Bruce Boudreau had led the Vancouver Canucks with the sword of Damocles over his head for a few days, and on Sunday the horsehair gave way. He was fired and replaced by Rick Tocchet.
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His deputy Trent Cull also lost his job. Former full-backs Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar have also been named assistant and defensive development coaches respectively.
Boudreau led the team for a second season after being called up to replace Travis Green on December 5, 2021. The British Columbia team had a promising season-ending with a 32-15-10 record, but that season’s 18-25-3 record eventually overcame the 68-year-old.
He quickly became a fan favorite at Rogers Arena just by passing. In addition, in what was already his final game behind the Canucks bench on Sunday, he was rewarded with appreciative crowd chants, chanting “Bruce, there it is” in reference to the song “Whoomp! (There it is)”.
That 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers was ultimately the start for Boudreau, whose final emotional days felt like slow torture.
“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Bruce and Trent for their contributions to this organization,” Chief Executive Patrik Allvin said in a statement. We appreciate their commitment and wish them all the best for the future. It was not an easy decision, but one that we felt was necessary for this organization.”
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For Tocchet, it will be a return behind the bench of a National Hockey League (NHL) team. He also managed the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2008 to 2010, then the Arizona Coyotes from 2017 to 2021. Since then, the man, who has a total of 952 points in 1,144 career games, has worked as an analyst for the TSN channel.
He was also Mike Sullivan’s assistant to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ two Stanley Cup conquests in 2016 and 2017, after winning the precious trophy with the team for the first time as a player in 1992.
“Rick Tocchet brings a wealth of knowledge to this team, both from a coaching and player perspective,” said Allvin. He has more than two decades of coaching experience and leads teams of different styles. As a player, he displayed a high level of character, courage and intensity while also posting impressive offensive numbers.