Canucks promote Adam Foote to head coach, replacing Rick Tocchet, who joins Flyers

The Vancouver Canucks didn't have to look far to find their new head coach.

The team announced Wednesday that Adam Foote has been elevated from assistant coach to head coach.

He replaces Rick Tocchet, who parted ways with the Canucks last month.

"[Foote] has worked extremely hard the past few years, gaining our player's respect and trust for his strong communication and honest straightforward opinion," Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said in a statement.

"He knows this group better than anyone else we interviewed and has inside knowledge and understanding of what it will take to get us back to where we want to be."

Foote is the 22nd head coach in franchise history and the fourth since December 2021.

He has been on the Canucks bench as an assistant since January 2023 when Tocchet was hired as head coach.

Vancouver struggled to a 38-30-14 record last season and missed the playoffs a year after advancing to the second round of the post-season and taking the Edmonton Oilers to seven games.

The team's search for a new bench boss began on April 29 when Tocchet he would not return for the 2025-26 campaign.

"Family is a priority, and with my contract lapsing, this becomes the opportune time," he said in a statement released by the Canucks. "While I don't know where I'm headed, or exactly how this will play out for me over the near term, I feel like this is the right time for me to explore other opportunities in and around hockey."

Tocchet departure a surprise

Jim Rutherford, the Canucks president of hockey operations, said the decision took him by surprise.

Tocchet was hired Wednesday as the new head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.

It is believed the Canucks interviewed several candidates for the coaching post and narrowed the list down to Foote and Manny Malhotra, head coach of the team's American Hockey League affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.

Foote is believed to be the preferred candidate of Canucks captain Quinn Hughes.

"Adam is a strong leader, good teacher and person who knows what it takes to build a great culture and winning attitude," Allvin said. "His past experiences on the ice have translated nicely into a coaching style that fits our organization's goals and vision."

Foote, who hails from Toronto, was selected by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 draft.

He went on to play 1,154 regular-season NHL games for the Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets, putting up 66 goals and 242 assists, and helping the Avs to Stanley Cup wins in 1996 and 2001.

His son, Cal Foote, is one of five former members of Canada's world junior hockey team currently on trial for sexual assault in London, Ont.

Adam Foote moved into coaching in 2011-12 as a development consultant and defensive coach, and was Canada's director of player development at the 2017 Spengler Cup, where the country captured gold.

'Adam brings structure, accountability to his coaching'

His only previous head coaching experience came in the Western Hockey League where he led the Kelowna Rockets for a season and a half before moving to Vancouver to work as an assistant coach.

"Adam brings structure, accountability, and a detail-oriented approach to his coaching, a process that will send a clear message to our group about the way we want to compete, practice, and play hockey," Allvin said. "We are very happy to have him take over as the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks."

The Canucks are scheduled to introduce Foote at a press conference Thursday.

Tocchet spent 2 1/2 seasons in Vancouver and won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in 2024 for guiding the Canucks to a 50-win season and first place in the Pacific Division. He did not have a contract moving forward and decided not to sign another with the Canucks two weeks after they missed the playoffs.

Now 61, Tocchet won the Stanley Cup as an assistant with Pittsburgh in 2016 and '17 and played more than a decade with Philadelphia in separate stints at the start and end of his career. This is his fourth head-coaching job after time with Tampa Bay, Arizona and Vancouver.

"I couldn't be more excited to lead this team back among the NHL elite where we belong," Tocchet said. "We have a lot of work to do and much to accomplish, but I am confident in the direction we are heading and determined to get us there."

Tocchet takes over less than two months after the Flyers fired John Tortorella with nine games left in another losing season for a franchise that hasn't reached the playoffs since 2020. Brad Shaw finished out the string as interim coach and was considered for the full-time role.

The Flyers are in a rebuild but had modest playoff hopes this season. Instead, they lost 11 of their last 12 games under Tortorella and won only six times over the last 25. Tortorella went 97-107-33 with the Flyers and was fired with one year remaining on his contract.

Holland heads south to replace Blake

The Los Angeles Kings hired Hall of Fame hockey executive Ken Holland as their general manager.

The 69-year-old Holland spent the past year out of the NHL after leaving the Edmonton Oilers in June 2024. He ran the Oilers for five seasons following the end of his 22-year tenure in charge of the Detroit Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cup championships during his three decades with the organization.

Holland replaces Rob Blake, who left the Kings by mutual decision earlier this month after eight seasons in charge of their hockey operations. Los Angeles has reached a franchise plateau after earning four straight playoff appearances, but losing to the Oilers in the first round each time.

Holland, a former goaltender who played four NHL games, is among the most respected and most successful hockey executives of the past half-century. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020 in the Builder category.

He built a perennial powerhouse in Detroit, repeatedly restocking his roster during the final 20 years of the Red Wings' remarkable string of 25 consecutive playoff appearances. That streak ended in 2017, and Holland left the Wings in 2019 to take over the Oilers.

Holland also had success in Edmonton, building a roster good enough to help Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl after the Oilers' years of underachievement around the two superstars. The Oilers made five playoff appearances and reached two Western Conference finals and one Stanley Cup Final during Holland's tenure, falling in Game 7 to the Florida Panthers last June.

Holland doesn't have a rebuilding job on his hands in Los Angeles. Instead, he must figure out how to get more out of a talented roster that has enjoyed consistent regular-season success before running into the Oilers every spring.

Los Angeles hasn't won a playoff series since raising the Stanley Cup for the second time in 2014. The current Kings matched the franchise records for victories (48) and points (105) this season, but lost four straight playoff games to Edmonton after winning the first two at home.

Kings president Luc Robitaille said last week that his new general manager would have final say on the fate of Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller, who took over in February 2024 and led the Kings to two playoff appearances.