Bruce Boudreau has been dismissed as coach of the Vancouver Canucks, who are back on course to miss the playoffs with another underperforming season.
The team announced the change Sunday, less than a week since hockey operations president Jim Rutherford said “major surgery” was needed to fix the Canucks, who made the playoffs just once in the past eight years to have. Rick Tocchet has been signed as Boudreau’s replacement for a Vancouver team that has lost 28 of 46 games this season.
“This was not an easy decision, but we felt it was necessary for this franchise,” general manager Patrik Allvin said in a statement thanking Boudreau for his contributions.
Boudreau waved at the crowd Canuck’s final defeat Saturday night, their third in the last four games. Chants of “Bruce, there it is!” to the tune of “Whoomp! (There It Is)” by Tag Team echoed around the arena as a tribute to the arena respected 68-year-old ice hockey player who ranks among the best regular-season coaches in NHL history.
He is the second coach Vancouver has fired in less than 14 months. Boudreau took over in December 2021 when former coach Travis Green and general manager Jim Benning were fired after 25 games last season.
Assistant Trent Cull was also relieved of his duties, the team announced on Sunday. Adam Foote was called to Tocchet’s staff as an assistant and Sergei Gonchar as defensive development coach.
Tocchet previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning for portions of two seasons from 2008-2010 and the Arizona Coyotes for four years from 2017-21. He won the Stanley Cup as a player with the Pittsburgh Penguins and then twice as an assistant for them.
“Rick Tocchet brings a wealth of knowledge to this team from both a coaching and player perspective,” Allvin said. “He has more than two decades of coaching experience and leads teams of different styles.”
The Canucks have missed the playoffs the past two seasons since reaching the second round in 2020 amid the COVID-19 bubble.
Boudreau was in his fourth NHL organization after stints in Washington, Anaheim and Minnesota. He won the Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year in 2007-08 when he rose from the underage to coach the Capitals on Thanksgiving and got them into the playoffs.
Teams coached by Boudreau for a full season have made the playoffs nine times out of ten. His .626 point percentage ranks fourth among managers with at least 500 games behind the bench, and his 617 wins ranks 20th in league history.
But a Canucks team in disarray didn’t give him much of a chance to maintain that success. Rutherford said in a press conference on Monday that big changes were on the horizon in the off-season, citing the need for the team to become younger.
They could happen before then, especially if captain Bo Horvat is not signed after this season and draws attention ahead of the March 3 trading deadline.
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