While the Vancouver Canucks aren’t actually in the playoffs, they have plenty of former players of the organization who are, just with their new teams.

Players such as Tanner Pearson (BUF), Luke Schenn (BUF), Elias Lindholm (BOS), Lukas Reichel (BOS), Nikita Zadorov (BOS), Jalen Chatfield (CAR), Arturs Silovs (PIT), Noah Juulsen (PHI), Casey DeSmith (DAL), Tyler Myers (DAL), Quinn Hughes (MIN), Ian Cole (UTA), Nate Schmidt (UTA), Nic Dowd (VGK), Ben Hutton (VGK), Jason Dickinson (EDM), Curtis Lazar (EDM), Vasily Podkolzin (EDM), and Andrei Kuzmenko (LAK) all earned a berth to the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

And on Wednesday night, we saw former Canucks head coach, Rick Tocchet, and his Philadelphia Flyers eliminate his former netminder, Arturs Silovs, and the Pittsburgh Penguins in their opening round matchup.

In the battle of Pennsylvania, Tocchet’s Flyers came in and shocked the Penguins when they stole Game 1 with a 3-2 road victory. And in Game 2, they proved that their win was not a fluke, as the Flyers secured a 3-0 shutout victory to sweep the first two games in Pittsburgh. Now in front of their home fans, the Flyers kept their foot on the gas and put the Penguins on the brink of elimination with a 5-2 win in front of their home fans.

That was enough for Penguins head coach Dan Muse to make a goaltending change, replacing Stuart Skinner with a familiar face for Tocchet in Silovs.

Tocchet and Silovs spent time together with the Canucks during their 2024 playoff run. After a Thatcher Demko injury in Game 1 against the Nashville Predators, Silovs was summoned to play backup duty for Casey DeSmith. And when DeSmith reportedly tweaked something in Game 3, the Canucks went with the cautious approach to give Silovs the nod for Game 4.

The Latvian netminder did not give the crease back and went on to close the series with a 1-0 shutout in Game 6 to advance to the second round against the Edmonton Oilers. The Canucks went on to lose the series in seven games, but Tocchet stuck with the 23-year-old netminder for the entirety of the series, despite DeSmith being well and healthy on the bench.

Fast forward to 2026, and the two faced off against each other for Game 4 of a series against the Flyers and Penguins. The goaltending change seemed to give the Penguins a spark of life, as Pittsburgh went on to avoid the sweep, with Silovs stopping 28 of the 30 shots he faced. Game 5 was more of the same, as the Penguins survived yet another game, backstopped by Silovs, who stopped 18 of 20 shots.

Now with all the momentum on their side, the Penguins were one game away from forcing the improbable Game 7 after being down 3-0. But the Flyers made it tough on Silovs, throwing 26 shots his way. Silovs stopped them all.

But some of that previous head-coaching experience helped Tocchet, as he had the scouting report on how to beat Silovs: high shots from a distance.

They came close to sending this series the distance, and the Penguins might have deserved a better fate in Game 6 as they heavily outshot the Flyers. Both goaltenders had a strong outing, but it was Dan Vladar and Rick Tocchet who bested Arturs Silovs and will play the Carolina Hurricanes in round two of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.