The Vancouver Canucks season kicks off on Wednesday against the Calgary Flames. Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet appeared on Sportsnet 650’s Halford and Brough In the Morning show to discuss what he expects out of his team, structure and players heading into the 2024-25 season.
There was a lot of overhaul this offseason, especially for the Canucks’ forward corps. Bringing in wingers Jake DeBrusk, Kiefer Sherwood, Daniel Sprong and Danton Heinen. Tocchet spoke on how excited he was to start the season with his new players.
“I don’t care who you are, over the summer, you’re just excited to start. Excited with the guys. I think Patrik [Allvin] and Jim [Rutherford] put a nice roster together, a really deep roster. There’s been some competition in camp, we’ve tried a few new things. I think the guys came in really good shape. We have to train our minds for the long haul. That’s really what our message to the players is.”
During the offseason, Tocchet spoke about wanting to create more off the rush this upcoming season. He’s implemented structures and different types of player positioning to hopefully help them capitalize more in that regard. Here’s what he had to say about the progress he’s seen thus far in training camp and preseason.
“We’re just trying to make guys understand, when we’ve got a team that’s at weakness, whether it’s a 3-on-2 or a 4-on-3, there’s a moment there where, if you’re not training your mind fast or have that mindset that, ‘We’ve got to burn ’em’, the other team will catch up. I find sometimes – I don’t know if it’s playing safe, I just think it’s a matter of just training your mind, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to get the puck here, there’s going to be separation, we got to go’ – we wait a second because maybe it is a safe mentality. We’ve still got to be responsible with the puck. I don’t want to change our identity. We’re not going to get in a river hockey game, that’s just not who we are and we won’t be successful that way. But saying that, there’s more from some guys on the offensive side, especially off the rush.”
“We’re big with these landmarks. We’d like you to be in this area, landmark and then use your instincts from there. We’ve got some younger guys, like a [Nils] Höglander. He could be really good off the rush and use his instincts, but he’s got to when’s the time. If it’s a 50/50 puck, Hoggy, you can’t take off. We’ve been spending a lot of time with that. I think we’ve made some strides, but it’s a long ride; we’ve got a long way to go.”
One thing that goes hand in hand with creating more off-the-rush is adding players with speed. That’s what the Canucks put an emphasis on this offseason in their additions.
“I think Sherwood, Jake DeBrusk and Sprong can [all] skate. That alone makes you a faster team. The mindset of playing fast, the guys who we had last year, we know that they can play faster mentally. Listen, you are who you are, you can improve your skating a little bit but you can improve your mindset a lot when you think faster.”
If there’s one thing we know about Tocchet, it’s that he’s a very structured coach. He likes to stick to his structure no matter what the game script is and expects his players to do the same.
“You’ve got to give a team confidence by where to be when you don’t have the puck. Instead of giving teams 16 grade A chances [or] five tic-tac-toe plays, you cut that down. Now, we’re only giving six, seven, eight or nine a game; very rarely, it happens, but very rarely, we give the weakside tap-in goal. Right away, the confidence level of the players rises [saying], ‘Hey, we’re in the game now.'”
“So now, the next progression, if you want to be one of the big boys, you want to be a playoff team every year, and you want to compete every year, sometimes you’ve just got to convert. I was telling the press last year after the playoffs we had ample opportunities, and I’ve got video to show, ‘Hey, we had a 3-on-2 here for a second, and we didn’t take advantage of it; we had a 4-on-3 here, and we didn’t take advantage of it. Those are really missed opportunities. Those are ones you’ve got to convert. If you get five of them, you’ve got to convert one goal off that.”
Quinn Hughes led all defencemen in points last season, which resulted in him winning the first Norris trophy in Vancouver Canucks history. All while in his first year as captain and Tocchet’s first full season as head coach.
“I’m lucky to have the guy. I took the job a year and a half ago; the guy’s played great hockey for me. He’s a Norris trophy winner. What he’s done for me to help my career, I owe him a lot. Saying that, I think he knows going into this season, obviously the playoffs is the goal. And I think he learned a lot in the playoffs. I give him a lot of credit. He did a hell of a job as a captain of this team. That’s a tough position to put a kid who’s 24, he’s the captain, the pressure. He took that pressure and ran with it. Very lucky to have him as my captain.”
Elias Pettersson had an 89-point season last year, but it is widely viewed as a disappointment because of how it ended. He struggled to produce when the games matter most, but Tocchet still has belief in their $11.6 million man, with how he’s preparing himself in the first year of his new eight-year deal.
“You look at anybody’s career, and there’s going to be down moments. After you have tough second half, how do you learn from it? What can I do that that doesn’t happen again. Well, I’ve got to make sure I come in shape, my practice habits get better, I have to be able to dig in in certain situations, you’ve got to be mentally strong. These are all things athletes and players have to go through and I think that’s something he’s learning from last year. Instead of 20 one-timer I’m taking after practice, I’ll do 100. These are the obsessions that I want him to have. I’ve coached Crosby, I’ve seen these high-end athletes, played with Mario Lemeiux, [Wayne] Gretzky; they’re obsessive about their game. And I think Petey’s getting to that level. Now, you’ve got to work on your game. Which he does, he came into camp, he’s trying to do the things we want. He’s a key to our team, let’s face it. He’s going to get some matchups where, for me, I can expose the other team, and he’s got to take advantage of it for us.”
One of the offseason additions has quite the amount of question marks surrounding him entering the season. Sprong has shown amazing offensive flashes but has struggled to stay afloat defensively. Tocchet touched on what he’s seeing out of Sprong’s game in practice and preseason so far.
“I look at his game last game, and I really saw a difference. He was skating, he was back-checking, he was doing all the things that, probably in the past, people had a problem with. So right away, he knows, ‘I’ve got to get my work ethic up, I’ve got to move my feet.’ The shot, and the ability to make a play, he can be a very elite guy. I want him to continue to work at that. Obviously, playing without the puck, each coach will say that, he gets lost our there. He has to apply himself at that. I felt at camp, he’s really tried. Not just for a game or practice, everyday. Now, you’ve got to remind him, and we’re working with him. He’s craving it. He knows he’s been bounced around and he doesn’t want to bounce around again, he wants to stay in the league. His antennas are up, he knows this team plays with a lot of structure, but he’s also a wild card. I don’t want him [to be] a dump and chase kind of guy because you give him one shot, it’s a 2-2 game with six minutes left, he’ll hit that corner. He has that ability. So how do we make him a rounded out player? He’s started already, still has a long way to go. I’m going to play him with Petey and Jake.”
While he expects growth from his players, Tocchet also expects growth out of himself, too.
“Coming into this season, I’d be a jacka** to think I’m coming in here, I won an award, I’ve got to reinvent myself and have a different expectation for myself. And I think the players have the same thing. If we do the same thing like last year, you’re probably going to get the same results. We have to stretch the bar here.”
Tocchet ended the interview by talking about how tight-knit this group is and how the leadership group has one goal in sight.
“It’s a really close group. The new guys have states, they’ve actually called their buddies on other teams saying that this is a really close group. Which makes me proud, cause I’m not in that room all the time. When a Miller, Hughes, Pettersson, Myers our veteran guys, they’re just thinking about winning the cup. They’re not worried about individual stats. Who cares if a guy scores 50? That’s a byproduct. The first thing they should be talking about is we want to win a Stanley Cup, and how do you do that?”
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