Rick Tocchet will start his fourth tenure being the head coach of a National Hockey League team this fall when he’s behind the bench for the Philadelphia Flyers. Tocchet, who won a Jack Adams Award with Vancouver, had previous stints with Tampa Bay and Arizona before getting the nod (and then the axe) with the Canucks. And although he had had different situations, players and teams in various stages of development, Tocchet is hoping to get off to a fast, strong start in the Metropolitan Division. Add to that a schedule that is extremely brutal for three months of the season and that task becomes a little tougher than usual. Thus it’s important that the wins are banked as soon as possible as games in hand will be anything but guaranteed wins the longer the season goes on and the bumps, bruises and travel catches up with every player and team.
Here then is a look back at each of the previous nine seasons Tocchet has coached a team. Sometimes his first 20 games with them were in the or early part of a season when he replaced Barry Melrose and Bruce Boudreau, respectively. Most of the team he was starting with the team he was coaching. And like most NHL coaches, there are some seasons that he fared far better than others. Let’s take a look.
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