Rick Tocchet rejected Vancouver Canucks’ contract that could have made him one of NHL’s highest-paid coaches: Report

The Vancouver Canucks wanted Rick Tocchet to continue being their coach and reportedly offered the coach a deal that would’ve made him one of the highest paid coaches. He evidently turned it down.

According to The Athletic, he and the Canucks had been meeting for weeks, discussing what an all-in summer might look like to return the team to prominence. That meant a lucrative contract for Tocchet, but he notified the organization that he would not be returning in less than a week.

The Athletic’s Thomas Drance said:

“The Canucks ‘stepped up’ financially, according to two league sources, and offered Tocchet a contract that would have made him one of the highest-paid coaches in the NHL. Keeping Tocchet was the club’s first choice, a fact that Rutherford wasn’t going to shy away from Tuesday simply because the outcome was a disappointing one from the team’s perspective.”

Tocchet reportedly didn’t come to this decision quickly or lightly. He mulled over his options and ultimately decided to go in a different direction, which might not have all that much to do with Vancouver and more to do with his own personal journey.

Drance noted that Tocchet’s time as a coach, with the Tampa Bay Lightning and then again with the Canucks this season (thanks largely to Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller’s rift), has been defined by dysfunction, and he wants to move away from that.

NHL insider details key factors that caused Rick Tocchet to leave Canucks

The Canucks wanted badly to keep Rick Tocchet even after a disappointing season, but he opted to hit the open market instead. There may be a lot of reasons why.

The aforementioned rift between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller, with the former taking a step back in performance, could be one reason. Quinn Hughes’ future and its uncertainty hurt, too, according to NHL insider Thomas Drance.

Drance said there are “massive, difficult questions” hanging over virtually every single one of Vancouver’s top players, and the coach ultimately decided he didn’t want to wade through all of that when he had the chance to start fresh elsewhere.