LATEST | Former Canuck gives his take on Rick Tocchet and the Canucks' future

PUBLICATION

Felip Gosselin
May 20, 2023 (1:08 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

The Vancouver Canucks have been the motivation for lots of controversial conversations this year with the Bruce Boudreau handling, the Tanner Pearson injury amongst other things. It seems like they've finally found their path with Rick Tocchet acting as the bench boss and we'll have a clearer idea of whether or not this was just a late-season surge or if it's meant to last once the season starts.

Former Canuck and over 1100 NHL games veteran Ed Jovanovski was a guest on the Donnie and Dhali show and he gave a most intriguing interview regarding the team and Tocchet:

''I love Tocc, I had him also in Arizona. A good friend of mine. I think just his passion for the game as a no-nonsense guy, ..., I think he expects excellence from his group and they'll be learning curb obviously. You look at the core of that team and you gotta keep that core together and you gotta build around these star players that they have. That's kind of the direction of this group, him at the helm is a good fit obviously..., and I think he'll get these guys to compete, when you add the compete side to the talent these guys have, you can do a lot of good things''

Jovanovksi mentioned that the coaching staff Tocchet had put together truly showed the direction the team wanted to take. Coming from a guy who's played in 1126 games, that has to mean a lot regarding the team's future.

The Canucks were already known to have a handful of offensive talent before Tocchet came in, but with his competitiveness, his structure, and a few roster tweaks Jovanoski is a true believer that brighter days are ahead for the Canucks.

Tocchet will have an opportunity to prove his worth from the getgo once training camp starts, the Canucks have had issues with their few first games on the calendar over the last few years. Hopefully this tendency changes in 2023.