Canucks confirm analyst Rachel Doerrie’s departure, but questions remain
1 year ago
Earlier this week, rumours began to circulate that the Vancouver Canucks and Rachel Doerrie had parted ways.
And on Friday morning, the Canucks confirmed the rumours.
Doerrie was hired by president Jim Rutherford to join the club’s analytics department in late January 2022, but worked remotely from her home in Toronto before moving out to Vancouver at the beginning of September.
Just days before training camp in Whistler, Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau brought Doerrie’s name and new role on his coaching staff up while speaking with reporters ahead of the team’s annual Jake Milford Charity Invitational Golf Tournament at Northview Golf and Country Club in Surrey.
This, according to a report from The Province’s Patrick Johnston:
Boudreau was asked about his meetings over the past couple of weeks with his new coaching staff and in his response, mentioned new video coach Dylan Crawford and then also Doerrie, who he identified as Crawford’s assistant.“She’s got a wealth of knowledge,” Boudreau said. “She knows a lot for her young age.”Boudreau said that Doerrie will also be in charge of the team’s Hawkeye video system, which is available for offside challenges. Because the head video coach’s duties are so focused on cutting clips during the game for the coaching staff, in past seasons helping with coach’s challenges has often actually fallen to other Canucks staffers, sometimes being handled by one of the PR staff when the team was on the road.
Doerrie could be seen during all three days of training camp — and even Canucks practices out at UBC earlier this week — collecting video of the Canucks’ on-ice sessions.
Needless to say, she wasn’t seen in that same spot during Wednesday’s practice.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek spoke about the breakup on the latest 32 Thoughts Podcast.
“Neither side is saying anything right now,” said Marek. “Everyone is being really quiet which leads me to believe there is a story here and probably not a small one.”
“It’s difficult to get a handle on it at this point in time. I think the story will continue to evolve,” added Friedman. “It is weird, one week you’re going on the bench and the coach says it and a week later you aren’t there? It’s strange, very strange.”
Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali – The Team, made an appearance on Sekeres and Price and dispelled some rumours.
“I did get it confirmed Wednesday morning that she was no longer with the Vancouver Canucks, but I elected not to report it,” said Dhaliwal. “My source told me she was going through a tough time, she’s only 25 years old, and public firings are hard to deal with… it wasn’t anything sinister or juicy or gossip like so many people are already predicting. Just a decision by a hockey club, and I’m going to leave it at that.
“Absolutely, 100% unequivocally it had nothing to do with Francesco Aquilini.”
CanucksArmy has reached out to Doerrie for comment, but hasn’t yet heard back.
More to come.
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