On Tuesday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal were joined by The Province’s Patrick Johnston to unpack the shock of Rick Tocchet stepping down as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks – and what it says about the state of the organization.

Johnston didn’t hold back in his assessment of the Canucks’ ongoing coaching carousel.

“This is the fourth coach in four years. It’s absolutely bananas what’s happened to this organization,” Johnston said. “It used to be a place of stability, a place where people wanted to go, and now we’re a place people keep leaving no matter what level we’re at. I get some people were frustrated with how the team performed this year and blame the coach but let’s be clear – this was a guy who was a positive for this organization.”

“He connected with his players. Quinn Hughes said he’s the best coach he’s ever had. The President wanted to keep him and they couldn’t get it done, so what does that tell you? Who’s going to come here? Coaches all talk to each other, and coaches don’t leave teams. They just don’t. And Rick Tocchet has left. What a mess.”

Quads pointed to one off-ice factor that reportedly contributed to Tocchet’s exit – the lack of a practice facility.

“It was reported that the lack of a practice facility was a hang-up for Tocchet and really, there’s no plan for one,” said Quadrelli. “It’s been fifteen years. At some point you’re either serious or not about it, and the Canucks are certainly on the latter of that.”

Johnston agreed that while the facility may not have been the only reason Tocchet chose to leave, it was symbolic of deeper issues.

“If you’re serious, you’re willing to put the money down. You don’t go around talking to people and struggle to make a deal,” Johnston said. “These owners built stuff and they know how to make a deal. If you’re the head coach looking at the situation, you’re seeing J.T. Miller is gone, a star player making a huge salary coming off an awful season who is potentially locked in forever.”

“You have a chance to sit back and think about what you really want to do. I have a hard time thinking that the practice facility was the thing, but it was certainly a thing. It’s not a great look either way. When you don’t have stability, you start wondering why. Once it becomes a pattern – and there’s a pattern here – things start going wrong.”

Asked directly why Tocchet wanted out, Johnston cited burnout and doubt about the team’s trajectory.

“I come back to the work situation and what was all there. This was an immensely stressful year. What are the chances of a repeat of that?” he asked. “He can’t guarantee Petey is going to be the player he should be. And what happens with Quinn Hughes?”

“He’s sixty-two, it’s not like he’s got tons of coaching life ahead of him, and if he wants to win a championship, realistically, it’s not happening here in the next couple years. It’s somewhere down the road. You’ve got a coach who looks around, he’s a popular guy around the league, and sees the openings – some of which are quite interesting – but he knows what’s here and what isn’t here. You have to be happy with where you’re going to work, and he looked at the situation and said, ‘I’m not going to be happy here.’”

Harm added that while management may claim they tried everything, the optics of Tocchet walking away are damaging.

“I expect the narrative from Rutherford is going to be that they did everything in their power. I’m curious to know why he believes they weren’t able to ultimately keep Tocchet,” Harman said. “I imagine there are factors beyond money. Is that related to the practice facility, Quinn’s future – and factors Rutherford may not be totally forthcoming about?”

“He gave as glowing of an endorsement of Tocchet as he could have during last week’s end-of-year availability, saying he thought Tocchet had done as good a job coaching this year as when he won the Jack Adams. We can look at the results of the season and know Tocchet wasn’t totally blameless in the situation, but that shows you just how highly this management group viewed him. We know Hughes wanted him back as well, so to have a head coach in that position essentially say ‘no thanks’ is not great for the organization.”

You can watch the full segment below: