Rick Tocchet is Shaping Up to Be the New Flyers Coach
Sources confirm that the Philadelphia Flyers are about to hire Rick Tocchet as their next head coach.
Tocchet, 61, played 11 seasons with the Flyers during his playing career.
Tocchet is expected to replace John Tortorella, who was fired in March, after a season in which the team was heading towards its fifth consecutive season without playoffs.
Brad Shaw took over as interim coach of the Flyers, who finished tied for last place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 33-39-10 (76 points).
Tocchet left the Vancouver Canucks after his three-year contract expired at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Just one season prior, Tocchet was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s Coach of the Year, when Vancouver won the Pacific Division and then lost to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.
The Canucks failed to make the playoffs this season, with a record of 38-30-14 (90 points), finishing six points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card spot.
Tocchet previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning (2008-10) and the Arizona Coyotes (2017-21). He replaced Bruce Boudreau on the Canucks’ bench in January 2023.
His record as a coach in the NHL is 286-265-87 in the regular season and 11-11 in the postseason. With Vancouver, his record was 108-65-27, in addition to 7-6 in playoffs.
