Former Vancouver Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau insinuates Rick Tocchet might be mishandling Elias Pettersson

Whether you hated him or loved him, Bruce Boudreau is viewed as a great players coach, especially over his tenure with the Canucks. Having coached and dealing with Elias Pettersson, they developed a strong relationship that catered to what Pettersson needed out of a coach and mentor, and clearly his numbers under Boudreau speak for themself.

It is pretty clear that Boudreau and Rick Tocchet have polar opposite styles of coaching, Boudreau is a true players coach, while Tocch follows the old school mentality. Tocchet coaches exactly like he played, he has a no nonsense, aggressive style that may or may not work for some NHLers.

Boudreau claims a coach needs to understand all his players and what works for them individually in order to get their motor running. This rings the most true when dealing with players like Elias Pettersson, where a one size fits all model doesn't work.

He went on to insinuate that he feels Tocchet might not understand what Pettersson needs right now while he is going though his slump, that the "old school" in your face challenge type motivation that works for players like J.T. Miller, does not resonate with the likes of Petty.

In reality, Boudreau is not calling Rick Tocchet out, he is just giving his 2 cents on what worked for his relationship with Pettersson, and maybe that can help with the situation that Pettersson is facing right now.