The coaching carousel in the NHL continues to spin at a rapid pace with the Pittsburgh Penguins now joining the fray for teams in need of a new head coach after firing Mike Sullivan. The Philadelphia Flyers are going to be entering the summer sweepstakes with a lot of competition but based on some of the vacancies we can narrow the list to a specific few with Rick Tocchet most likely at the very top.
The Penguins and Boston Bruins are two teams looking for a new head coach and they might have a better outlook for a veteran looking for a quick-fix. Many had mentioned that Sullivan has had his name linked to the Bruins and New York Rangers, and the Rangers officially named him the 38th coach in franchise history on Friday.
While both teams had downward seasons, a veteran head coach will look upon their rosters with a little more optimism, while also having a front office and ownership group willing to spend, make a splash, and compete as soon as possible.
For weeks, Tocchet’s name had been populating and with his future in Vancouver in limbo, many have linked the former Flyer to the his old stomping grounds. NHL analysts like Elliotte Friedman and John Buccigross have been among many that have stipulated that the Flyers are a location that makes sense but ultimately it comes down to whether or not he remained with the Canucks.
Now with the news that his tenure is all but over in Vancouver, the rumours will certainly pick up with the Flyers right at the top of the list.
Things have deteriorated quickly in Vancouver as the team has moved on from Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller, have told Brock Boeser he’s more than welcome to peruse the free agent market, Elias Pettersson’s production has dipped over the last year and a half, Thatcher Demko cannot shake the injury bug, top prospect Tom Willander might be returning for another year in college, and essentially all that remains is Quinn Hughes.
Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin even alluded to the fact that Tocchet’s mind might be elsewhere, which aligns with everything being said about the veteran bench boss and the Flyers. However, is it the right fit?
After the John Tortorella experiment, Daniel Brière has made it abundantly clear what he’s looking for in his new bench boss and that is a proper stream of communication and being able to teach. Tortorella had a method to his madness and while it worked at points during his tenure, it was always felt like it was going to end with a bang.
“I always believed communication is important, so that’s going to be something we look into,” Brière said. “Someone that can come in and teach will be an important one, as well. Communication and teaching are probably two things that will be at the forefront of our next coach. When you have a young team in place, I really think those two attributes are extremely important.”
Things changed within the Flyers brass after Tortorella’s treatment of Sean Couturier last year, since it also changed the dynamics in the room. Add in his spats with Matvei Michkov, how he handled Cam York this season, and the fact that Brière even mentioned that they no longer saw eye to eye on a lot of topics; it just made sense.
He still had a year remaining on his deal but the Flyers want to shift the focus to their on-ice play. Tortorella did a fantastic job at weeding out the undesirables but the way they played in 2024-25 was not what Brière and Keith Jones were expecting. The inconsistencies in all facets, including their backchecking, forechecking, and aggression – all things Tortorella was known for – had disappeared.
Brière mentioned that his search will extend to veteran coaches and those coming out of the collegiate circuit. There has been a lot of fanfare around David Carle out of the University of Denver, especially after his back-to-back gold medals in the World Junior Championship for the United States.
He has maintained that he would like to stay in college and that was reverberated with the recent news that he was no longer considering the Chicago Blackhawks’ position. Considering the Flyers and the Blackhawks might be in the same boat, there’s a good chance they might have to look elsewhere.
Another name out of the collegiate circuit is Pat Ferschweiler, who led Western Michigan University to a Frozen Four victory this year. He has coached Alex Bump over the last few years and has ties with Keith Jones, considering that’s where the President of Hockey Operations went to college. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported on Wednesday night that the Flyers have already conducted an interview with Ferschweiler earlier this week.
As for Tocchet, he has been around as a head coach on and off since 2008-09. He was the bench boss for the Tampa Bay Lightning for two years in 2008-09 and 2009-10, then was behind the bench in Arizona between 2017-18 and 2020-21, before finding himself in Vancouver since 2022-23 to 2024-25.
Overall he holds a 286-265-87 record and has made the postseason twice, but went 108-65-27 over his last three seasons with the Canucks. He was also the assistant coach for the Penguins between 2014-15 and 2016-17, where he won back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Friedman mentioned on his 32 Thoughts podcast on Friday that Tocchet has interest from the Flyers and that he could be the top candidate on their list.
“Philadelphia. We talked about the last pod about Rick Tocchet and the feeling that he’s their number one guy and I still believe that. But I will say this, that there seems to be a growing belief that he will consider television next season. If you go back to his release announcing that he’s leaving the Canucks, he talked about other projects or other options besides coaching. There definitely seems to be the belief that he will consider TV next year if the overall landscape isn’t as he wants it. But Philly’s definitely interested and I think he’s the first guy on their list.”
Friedman also mentioned OHL Brantford Bulldogs head coach Jay McKee as a possible option. McKee was teammates with Brière in Buffalo during the mid-2000s and led the Bulldogs to an OHL championship in 2022.
The Flyers have a lot going for them and it starts and ends with Michkov. Aside from him, they have good to great prospects in Bump, Jett Luchanko, Denver Barkey, Oliver Bonk, Yegor Zavragin, and whoever else they draft this year with what is expected to be a top-4 pick.
They also have NHL veterans like Couturier, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim as well as budding young players like York, Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, and Noah Cates. Goaltending remains a massive question mark and they’re certainly still a few years away from making any kind of noise, but there’s certain things to be excited for if you’re looking for a new job.
The Flyers are expected to be somewhat more aggressive this offseason than in previous years and Brière is certainly going to be exploring all avenues as they search for goaltenders and centres. They also have 7 picks in the first 2 rounds this year and a plethora of picks over the course of the new few years.
It might not have been the perfect landing spot for a veteran bench boss like Sullivan who was likely more inclined towards the Rangers with a roster that is more ready to compete today, but the Flyers will be a wild card for many and the organization still holds reverence around the league.
Tocchet spent 11 seasons in Philadelphia on 2 separate stints and was a fan favourite as he collected 232 goals and 508 points with 1,815 PIM in 621 games. It’s been said that he’s had his eyes on the Flyers job and now that he’s a free agent, it will be interesting to see if Brière and company make it work for another reunion.
A wild card in this whole situation is Brad Shaw because it has been reported that he would be open to returning as an assistant coach, despite being in the running as head coach. He is a very well respected individual within the organization and abroad and he also seems to have a good rapport with the players, which would make it a home-run decision to still have him on board.
Including interim head coaches, the Flyers have had 8 since 2013 with 5 of them having been full-time bench bosses with at least over 147 games coached in Philadelphia. Consistency is needed behind the bench and while turnover in the NHL is rapidly increasing, there are still some coaches bucking the trend.
This was posted last week before Sullivan was relieved of his duties in Pittsburgh but it shows where the NHL is heading in the modern day and how important it is for the Flyers to find the perfect candidate.
The Flyers will be in stiff competition with a lot of teams this summer but finding the right guy for the job is almost as paramount as nailing the draft, finding a legitimate goaltender to ease the pain, or a bonafide centre to play in the top-6.
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