With Finland and Sweden both getting eliminated on the last day of open 4 Nations Face-Off competition, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet - coaching for Canada - is the last man standing from the Canucks organization.
Tocchet, 60, is part of the Canada coaching staff that includes Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper, Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy, and Dallas coaches Pete DeBoer and Misha Donskov. With the United States making it to the 4 Nations final alongside Canada, Tocchet will meet up with former Canucks forward J.T. Miller. Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, as we know, was unable to participate in the tournament due to injury.
Kevin Lankinen's disastrous performance against Canada earlier Monday knocked Finland out of contention for a spot in the final, valiant comeback effort notwithstanding. Elias Pettersson contributed nothing to Sweden's efforts across his three games, and the Canucks center played just 9:54, including 3:20 on the power play, in Sweden's only win of the tournament, which came against the United States Monday.
With Lankinen and Pettersson unceremoniously eliminated from 4 Nations contention, Tocchet is the Canucks' last hope to come home from the break with some silverware. Teams are due to return to practice this week, so it is unclear how the Canucks' will be affected with Tocchet's absence. Eliminated players, like Pettersson and Lankinen, will begin filtering in on Tuesday and Wednesday, though they may not immediately return to the ice.
The Canucks will be back in action against Vegas on Saturday night, so expect Tocchet, Lankinen, and Pettersson to be good to go for that one. Thursday's championship game between the U.S. and Canada will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN+ with puck drop set to take place at 5 p.m.