Penguins GM Kyle Dubas Makes Major Announcement Regarding Canucks Coach Rick Tocchet
Photo credit: Hockey Unplugged
Pittsburgh Penguins GM Kyle Dubas has announced that Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is on his radar to be one of the coaches for Team Canada for the worlds.
The Vancouver Canucks won't be having a playoff push this season, so that leaves the door open for some of their players to don the gear at the IIHF World Championships.
Scheduled to start on May 9, the tournament will be held in Sweden and Denmark, with Stockholm being the primary host city.
Pittsburgh Penguins' GM Kyle Dubas is building Team Canada's roster and has a couple of Canucks on his radar. At the top of the list is head coach Rick Tocchet, who would be the natural pick for a behind-the-bench job.
"Once it wraps with the Canucks in the next couple days, we'll have a deeper discussion with Rick," explained Dubas on Donnie & Dhali today. "We obviously want to have continuity between the staffs, but you also never know what exactly coaches or management or players have on the go outside of hockey with their day-to-day lives.
"We'll see where Rick is at. Obviously, he's one of the top coaches in the league and did a great job for us at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and we regard him very highly. We'll see where he's at once the year ends and what he has on the go and if he can fully jump into it. If so, that's great and if not there's a really strong group of Canadian coaches that would be excited to carry the ball in that role."
"We'll see where Rick is at. Obviously, he's one of the top coaches in the league and did a great job for us at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and we regard him very highly. We'll see where he's at once the year ends and what he has on the go and if he can fully jump into it. If so, that's great and if not there's a really strong group of Canadian coaches that would be excited to carry the ball in that role."
Canada is coming off a 4 Nations championship victory
Tocchet helped guide Canada to success recently at the 4 Nations Face-Off in an assistant coach capacity and is set to play a key role at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.
The World Championships would be a way to cement his connection with the program, but availability may be pending whether or not he wants a break following a grueling season.
Of the forwards in the running, Jake DeBrusk and Tyler Myers both caught Dubas' attention. DeBrusk has scored a career-high 28 goals, and Myers, who has been out since April 2 with injury, remains a strong veteran presence.
Canada finished fourth in the tournament a year ago and will be hoping to improve on that. Having Tocchet and some of the Canucks signed up, they will be targeting gold for the first time since 2023.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 15 | 266 ANSWERS Penguins GM Kyle Dubas Makes Major Announcement Regarding Canucks Coach Rick Tocchet Would Rick Tocchet be a good coach for Team Canada at the worlds? | ||
| Yes | 227 | 85.3 % |
| No | 39 | 14.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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