A new wrinkle has emerged in the future of the Vancouver Canucks former head coach.
On Wednesday’s edition of Donnie and Dhali — The Team, Rick Dhaliwal stated that Rick Tocchet is open to hearing offers from all teams, not just those from the Eastern Conference.
“I am under the impression that Tocchet will listen to all teams, including the Seattle [Kraken], Anaheim [Ducks], possibly Los Angeles [Kings] if they make a change, not just East Coast teams. So, there is a lot of interest in Tocchet. He is open to all – East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, everything.”
On Wednesday morning, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli mentioned on Halford and Brough on Sportsnet 650 that he also believes that Tocchet did meet with the Kraken.
This comes shortly after Canucks president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, told the media that Tocchet was leaning toward working on the Eastern Seaboard.
Last week, the Canucks announced that Tocchet wasn’t going to return to the team for the 2025-26 season after what was a tumultuous season, to say the least. Speculation immediately rose about where the Stanley Cup champion player would end up.
Dhaliwal was very spirited about the idea that Tocchet joining the Kraken or any other team in the Pacific Division would be salt in the wound.
“It’s not good. If he ends up in Seattle, my goodness, in your own division – that’s like trading Thatcher Demko in your division. You don’t do that. You don’t let a coach walk from your organization into another team that’s in your division. The optics of him ending up in Seattle would be atrocious to the Canucks.”
The Kraken’s head coaching job opened shortly after the regular season. After just one season, the team elected to let go of Dan Bylsma after missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Along with Seattle, there are several openings across the NHL. The Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers are among the teams looking for a person to lead their franchises to future success.
