NHL Rumors: Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes’ Canucks reportedly considering in-the-house Rick Tocchet replacement

The 2024-25 NHL season was beyond dramatic and frenetic for the Vancouver Canucks. Ahead of the upcoming campaign, the organization in British Columbia is hoping for some peace and quiet, and hopefully a playoff seeding to show for it. However, they must first address the biggest void on the team after Rick Tocchet announced he won’t return to coach Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and the rest of the group in Vancity.

The Canucks have missed the postseason in eight of the last ten NHL seasons, highlighting the organization’s ongoing struggle to lay a stable foundation for sustained competitiveness.

After last year’s elimination in the Western Conference Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, hope was for the Canucks to one-up themselves and make it to the Conference Final. Yet the results were far from expected. The locker room in Vancouver imploded throughout the 2024-25 campaign, with Pettersson and J.T. Miller’s rift taking centerstage.

The Canucks are now embracing change, with several twitches to their lineup, but perhaps none bigger and more impactful than Tocchet’s departure, which has now left a huge question mark hanging over every head in Vancouver. Still, the replacement might be closer than it appears, as the Canucks might opt to promote one assistant coach to the head coaching title.

Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet looks on during the third period of their NHL game against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena on October 9, 2024 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

According to reports from insider Elliotte Friedman, former assistant coach under Tocchet, Adam Foote, is in serious contention to become Vancouver’s 22nd head coach in franchise history.

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It would be Foote’s first head coaching gig in the NHL, as he’s only been head coach for the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Hockey League (WHL).

Hughes’ future

Quinn Hughes is under contract through the 2026-27 NHL season, and while there is still a long way ahead until the star defenseman becomes a free agent, the organization in Vancouver would like to secure him for the long run as soon as possible.

The Canucks have done themselves little favors with their recent dramas and poor results on the ice. However, GM Jim Rutherford remains confident Hughes will stay with the franchise, but he acknowledges the clock is starting to tick.

Quinn Hughes #43 of the Vancouver Canucks before the game at Climate Pledge Arena on March 01, 2025 in Seattle, Washington.

“I think a better way of saying that is we control [Hughes] for a year and two-thirds, because if we get to that trade deadline two years from now and it looks like he doesn’t want to stay, then we would have to do something at that point,” Rutherford stated on the 100% Hockey Podcast. “But we’re hoping that he’s here to stay. He’s the leader of the team and the face of the franchise.

“He’s a very understanding guy. He did really like Rick, he still likes Rick, of course. They had a great relationship and he loved playing for him. But he understands how the sport works, and he’s all for going forward with the changes we’re going to have to make.”