Rick Tocchet, the Philadelphia Flyers head coach, is staring down a Vancouver Canucks matchup where his job is reportedly hanging in the balance. Less than 19 months after he walked away from the Canucks, citing a desire to return to the East Coast to be closer to his family, Tocchet is back in Vancouver, but this time, he is on the hot seat with the Flyers after a brutal start to the season.
The Unfinished Business in Vancouver
This isn’t the first time Tocchet has dealt with a rough patch, especially early in a coaching tenure. Before his current gig with the Flyers, he had a rollercoaster two-and-a-half seasons leading the Vancouver Canucks. He took over from Bruce Boudreau midway through the 2022-23 season, guiding them to a respectable 20-12-4 finish that year and giving fans a shot of hope. That hope paid off big time in his first full season, 2023-24, when the Canucks absolutely blew past expectations, racking up 109 points and earning Tocchet his first career Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year.
But the story took a sharp turn. The 2024-25 season saw the Canucks lose their first three games and finish October with a middling 4-2-3 record. By the end of November, they were 12-7-3, showing some life, but ultimately limped to a 38-30-14 record. Despite Vancouver’s best efforts to keep him, Tocchet decided to step down. A few weeks later, he was with the Flyers. Philly actually exceeded expectations in his first year, 2025-26, even winning their first playoff series since 2012 after an unlikely late-season run. General Manager Danny Briere did hint that a step back was possible for the young team, but nobody, and we mean *nobody*, expected it to be this bad.
Blown Leads and Philly’s Freefall
The latest gut punch for the Flyers came Sunday night against the Calgary Flames. They somehow managed to snag a loser point, but let’s be real, that’s not what we’re talking about when you blow three leads in a single game. Philly jumped out to a 1-0 lead, only to see the Flames tie it up 2:40 later. Then they went up 2-1, and Calgary responded to tie it just 3:43 after that. Owen Tippett hammered home a power-play goal late in the second to give them a 3-2 lead, and they actually held onto it through the end of the period.
But the third period? Total collapse. A shorthanded goal from former Flyer Joel Farabee tied the game just before the halfway mark of the final frame. The Flyers even got a third-period power play that should have been a chance to bury the Flames, but it just led to another familiar loss. They outshot Calgary 16-7 in the second period, but the Flames roared back with a 9-5 shots on goal advantage in the third. And honestly, those numbers don’t even tell the full story, because Flames goalie Dan Vladar had to make some absolutely ridiculous saves to keep the game tied in the final minutes. Natural Stat Trick said the Flames had 21 shot attempts to the Flyers, and you know that’s not a good sign for Philadelphia.
Now, less than two years after his controversial exit, Tocchet is going back to Vancouver, and this time, everything is on the line. Will he turn things around, or will this trip back to the place he left mark the beginning of the end for his time in Philadelphia? It’s going to be a tense night.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Broad Street Hockey.
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