Rutherford's actions during the past week are those of someone who is starting to lose their mental capabilities with age. The old coot has has always been a bit obnoxious and cold. In 50+ years of watching hockey I can't remember ever hearing a GM actually says he's looking to replace his coach before firing him. There was only a handful of times where they openly talked about trading a player who hadn't requested a trade. I feel bad for Boudreau having gone through that but l the only thing he's really owed is an apology for having not dealt with the situation properly (and of course his salary). At least he will be able to look back and know that his players and fans supported him through this.
- eagleputter

Joe BIden Syndrome

I thought rutherford and bruce were sorta/kinda friends. How rutherford treated him was bush league. Bruce came in mid year last year and got them 1 reg win away from the playoffs. He did so well that he got a 2 yr extension. I have no idea why Vancouver ownership is loyal to JR as he is average and has shown what he is capable of in the past. How he treated hornquist? Karmanos? And rumor in Pgh was that he wanted to trade a very popular player (not named sid) and ownership squashed that. So he quit. He can blame covid all he wants. And then afterwards, saying that he had a tough time being in his home for a long time, he called out guys for wanting to leave the bubble early and not being focused? He's not a good human.
He had guerin, boterill and fitzgerald and when each left, he never backfilled them. He wanted a yes man and he got that in Allvin. He wanted absolute power and then whined & took his ball home after ownership said "enough".

The Canucks are a joke organization. They fired a well loved coach and replaced him w a gambling degenerate loser. Tochet is a POS for accepting a job under these circumstances. Blood money for the lowlife! I hope he fails miserably

The new Assistant Coaches are far better then Tocchet. This is like Florida, they hire coaches that aren’t right for the team.


John Tonelli for HOF

Speedy recovery from the 'Rona to you and your family, Ek.

This is a SILLY question!

Of course the Canucks (whose ownership and management are a bunch of schmucks) were unfair to Boudreau. Publicly criticizing him since the beginning of the season, even though Boudreau had a winning record as coach of the Canucks (and has a winning record with every NHL he previously coached) was despicable.

Furthermore, roster assembly and/or construction is management's responsibility, not the coach's. Is Boudreau responsible for a defense that, apart from Quinn Hughes, is porous and overpaid?

Who cares?

Canucks are a trash team.

Lost every year for like a billion years in a row.

Time to move the team to Moose Jaw or some other city with some fans that have a smidgen of hockey knowledge.

Smyl…Linden…etc…

Completely blow.

Team is owned by the son of a slum landlord.

Next…

After watching how good they were with Bruce at the helm last year I bought the hype that my hockey sense fought against that the team with Bruce could make the playoffs.

But when I look at that team it has so many players I want nothing to do with, or that have significant exploitable weaknesses.

This is so obviously a poorly constructed/drafted team that every knows the GM/Ownership are the problems not the coach.

Sucks for Bruce but at the same time I hope this shines a light at the real issues.

Bush league move from a dog poop organization.

EDIT: I would like to formally apologize to all dogs and their poop

Bush league move from a dog poop organization.

EDIT: I would like to formally apologize to all dogs and their poop
- glove_was_stuck

Classless and unprofessional display by Vancouver management, And then they replaced the coach with a lesser coach. Tocchet must really be desperate if he is taking a coaching position with Vancouver.

Classless and unprofessional display by Vancouver management, And then they replaced the coach with a lesser coach. Tocchet must really be desperate if he is taking a coaching position with Vancouver.
- Shady1962

He is.

He already deleted his Twitter yesterday but there are lots of people that screen shot his likes and replies. He’s a trump loving, porn loving gambling addict. Should go over well in Vancouver.

Toc is an awful coach.
- TurdFergeson

But he had a lovely mullet!

Honestly, IMO, the Team is hardly to blame for the media's rabid chase for this story. The organization is only really responsible for the leak of information about hiring Tocchet. It could have been anyone in the organization, down to Rick Tocchet himself.

Jim Rutherford made it very clear at the beginning of this year the he was unaware of Bruce's contract had a coach option for a second year. Hinting then, that Bruce would NOT have been his choice for coach going into this year. Bruce's only hope of a further extension, if there even was one, was to be sitting atop the division and win a few playoff rounds. Bruce opted to resume coaching under this knowledge and they failed to achieve these lofty targets. He knew what he was signing up for. He was always going to be a lame duck coach.

Does it suck for Bruce? Sure, but this was the likely outcome if the team didn't perform. Was it the right stance form the organization? Obviously this will be debated for some time.

To say the Canucks treated him poorly is a bit of a stretch. I'm sure they have been honest with him from the start. The only issue is that the organization shouldn't have let the information out that his replacement had been found, prior to Bruce's firing, however the writing was clearly on the wall.

He's a great coach, who continues to get his paycheck, and he will get another shot for sure. I like Bruce, too bad management had other ideas. I'm interested to see if Tocchet's style wins more game.

Bruce's reg. season win % is second only to Scotty Bowman lol. It's not the coach. It's ownerships refusal to stop meddling in Team affairs, MNGT's inability to provide a winning roster and the country club atmosphere in Van and the players attitudes towards what it take to have a championship club. Not sure how Tocchet will fix that other than another Travis Green or Torts approach. 36 games left and the club is 7 games below .500. Intentional tank might be on for Bedard here.
- LordHumungous

Agreed, Bruce is a great coach, but his style may have not been the best suited for a team that has been rumored to have this "country club" atmosphere. Maybe someone who holds ALL players a little more accountable for their individual poor performances is just what the doctor ordered.

I would really love to see the Canuck fans show the owner how they really feel about their team, IT'S TIME TO STRIKE, STAY AWAY FROM THE GAMES AND LET THE MAFIA FEEL IT BIG TIME!!! Love to see Canucks get the first pick and Conor tells the Canucks NO DICE, JUST LIKE ERIC LINDROS DID TO QUEBEC!!!!!

The answer to the question is no. The Canucks did Bruce dirty and they embarrassed themselves.
- JetsAvs

Such an indictment from a Jets fan says a lot. I hope Bruce gets another chance working for an ownership group that doesn't piss off the fans of its opponents for how they handle their coach. He deserves better.