Reports: Tocchet coming home to be new head coach of Flyers' rebuild originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Danny Briere and Keith Jones have their guy.
The Flyers are tabbing Rick Tocchet as the club’s new head coach, according to multiple reports. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli first reported the news.
Tocchet, a Flyers Hall of Famer revered by the organization, will lead a team that has been in transition for a while now, trying to take the next step.
For Briere, the Flyers’ general manager, and Jones, the president of hockey operations, this was their first head coaching hire. It’s one that could define their rebuild.
Tocchet, 61, has always adored the organization, despite winning three Stanley Cups with the rival Penguins — one as a player and two as an assistant coach. His accomplished playing career was bookended by the Flyers. He started (1984-85) and finished (2001-02) in Philadelphia, spending parts of 11 seasons with the Flyers.
He referred to the Flyers as a family ahead of his induction into the team’s Hall of Fame.
“That’s why I’ll always have Flyer blood in me,” Tocchet said in October 2021. “I don’t care if you go other places, you win Cups other places … the relationships, the people that I’ve met over the years being in the organization, it has just been incredible. The Flyers helped me become a man, which I’ll always be grateful for.”
The Tocchet hire comes just about four weeks after the Flyers’ 2024-25 season ended at 33-39-10. The team undeniably regressed in its rebuild, finishing tied with the Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s worst record. The step backward resulted in John Tortorella being fired with nine games left in the season.
“That’s the toughest part of the rebuild, is going through this,” Briere said after the coaching change. “I really hope that this is the bottom, this is rock bottom for us, today, and this is the turnaround.”
What likely drew the Flyers to Tocchet were his connections to the front office and his coaching style. Briere and Jones know what they’re getting in Tocchet as a person and communicator. Both were teammates with Tocchet, so the relationship is already strong.
Tocchet gives the Flyers their desired blend of demanding but also lenient. While he likes the game to be played hard, he’ll also provide his players some leash. Quinn Hughes, a talented puck-mover on the back end, won the Norris Trophy (top defenseman) at 24 years old in Tocchet’s first full season as the Canucks’ head coach.
That 2023-24 campaign in Vancouver has been the best of Tocchet’s coaching career. He won the Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year), leading the Canucks to 50 wins and 109 points. Vancouver took the eventual Western Conference champion Oilers to seven games in the second round.
This season, the Canucks had a drama-filled year and finished with 90 points (38-30-14) to miss the playoffs. Tocchet and Vancouver split a little over two weeks ago. Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said Tocchet wanted to be closer to his family on the Eastern part of the United States.
Tocchet’s head coaching résumé may be a bit skewed from his four seasons with the Coyotes, one of the NHL’s most challenging markets at the time. But Tocchet is not rich with playoff success. Over his three stops, he has been to the postseason twice and his 11 victories are tied with former Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol.
The Flyers would love to see him change that narrative in Philadelphia. They’ve missed the playoffs in five straight seasons, matching the franchise’s longest drought. Their last trip was in 2020 and that came in the Toronto bubble because of COVID-19. So the Flyers haven’t had a postseason game in Philadelphia since 2018.
The club has a critical summer ahead with many assets. Since May 2023, Briere has done good work putting the rebuild in position to potentially take the necessary steps. The Flyers won’t be a top contender next season, but they want to better. They need to have more answers moving forward.
They hope Tocchet is a big one.
Now they’ll need to build Tocchet’s staff. Will Brad Shaw be back? Who will be the power play coach?
The Flyers offseason has begun.