Jan 25, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet looks on from the bench against the Washington Capitals in the second period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
In a major franchise move, the Philadelphia Flyers have hired Rick Tocchet as their next head coach, signing the former star to a multi-year contract.
Flyers sources told On Pattison and Philly Daily that the team is bringing the 61-year-old Flyers Hall of Famer back to Philadelphia to take over behind the bench.
While numbers on the deal are not yet official, one Flyers source said it is "in the range" of five years, $25 million.
Tocchet’s return to the Flyers marks a homecoming for one of the city’s most beloved hockey figures and signals a new direction and the next step forward for the rebuilding franchise.
Tocchet is sure to be a polarizing choice for the Flyers. Older fans who remember the halcyon days of the organization will certainly champion this choice as a sign of the organization getting back to the "Flyers way" of doing things.
However, younger fans will almost certainly hate this hiring because it is a sign of the Flyers not getting with the times and going with another retread, older coach.
It should be pointed out, that neither narrative is a good one.
Jim Rutherford called Quinn Hughes to discuss Rick Tocchet but he hasn't heard back from the captain just yet.
Hughes and Tocchet had a close relationship per Rutherford. pic.twitter.com/MaUiZ8r9Lr
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) April 29, 2025
Tocchet is older, but he has shown an ability to relate to younger players. Vancouver's star defenseman Quinn Hughes had a very close relationship with Tocchet and always spoke highly of him as a coach and teacher.
"He's an amazing coach," Hughes said. "Look at me individually and my game. He's been amazing for me - amazing for a lot of guys. He's just a great person, first of all. That's a guy you want to compete for, you want to play for - and he's a terrific coach."
And there's a reason Vancouver wanted him to come back. There's a reason other teams like Boston, Seattle and Pittsburgh were interested in hiring him. He does have a certain gravitas with players.
Rick Tocchet will be the next head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers pic.twitter.com/Gee5dBwqVy
However, Tocchet does preach a style of play that does seem to be a bit more old school, and it's fair to wonder how it will work to unleash young talent. Many believe former coach John Tortorella limited Matvei Michkov, but Michkov did exceed his Las Vegas-set point total by double digits under Tortorella, so if he was held back by his former coach, there should be even more production there.
Will Tocchet be able to get that out of him with the style of play he preaches, which is designed for teams to be defense-first and be opportunistic offensively? Is he willing to adapt to the players he has?
Only time will tell.
Tocchet is deeply woven into Flyers history. He played two separate stints in orange and black (1984–1992 and 2000–2002) and was a fan favorite known for his tough-as-nails, hard-nosed style. During his 18-year NHL playing career, Tocchet spent over half of it with Philadelphia, tallying 232 goals (tied for 10th in franchise history) and 508 points in 621 games for the Flyers.
He remains the club’s all-time leader in penalty minutes (1,817) – a testament to the gritty, physical identity he embodied on the ice.
Tocchet was a key part of two Flyers teams that reached the Stanley Cup Final (1985 and 1987), including an inspired 1987 playoff run in which he notched 11 goals and 21 points before the Flyers fell in seven games to Edmonton.
For his contributions, Tocchet was inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame in 2021, cementing his status as a franchise legend. Those Philadelphia ties run as deep emotionally as they do statistically.
That connection hasn’t faded with time. Now, after building his coaching résumé around the league, Tocchet returns to the Flyers with the task of instilling that familiar Flyers ethos in a new era.
Tocchet’s most recent coaching stop was with the Vancouver Canucks, where he spent the last two seasons. He initially took over in January 2023 and quickly left his mark. In his first full season in Vancouver (2023–24), he guided an unexpected turnaround – leading the Canucks to a Pacific Division title and a run to the second round of the playoffs, the team’s deepest playoff run in over a decade.
That campaign earned Tocchet the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s Coach of the Year in 2024, a prestigious honor that underscored the success of his methods.
Players responded to his coaching, and a once-floundering Canucks squad appeared to be on the rise. However, the follow-up year brought adversity.
Vancouver’s 2024-25 season went off the rails, marred by a bitter rift in the locker room between stars J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson that actually had roots before Tocchet ever arrived in Vancouver.
That said, as much of a players' coach as Tocchet is, he wasn't able to rectify it, and the Canucks were forced to trade Miller.
The internal discord and a string of injuries derailed the team’s performance. Pettersson, a franchise cornerstone, had the worst statistical season of his career amid the turmoil.
Despite Tocchet’s efforts to steady the ship, the Canucks missed the playoffs, and the organization and coach mutually parted ways at season’s end, although the Canucks were willing to potentially keep Tocchet for a third year before deciding not to do so after it became apparent that Tocchet wanted to coach elsewhere.
“I know everybody’s looking for a bad guy, I don’t know if there’s a bad guy in the thing.”
Rick Tocchet speaks on the Pettersson and JT Miller rift during the season.
pic.twitter.com/5oKaDmWr4g
Vancouver’s front office had praised Tocchet’s work ethic and the respect he commanded in the room, but the sharp step backward forced a difficult decision.
By April, reports surfaced that Tocchet would not return, making him a free agent at the helm of an NHL bench. Even with a disappointing final season in Vancouver, Tocchet emerged from his tenure there with his coaching reputation arguably at its peak.
He became one of the most sought-after names in the 2025 coaching market, reportedly drawing interest from multiple teams – including Seattle, Pittsburgh and Boston – the moment he became available.
Rather than rush into a job, Tocchet took a measured approach, interviewing teams as much as they interviewed him.
The Flyers ultimately emerged as the winner of that sweepstakes, offering the long-term stability and vision Tocchet was seeking.
The five-year contract indicates the confidence Philadelphia has in his leadership, and it gave Tocchet the kind of commitment he valued in choosing his next destination. Tocchet’s coaching journey has been one of perseverance and growth.
Prior to Vancouver, he served as head coach of the Arizona Coyotes for four seasons (2017–2021).
There, he faced the challenge of guiding a rebuilding small-market team. The Coyotes had modest success under his watch – Tocchet compiled a 125-131-34 record in Arizona and led the franchise to its first playoff berth in eight years in 2020.
That 2020 Coyotes squad won a qualifying-round series in the Edmonton bubble (upsetting Nashville) before bowing out in the next round. It was a significant achievement for a club that hadn’t seen postseason action since 2012.
Still, consistency eluded Arizona, and after the team missed the playoffs in 2021, the Coyotes and Tocchet mutually agreed to part ways when his contract expired.
Those four years in the desert burnished Tocchet’s credentials as a player’s coach who could maximize effort from a less-talented roster, even if the win-loss record hovered around .500.
Tocchet’s first head coaching gig came with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2008 to 2010. At the time, Tampa Bay was a franchise in turmoil – Tocchet initially took over on an interim basis and was later named full-time coach, but the young Lightning were in a rebuild. In two seasons, he compiled a 53-69-26 record in Tampa and did not reach the postseason.
The Lightning opted to move on in 2010 as new ownership brought in their own coach, giving Tocchet his first taste of how unforgiving NHL coaching can be.
Though his stint there was short-lived, it provided invaluable experience behind the bench.
In addition to his head coaching jobs, Tocchet has an impressive background as an assistant coach that helped pave his way. Most notably, he was an assistant on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ coaching staff from 2014 to 2017, where he won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017 as part of Mike Sullivan’s crew.
In Pittsburgh, Tocchet developed a reputation for his ability to relate to star players and serve as a crucial conduit between the head coach and the locker room. He worked closely with high-profile talents – for example, he forged strong relationships with skill players like Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin, two personalities who didn’t always mesh perfectly with head coach Sullivan.
Tocchet’s knack for balancing accountability with a players-first approach earned him respect around the league.
It’s a style honed from his years as a gritty player and refined through those championship runs in Pittsburgh. (He also had brief assistant coaching stops earlier in his post-playing career, including with the Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes in the mid-2000s.)
All told, Tocchet brings nearly a decade of head coaching experience (parts of nine NHL seasons) to Philadelphia, albeit with only limited postseason success so far. He has reached the playoffs twice as a head coach – once in Arizona and once in Vancouver – and now takes on the challenge of elevating a Flyers team that has struggled in recent years.
His coaching record is marked by the ability to instill structure and compete level in underdog teams, and the Flyers will be counting on those same qualities as they turn the page.
For the Flyers, hiring Rick Tocchet is about more than nostalgia – it’s a calculated move that reveals how the franchise intends to continue to rebuild its culture.
Philadelphia is emerging from a rocky season in which it finished 29th in the NHL standings and missed the playoffs for a fifth straight year, prompting management to make sweeping changes
Former coach John Tortorella was relieved of his duties with a few games remaining in the season, and GM Danny Brière bluntly declared the situation “rock bottom," for the organization.
In the weeks that followed, the Flyers embarked on a comprehensive search for a new bench boss, one who could guide the next phase of their rebuild.
Tocchet stood out as an ideal candidate for several reasons. First, his philosophy aligns with the Flyers’ new priorities. Brière has emphasized that the next coach needed to have Tocchet's well-known coaching traits.
“Communication and teaching are probably two things that will be at the forefront of our next coach,” Brière said as the coaching hunt began.
That sentiment reflects a shift in approach.
Under Tortorella – an old-school disciplinarian – the Flyers established a needed foundation of accountability, but at times younger players struggled to thrive.
Tortorella wielded an unusually large influence over personnel and wasn’t shy about publicly criticizing his team; by contrast, the Flyers now want a more collaborative, player-development-focused approach.
Tocchet’s profile fits this mold. He is known for being demanding yet approachable – a coach who can push players hard while also nurturing their growth. His success in getting the most out of emerging talent in Vancouver and Arizona did not go unnoticed. And having been an NHL star player himself, Tocchet carries instant credibility in the locker room, which can facilitate better communication with today’s players.
Secondly, Tocchet’s arrival signals the organization’s desire to reconnect with the proud Flyers identity without living in the past.
Team President Keith Jones and GM Danny Brière – both former Flyers themselves – have spoken about restoring a culture of competitiveness and pride in the logo. By bringing in Tocchet, they’ve added a coach who intimately understands the “Flyers way” but also has fresh, outside experience and a modern NHL coaching pedigree.
"I've had zero conversations and Rick has had zero conversations with the Flyers.."
Steve Mountain, Agent for Rick Tocchet, joined the guys and talked about the situation in Philadelphia and if the Flyers would be an option for Rick Tocchet.
Full..https://t.co/hu63Rk56xz pic.twitter.com/Arl9AhoJHP
It’s a balance between honoring tradition and embracing a new voice. That pride in franchise lineage surely plays a part in this hire: fans who have endured several losing seasons can take heart in seeing a familiar hero take the reins.
Yet Tocchet’s hiring is far from a sentimental choice alone – his Jack Adams Award and recent track record attest to a coach at the top of his game, one whom multiple teams were courting.
There’s also a practical hockey fit. The Flyers roster is in transition, stocked with developing young players and a few veterans who could form the core of a competitive team in coming years. Philadelphia believes Tocchet is the right leader to mentor its young talent and instill disciplined habits.
“They’ve learned the hard way under Torts. Anybody that comes in will seem a lot milder than Torts, I would expect,” Brière quipped during the coach search.
Indeed, Tocchet brings a calmer demeanor in contrast to his fiery predecessor, but that doesn’t mean the expectations will be any lower. He has spoken in the past about the importance of work ethic and embracing the hard work required to win, a mindset that dovetails with the Flyers’ blue-collar ethos.
We can expect Tocchet to continue demanding accountability – a trait he no doubt learned from playing under Mike Keenan in the ’80s – while focusing on raising the confidence and skill of Philly’s prospects.
His ability to handle star personalities (honed in Pittsburgh with Malkin and Kessel) could prove valuable as the Flyers hope some of their young players blossom into stars themselves.
In choosing Tocchet, the Flyers are also sending a message about the franchise’s direction and ambition. It’s a bold hire with a five-year commitment attached – a sign that management is playing the long game. Rather than opting for a short-term fixer or a minor-league upstart, the Flyers have entrusted their bench to someone who commands respect league-wide and who will be given time to implement his program.
This move suggests that Philadelphia’s leadership is serious about building a sustainable winner, not just sparking a brief turnaround.
Tocchet’s contract, reportedly worth $5 million annually, places him among the better-paid coaches in the league, indicating the Flyers are investing heavily in this partnership.
As Rick Tocchet takes the helm in Philadelphia, there is cautious optimism surrounding what his tenure could bring.
He arrives with instant credibility and the adoration of the fan base, but there will be pressure to deliver results.
The Flyers have not won a Stanley Cup since 1975 and have fallen on hard times lately; Tocchet himself tasted playoff glory as a player elsewhere (winning a Cup with Pittsburgh in 1992) and as a coach in Pittsburgh, and he will be keen to bring that ultimate success to his old stomping grounds.
In the short term, his mandate will be to change the Flyers’ trajectory – to develop their young players, instill an aggressive, competitive identity, and get the team back into the postseason hunt.
In the long term, the hope is that Tocchet can be the coach who guides Philadelphia from the depths of “rock bottom” back to contending status. Only time will tell if this high-profile reunion yields the success Flyers fans crave. But on paper, the marriage of Tocchet and the Flyers is a compelling fit.
He is a battle-tested coach with a Hall-of-Fame connection to the city, and he takes over a franchise determined to forge a new path while rediscovering its roots.
Now, Tocchet gets to assume one of hockey’s most pressure-packed roles in a city that already loves him. The work ahead won’t be easy, but the Flyers are betting that the same traits that made Tocchet a Philadelphia icon as a player will make him a transformative head coach for the next chapter of Flyers hockey.
