tocchet, not just during his time with the Canucks but also in his experiences with the coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Much like in the Tuesday press conference, Rutherford cited Tocchet’s ability to “g[e]t the most out of this team” given the circumstances.
“One of the biggest reasons I hired him here, you know, because I was familiar with the work he did with Mike Sullivan and the day to day, or maybe not day to day, but week to week, things that he had to deal with in Pittsburgh that the head coach either didn’t want to or didn’t have time to, and he was so good at it, and so this is what he did here. He had our players give it their best almost every game.”
Tocchet’s desire to leave Vancouver ultimately factored into the Canucks not taking the club option on his contract, Rutherford added in the podcast. “I reminded him and his agent that we have that option and we can use it. But when you really sit down and think about it, whether it’s a friend or not a friend, just a business associate, if somebody has their mind made up that they want to be someplace else, then it’s not going to work. So at that point, I told him I would not do that to him.”
Despite discourse that Tocchet left due to the state of the organization itself, Rutherford cites that a predominant factor was his desire to be closer to his family on the east coast. “His agent said that and he has said that to me a couple of times. His son actually lived in Seattle and works for a company in Seattle, but now he’s moved back east, and they have a great relationship, and that’s important to him.”
Rumours have circulated that Tocchet was in consideration for the spot as the next New York Rangers’ head coach, though that position has since been filled by former Penguins head coach Sullivan. Many also suspect that Tocchet could be in the running for the head coaching job with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Now that the Canucks officially have a vacancy at the head coach position, discourse will begin around who could come during the 2025–26 season and beyond. Candidates with all sorts of NHL experience or coaching history in other professional leagues have emerged. Rutherford explained during the podcast that while the team would ideally like to find their next head coach “sooner than later,” he “do[es]n’t want to put a deadline on it.”
“I say this respectfully, because there’s a lot of really good NHL coaches that are out of work right now. So it’s a matter of, do we want to go the experience route of a guy that’s out of work now? Or do we want to go that route where you bring somebody in that doesn’t have the experience, but has experience as an assistant coach, has done well in the American Hockey League, and maybe comes in with some fresh ideas?” Rutherford said regarding whether the team will go with a more experienced or non-experienced head coach.
It’s important to note that during the interview, Rutherford specified that he has not approached Abbotsford Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra about the job opening, but that’s not due to inexperience. As the AHL Canucks are currently in the middle of playoffs, the organization doesn’t want to distract the coach. “He is obviously on our short list. We've got to be real careful interfering with the playoffs there. We want him to keep his focus on the job at hand. He’s done a terrific job, and at the appropriate time we will talk to him, and like everybody, will ask some tough questions and see how he responds to it.”
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