While there is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding the future of Rick Tocchet as the Vancouver Canucks head coach, we now know that the team option on his contract will not be used.

During the Canucks’ end-of-season media availability, Canucks’ President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford announced that the team has no intention of using the team option in Tocchet’s contract if he doesn’t want to stay with the team.

“We don’t feel it’s right to have somebody here that may have his mind somewhere else,” said Rutherford. “And I’d say that about anybody, this is not just about [Tocchet].”

Tocchet is in the final year of his contract as head coach of the Canucks, and there is still uncertainty as to if he will return. He does have a team option that, if used, would add another year to his contract and keep him on the Canucks for an additional season.

Rutherford also mentioned that negotiations with Tocchet are ongoing and that they expect a decision from him sometime this week.

Tocchet coached the Canucks to a 38-30-14 record, one that was not good enough for the playoffs, although it came amidst a chaotic season.

“We believe, and I believe, that [Tocchet] and his coaching staff did as good of a job coaching this team this year as they did the year before, when he was coach of the year,” said Rutherford.

While some of the chaos dealt to the Canucks was due to some injuries and bad luck, a driving narrative throughout the season was the conflict between centers Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller, one that led to Miller getting traded to the New York Rangers.

“With all that going on, how [Tocchet] handled the situation and how he handled the team was really good,” said Rutherford. “So I give him and his staff kudos for the job they did this year.”