Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Rick Tocchet made his debut in the NHL 40 years ago, and in those years, he has been a student of the game who evolved into a teacher.
And though the student has become the teacher, Tocchet still learns more about the game every day in the ever-evolving NHL.
One of the most important weeks of the year for learning and discussion is the Canucks’ coaching summit. It is three days of meetings where the coaching staff comes together to align their goals, focuses and ideas for the coming season.
“You have every coach present a topic,” said Tocchet about his coaches’ summit. “Everyone has a project to do and then you get analytics involved with teams that are the best at it. And this year, there were quite a few things that we were one of the better teams at. So, it was interesting to see how much we are going to change. That’s what the three days are for; picking each other’s brains, debating, and setting up training camp.”
The coaches remain in contact throughout the summer and Tocchet continues to be impressed with the selflessness of his staff and how they are willing to go the extra mile and stay in contact with players and check in on their offseason projects.
Tocchet spoke about this year’s staff with the addition of Jason Krog, the promotion of Yogi Švejkovský and Marko Torenius in Vancouver, and Manny Malhotra in Abbotsford.
“A couple of new faces, some promotions, and the one thing about my staff that I really enjoy, and I’m very lucky to have these guys, is they’re all teachers and they love teaching players,” he said.
“They’re not negative people. They’re very positive. They’re pushing the envelope, but they’re doing it the right way with the players, and I feel our players are very comfortable around them. You want them to feel that when they get to the rink, they’re safe and they can feel vulnerable without being judged all the time.”
Tocchet did not know Švejkovský very well when he arrived in Vancouver but was impressed with the work his skills coach did when he was working with the return-to-play players and some of the extra skill work he helped players with before and after practice.
“I asked him halfway through the year, ‘Can you come on some of the road trips?’ I saw his role grow because he earned it, plus his demeanour and his hockey IQ, I was only impressed with him. That's why I felt comfortable promoting him to a full-time assistant coach. This year, he presented power play, and he presented offensive schemes. And I thought his presentations were outstanding, and he already has our wheels turning on some stuff that we want to do,” Tocchet said.
Speaking of wheels turning, Daniel and Henrik Sedin know all about that with their drives out to Abbotsford to support the AHL development. Tocchet also mentioned the coaches learning from Daniel Sedin about his new love for bicycle training in the offseason.
The Sedins are continuing to grow in their role with the Canucks organization and since day one, Tocchet has wanted to glean as much information from the twins because he knows the value of their knowledge and hockey IQ are going to help set the team up for success.
“They like to be in the background and over the years, they like to work with young players. They love that,” said Tocchet. “When I took the job and talked to Jim Rutherford, I said, ‘Hey, listen, I'd like to see them get involved more and help me out.’ I think they just wanted to be comfortable. I think they're two outstanding men that didn't want to step on my toes. And I want them to step on my toes. I want them to give me their knowledge. They're so competitive, and I want that from them when they talk to our players."
As much as the Sedins help the NHL players, their impact on the young AHLers is where they shine the brightest. If you talk to any Abbotsford Canucks player about their development, the Sedins will come up in the first three minutes of your conversation.
Tocchet also appreciates the Sedins’ ability to help him understand what an AHL player could potentially be at the NHL level.
“They go down to Abbotsford and when we have our meetings about [the AHL] players. I rely on them. I'm asking questions about [Aatu] Räty’s playstyle and where [Max] Sasson is in his development. They give me good feedback, and they're usually right on.”
Tocchet believes in his system but there’s always room for improvement. He challenged his coaching staff to find tweaks that could improve the system and enjoyed that his staff brought some out-of-the-box thinking to attempt some tweaks to breakouts, forechecks, and defensive zone coverage.
This past week saw plenty of discussion between the staff and they worked as a team to find the best for the Canucks.
“It's a free flow [conversation], and it's a lot of juice. It's not just one guy talking for a half hour. It's very interactive with a lot of ideas. But at the same time, we're not trying to split the atom. We are who we are. We know what we want to play like but are there any tweaks that we can do to our game?” said Tocchet.
“For instance, our D-zone coverage. There's probably 10% that I think we're going to change because I think we can be better at it. Is it a little bit more risky? Maybe, but I think the risk versus reward is there, and we're exploring that in these three days."
This is the second coaches' summit that the Canucks’ coaching staff has gone through with Tocchet at the helm. Last year, the summit was focused on getting down to the bare bones of the system they want to run and this year, Tocchet feels there was much more creativity after the staff went through the 2023-24 season and was able to see what worked, and what needed to be changed.
You are still going to hear a lot about meeting pressure with pressure as well as the staples and pillars that this team saw success with last season. Tocchet is now looking to build on what they accomplished last season and find a path to be even better and closer to a Stanley Cup contender.
“We've now got some foundation here and we can get a little bit outside the box. And is there something we can do a little differently to push the envelope offensively? That's something that, as a head coach, you're like, ‘How much riskier do I want to play without compromising who we are?’ That's something these three days are for, and that's why you rely [on] these coaches to come up and not be afraid to give their opinion and have conviction on it.”
As the head coach, Tocchet has to set the tempo for the group and looked back at the 2023-24 season before setting a summer goal for himself to improve on his messaging to the players. Though messaging is one of his stronger traits as a head coach, he wanted to build on what his group is currently doing and be even better for the 2024-25 year.
He is looking to keep the same kind of messaging but produce fresher ways of delivering it to the players. Simple things like changing up the video room, changing some paint in the locker room and improvements to the recovery room may seem like minor changes but the coach still throws on his player’s hat at times to think of what can help the players perform their best and be as comfortable as possible.
“I know it's small, people might not think it means something, but I think it is important when players come in, they have something new. And that means myself too. I have to give the players something new, some different strategies. Now, I'm not saying we're going to switch a lot of stuff, but there are some things we will switch,” said Tocchet.
On the topic of messaging, he has been impressed with second-year captain Quinn Hughes.
“Talking to some players this summer, I think it's important that I give them that responsibility,” said Tocchet. “Quinn Hughes has to be confident to ask for something on a team goal and give the players that freshness. I think it's very important. I'd be crazy as a coach if you're not going to evolve and not listen to your players.”
Analytics was another interesting topic that arose during the coaches’ summit.
“I think it's important that you look at the numbers and involve analytics. There are some truths to the numbers, some, I don't believe really matter. But there are a lot of numbers that matter to us,’ said Tocchet.
“We're a good possession team, we're one of the better teams at getting goals off deflections. So, there are certain things that we're one of the top two or three teams of the league. So, it's very important that we try to lead at those things, but there are also things that we're not good at, and we have to see. Is that because of personnel? Is it the coaching? Is it the explanation of the system? There's a lot to that, so you got to look at those numbers and make sure that you know you're looking at a solution the right way.”
On top of all the work, the group was simply happy to be back together and prepare for the coming season. It was a good bonding experience for the coaches to hear about each other’s summer vacations, and what their kids are up to. Though this group is filled with hockey nerds, Tocchet mentioned that the non-hockey topics are important for building the bond that this group shares.
He gives credit to assistant coach Adam Foote for his ability to come in and “stir the pot and joke around” with the group to ease the mood and return to work.
“It’s not just 24-hour hockey days, you’ve got to have some balance,” said Tocchet.
The staff will continue to have the coaches’ summit as it is a week where the group can come together, get a lot of work done and present their ideas on how the Vancouver Canucks can improve.
Overall, it was a productive week for the organization, and it’s just another step closer to the beginning of the hockey year.
Insider Extra
One of the players who was discussed at the coaches' summit is new Canucks defenceman Vincent Desharnais. The former Edmonton Oiler, as well as Chilliwack Chief (BCHL), comes in to join the Canucks’ defence corps and adds size and reach that the coaching staff loves to work with.
“I just feel our staff are teachers, and I think he's a guy that is craving the details,” said Tocchet about Desharnais. “He knows that there's another level for him. He's got the body, skates pretty well for a 6'7" guy, has a long reach, and he’s got a pretty good shot. So, how do we package that into being a player?”
“Looking at Tyler Myers last year, who had a great year for us. He's a guy that had his improvement and you saw that with how well he played in the playoffs. So, I think when Vinny sees these other bigger guys like Mysie, [Carson] Soucy, and [Noah] Juulsen, he will see the stature of our defence, how these guys improved with our philosophies, with our details, or the teaching from Footey and Gonch and the other coaches. I think he sees that and that's why he wanted to sign with us.”
