By Thomas Drance (The Athletic)
Rick Tocchet isn’t satisfied.
Last season, he won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year, authored one of the most impressive year-over-year defensive turnarounds in recent NHL history and led his club to 50 wins and a galvanizing playoff run that restored “respect in the jersey,” as Tocchet memorably put it following Vancouver’s Game 7 loss to the Edmonton Oilers two months ago. But Tocchet wants more. He wants more for this Canucks team and he expects more from himself.
“If I’m asking the players, how are you going to do better to handle pressure and be connected going into next year, then I have to be the same way,” Tocchet said.
“I can’t just come back with the same playbook and the same style of coaching. I have to figure out how to get better too.”
This is why Tocchet and his coaching staff have spent a lot of time this summer thinking about how to generate more offence. It’s why Tocchet has spent the time and watched the video to try to thoughtfully diagnose where it went wrong for Vancouver in Game 6 and Game 7 against the Oilers in late May.
And it’s evidence of the sort of self-awareness and emotional intelligence that has made Tocchet a transformative figure with the Canucks over the past 18 months.
We caught up with Tocchet to discuss the work he’s put in this offseason, his reaction to the club’s offseason additions (and departures), how he can help Elias Pettersson bounce back and what the club has learned about managing Thatcher Demko’s workload.
What follows is that conversation, edited for length and readability.
Rick, earlier this summer you talked about the coulda, woulda, shoulda element of the Game 7 loss against Edmonton, the slow start for your club in the first period of that game and some of the missed opportunities there. After your club is eliminated, are you able to watch the postseason? How long does it take, and what goes into processing that loss and getting back into preparation mode in the offseason?
When you get beat out, for me personally, I watch the next several games intensely. I don’t watch the games as a hockey fan, but I watch it and just think to myself what I could’ve done differently, and to watch how Edmonton and Dallas match up.
As the playoff goes on, I guess I loosen the reins on my brain a bit. Obviously you’re always learning and trying to understand the game, but as it goes on, I try and just be a hockey fan and enjoy it.
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