Former Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet left thinking he would find greener pastures in coaching around the NHL, but he may have overestimated his appeal to other franchises in short order.
Tocchet, 61, has reportedly already interviewed with the rival Seattle Kraken and is open to all coaching opportunities, including the heavily-linked Philadelphia Flyers position.
But, at the end of the day, it is equally possible Tocchet remains out of an NHL head coaching job and continues to serve as a TV pundit, which he has done for TNT's panel in the NHL playoffs.
According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, Tocchet is playing hard-to-get with inquiring teams, which may ultimately adversely affect his landing spot.
“The line I heard on Tocchet is, he’s not interviewing with teams, he’s interviewing teams,” Friedman said in his latest episode of "32 Thoughts". “Basically, he’s interviewing them more than they’re interviewing him, so I’m curious to see what’s gonna end up here (...) I think Seattle had a lot of interest in him; I’m not convinced that’s gonna happen. I don’t know about Philly. I think he’s very high on their list, but I’m not sure what’s gonna happen there.
"Tocchet sees himself as worth a certain market.”
Many insiders, including Friedman, have alluded to Tocchet receiving a contract offer from the Canucks worth north of $4 million, which could take him off the table for a team like Boston, for example, according to Friedman.
Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal echoed Friedman's words, advising not to "rule out" a TV future for Tocchet.
Friedman on Rick Tocchet future : Seattle wants him but I am not convinced he wants to go there, he is high on Philly radar but not sure that happens, the Canucks offered 4 millions-ish, don't see the Bruins going there.
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) May 12, 2025
People are saying don't rule out TV for him.
Tocchet spending an entire season on television would be quite the twist after all the Canucks drama, especially given the inklings the 61-year-old seemed determined to coach another team this year. In that case, the Canucks' fumbling of the situation wouldn't look so bad after all.