Jim Rutherford Speaks Out Publicly & Takes Subtle Shot at Head Coach Rick Tocchet
After the Vancouver Canucks lost badly to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night, Jim Rutherford went on the air to discuss a whole range of topics, and one of them seemed to take a subtle shot at head coach Rick Tocchet.
The story continues for the Vancouver Canucks as they are not able to get anything going when playing on home ice in Rogers Arena.
This was held true as the Canucks got embarrassed last night, losing 5-1 to the Boston Bruins, which has pushed their home record to an abysmal 5-7-4.
Jim Rutherford Discusses the Vancouver Canucks on Sportsnet's "After Hours"
As noted, the Vancouver Canucks suffered a blowout defeat to the Boston Bruins, and after the game concluded, Jim Rutherford, the President of Hockey Operations for the Nucks, went on the air for Sportsnet's post game show "After Hours" to discuss a wide array of topics.
Rutherford was brutally honest about the teams inconsistencies and especially their lack of urgency when playing home.
"We beat ourselves at home sometimes, I'd say probably 2-3 games this year." Rutherford said, "We don't play with the same urgency at home. On the road, we seem to be more comfortable. Most teams like to put on a little more of a show at home, and I think we try to do that sometimes." - Rutherford
One thing that fans noticed was a potential subtle shot Rutherford may have made towards head coach Rick Tocchet.
He pointed out and made it clear that he thinks an issue for the team is that many of the losses at home come after a "day off", and noticed when the team does not practice they do not play well, which is apparent.
"We're in the middle of playing a lot of games... so we get a lot of days off." Rutherford said, "We didn't practice yesterday, we've had a couple of other home games when we didn't practice, and we didn't play well. We have some adjustments to make, obviously, but they're fixable, but we better fix them quick 'cause you can't be a playoff team with a record like we have at home."
This can be taken in many ways, but it feels like a direct criticism to Rick Tocchet and his choices to give players days off before important games at home, when their record is already terrible.
The seems to be more structure for the Canucks when they are on the road, and a lot more leash when at home, at the record is clearly showing it.
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