New Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet and general manager Danny Briere met with the media as Tocchet was introduced as the franchise’s 25th head coach. Here’s what both had to say regarding some of the questions posed during Friday’s press conference.
Briere (introducing Tocchet): The one thing that I want to make clear here is the fact the plan doesn’t change here. Rick has been part of this before, has coached some younger teams, has coached some veteran teams. We see him as the long-term solution for our head coaching position. the other part that we touched on before, I think it was at my year-end presser, you asked me what we were looking at for a head coach. One thing I said was we needed a teacher. And I think there’s nobody better than Rick to teach our young guys. I saw it first-hand myself when I came in the league as a nineteen, twenty-year-old, I had the chance to play with Rick, he was a mentor to myself. I learned a lot from him. One of the things was the time he spent on the ice working on his craft. And now he wants to pass that on. He’s done it for the last few years and I know he wants to do the same thing for our young team and our young guys that are coming up.
The other thing that I mentioned was we needed a communicator. That’s one thing Rick Tocchet does is he builds relationships. He’s good at it. I talked to a lot of players around the league, players that are still playing, players that are in management positions, scouting positions, coaching positions around the league. The one thing that kept coming up was how good of a communicator he is with his players especially and how he builds relationships. Part of the reason I’m so excited to have him as our next head coach.
Q: What sold him on becoming the Flyers’ head coach?
Tocchet: As a coach or anything in life you want to check the boxes. Stability. Box checked. Relationships. Box checked. Passion and the area and the fan base. Box checked. I’m a big relationship guy. I know just from the past being here and working with good people makes you successful. So for me those are the attractive things. Obviously the roster and the potential. The prospect pool, the cap space that’s coming here. There’s a lot of positives for this job. It’s an attractive job. I think it’s one of the best jobs in hockey. I’m very fortunate to get it.
Q: What gives you the confidence the Flyers are a stable organization?
Tocchet: Going through the plan, if you look at it, what do coaches want? There’s a lot of draft picks, there’s a lot of prospects, untapped talent. The stability obviously of ownership. I walked around the practice facility, the bowels, there’s so many tools to work with. They have three sheets of ice. As a coach you’re like, ‘Oh my god!’ These are the things you want as a coach. So those are attractive things to help me be a better coach.
Q: Any player looking forward to working with?
Tocchet: There’s a lot of guys, I’m not going to get into specifics. There’s a lot of talent on this team. Speaking of a guy like Sanheim, I was in the (Four Nations Face-Off selection) meeting about what players and what defense. I forget where they had him on the depth chart, we discussed them with a couple of the high-level coaches, Cooper. We said this guy could play. And when he made the roster, how well he played in the Four Nations. I was behind that bench and it’s high-level stuff, I had the best seat in the house. To see him perform with the best defensemen in the league. So that’s a big plus, to get a front-line defenseman like that on your team is a plus for me.
Obviously TK, I thought he was terrific. Just getting to know him as an assistant coach at the time, his work ethic. The way he was in the room with all these guys, I was impressed with his leadership. I’m very excited to work with a lot of these guys. I think I can really help some of these guys. Not to name names, but they’ve got some star players here and in the making. That’s my job to maximize those guys.
(For Briere): What in Rick’s track record as a head coach tells you that’ll he’ll do a good job teaching this young group?
Briere: It’s funny, most people would probably focus on the job that he done when he won the Jack Adams a couple of years ago. That was quite the turnaround in a short amount of time. What he did there, he had a really impressive year. For me when I look at the track record one of the most impressive parts that stood out was his stint with the Coyotes. He had, I’m not trying to take it on the players, but he had a pretty depleted lineup at the time. I remember the experts were saying the Coyotes would be last in the NHL and get the first overall pick. He made them competitive. They did make the playoffs one year and were in the running. That body of work for me was probably the most impressive part of his coaching.
Also you can’t forget what he did winning two Stanley Cups and being part of that staff in Pittsburgh. Being part of the Four Nations staff last year. Working with some of the best players in the world. His track record is quite impressive.
Q: We hear a lot about your ability to communicate. As a guy who has played in a different era, how do you learn to deal with today’s athlete?
Tocchet: I think breaking in as a player it was a different era. Coaches told you, ‘Do this!’ and you just did it. You were scared to ask why. Now this generation want to know why, they want to ask questions. They’re smart guys. It’s my job to make them buy into it obviously, but you have to accept that as a coach. I’m a partner with the players. It’s not a dictatorship. You’re not going to last in this league if you think you’re going to tell these guys what to do every day and have all these types of rules. But if you partner up with a player, listen to them. There’s going to be accountability, don’t get me wrong. That’s my job to steer the ship but I think you let the players steer the ship too. They have a lot of good ideas too. I’ve learned a lot from great hockey players.
Q: As someone whose been a former player in this market, how much an unique strength is it in being able to relate to those players first-hand on that level?
Tocchet: I think it’s huge. When a player walks in that door, the practice rink or this facility, they want trust. They want accountability. And they want to feel safe. Sometimes with the world we live in now, there’s a lot of outside noise. It can affect players. My job is to create a safe environment for those guys so they can feel as soon as they hit those doors that they’re taken care of. We’re going to help them as much as possible and partner up with them. Getting trust from the players from day one is my goal. It’s to make sure the players trust me.
Q: With some of the older veterans like Scott Laughton leaving, how important is it for some of the younger players to take on more of a leadership role?
Tocchet: That’s huge. The room is huge, the leadership and making other players evolve in that leadership is huge. So there’s some guys in there with leadership qualities and we’ve got to get it out of them and give them a rope to be a leader. So when you lose these type of guys, that’s one thing I noticed when guys got traded out of here, nobody wants to get traded from the Flyers. They do stuff so well here, in the locker room. It’s a tight group. That’s what I want to continue. Torts did a hell of a job of creating a hard-working team that cared about each other. So hope I can keep that tradition going here.
Q: What positions you have to upgrade to expedite the rebuilld? And Danny, do you think having Rick here will help attract free agents?
Tocchet: I think going through the process with Danny, Jonesy, and Dan (Hilferty), looking at the roster here there’s a talent pool here that’s untapped. I really believe that. And we need to strengthen that of course. I think that’s the one thing talking to Jonesy and Danny about, they’re not shy about that. They want to swing the bat. At what time, that’s there job. But what I have in front of me right now, play without the puck is something very important to me. Being a smart team that doesn’t beat yourself, protecting certain players is something we can do around here. I feel there’s enough here to get the ball rolling and keep the ball going in the direction these guys want it to keep going.
Briere: On my end, there’s no doubt Rick is going to make us more enticing for players to come here. There’s no doubt about that. There’s already agents calling and letting us know. That’s kudos to him for building those relationships, the reputation that he’s built over the years. It’s so positive in that regard there’s no doubt that yes, it’s going to make us more of an attractive team to join.
Q: Have you thought about any assistant coaches and how to address the power play next season?
Tocchet: We got some things we’re looking at. I think it’s important we do this properly. I think the power play is a sore point. I get it. It’s something that we’re going to have to dive into. I have some thoughts on it. And there’s some really good people out there that will take a look at it. I think there’s some guys on this team that we can unleash because there’s some guys here who have offensive minds and we got to let these guys be creative out there with the power play. Just like anything, a good PP, PK, five-on-five, you’ve got to have all the elements to be a good hockey team. So we’ll dive into that as the days go on.
Q: Have you given any thoughts on getting Matvei Michkov to that next level of players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Quinn Hughes, Steven Stamkos?
Tocchet: I’m going to rely on the staff here to help me understand who he is. I didn’t see a ton of Flyer games but I saw enough where there was a stretch where he was scoring a bunch of overtime goals. And some of the plays he made, he’s got a high-level brain. So hopefully I can learn off him as well as help him. All those guys you mentioned, hard workers. They work at their game. They’re in great shape, shoot a million pucks, always trying to look outside the box. Those are the things I can help Mich understand. Talking to Jonesy and Danny, he wants to be the best. That’s a good headstart. That’s a guy who is willing to do whatever and that’s what it’s going to take. I’m very priviliged to coach a guy, that high level of a guy. I know the fans already love him here so I can’t wait to see what happens the next five years with this guy.
Q: What did you learn in Vancouver about team culture and going through that (J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson contoversy) of keeping things on the level?
Tocchet: First of all, I’m a huge J.T. Miller fan, we still talk, I love the guy. Same thing with Elias Pettersson. Sometimes things happen and there’s not a bad guy. People are looking for the bad guy in this and sometimes things just don’t work out. And you have to move on from it. Have I learned? I was lucky to work with Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin and Francesco Aquilini, they were right by my side and supportive the whole time. Could we have done something different? Maybe I don’t know. But even during that tumultuous time, we had injuries, I’m not going to get into excuses, but I’m really proud of that team that we were only three points out of a playoff spot. So I give the players a lot of credit for that.
Q: What are your expectations for the team this year?
Tocchet: Getting the team to play better. Every individual has untapped talent. To whatever level it is, it’s my job to untap it. I think the direction, I know where this is going. I love the direction these guys have laid out. I believe in it. And I want to be part of the solution. For me I know what I got to do to keep this ball going. And there’s a lot of tools here to work with.
