After a fantastic first full season as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, Rick Tocchet has been named to Team Canada’s coaching staff for the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off in February 2025.
Tocchet, 60, led the Canucks to a 50-23-9 record and a Pacific Division title in the 2023-24 regular season. He helped the Canucks defeat the Nashville Predators in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs before falling to the Edmonton Oilers in Round 2.
After the season, Tocchet was named the 2024 recipient of the Jack Adams Award as the National Hockey League’s top coach. He became the third coach in Canucks history to win the award, joining Pat Quinn in 1992 and Alain Vigneault in 2007.
Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper will serve as Team Canada’s head coach for the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off, which will be held in Boston and Montreal from February 12 to 20 of next year. Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy and Dallas Stars coaches Peter DeBoer and Misha Donskov were named the other three assistant coaches on Cooper’s staff on Wednesday.
“I am excited to welcome Bruce, Peter, Misha, Rick and James to the coaching staff for the 4 Nations Face-Off, as this is a highly skilled group of coaches that bring impressive accolades and experience at all levels of the game,” Cooper said in a media release on Wednesday. “I know our players will greatly benefit from this world-class coaching staff, and I look forward to working alongside all five and representing Canada in international competition in February.”
The Canucks originally hired Tocchet on January 22, 2023 to replace Bruce Boudreau as their head coach. The Scarborough, Ontario product has led the Canucks to a 70-35-13 record over parts of two seasons behind the bench in Vancouver.
During his playing days, Tocchet was widely known as one of the most effective power forwards in the NHL. The 6′ right wing amassed 440 goals and 952 points in 1,144 games over parts of 18 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and Phoenix Coyotes, winning the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 1992. He also won the Canada Cup in 1987 and 1991.
After retiring as a player in 2002, Tocchet immediately turned to coaching. He served as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche, Coyotes, and Tampa Bay Lightning before being named head coach of the Lightning in 2008. He eventually won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 before re-joining the Coyotes as  head coach for four seasons.
Between his head coaching stints in Arizona and Vancouver, Tocchet worked as a television personalty for NHL on TNT broadcasts. In an interview with Canucks.com writer Chris Faber on Wednesday, Tocchet called it “an honour” to work for Team Canada and added: “It’s the same feeling coaching as it is playing for your country. There’s obviously a lot of pride and the whole country will be backing us. I’ll have to take the Vancouver jersey off and be honed in for Team Canada and help the players in whatever capacity.”