As Danny Brière was introducing Rick Tocchet as the Flyers' new head coach on Friday morning, he was quick to stress that the organization is still on its plan.
"Before you start asking me questions, the one thing I want to make clear is the fact that the plan doesn't change here," the general manager said from a stage assembled on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center. "Rick has been part of this before, has coached some younger teams, has coached some veteran teams, and we see him as the long-term solution for our head coaching position."
He'll be the coach to usher in the next phase of the Flyers' rebuild, and as Brière went on to say in a media scrum following the press conference, hopefully the next few after, too, that will finally see the team into contention.
But no timetable was put on anything Friday. There were no promises of immediate playoff appearances or indications of a pivot to spend early and go all-in for a Stanley Cup push quicker.
The Flyers aren't there yet, and they know it. But their long-term aim was restated.
Tocchet is a player development hire, first and foremost. He said his mission is to "maximize" the talent of the young players who are either already here or on their ways up.
"We know it's not gonna be easy," Tocchet said. "It doesn't happen overnight, but it's my job to develop these players."
But there is something else, something vital, that Tocchet brings to the Flyers' long-term picture.
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He's highly respected around the NHL from his previous coaching tenures with Tampa Bay, Arizona, Vancouver, and especially Pittsburgh as an assistant for those back-to-back Stanley Cup runs in 2016 and 2017.
Some major names within the league, like Penguins star Sidney Crosby, swear by him, and the Canucks even offered him a more lucrative contract to stay put after a rough season before he declined so that he could go elsewhere.
He's a draw, and with money expected to open up a bit over the next couple of summers, that's going to help make Philadelphia a destination.
"Yeah, there's no doubt that Rick is gonna make us more enticing for players to come here," Brière said. "There's no doubt about that…
"And that's kudos to him for the relationships that he's built and the reputation that he's built over the years. It's so positive in that regard that there's no doubt in my mind that, yes, it's going to make us more of an attractive team to join."
Eventually, though. Not just yet.
The Flyers are still on their plan. Brière was sure to make that clear at the top of Friday morning's grand introduction. They still have a ways to go.
A few other thoughts…
Mentoring Matvei
Tocchet has worked with some elite, on-the-rise talent throughout his coaching career, ranging from a young Steven Stamkos in Tampa; prime Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel in Pittsburgh; a developing Clayton Keller in Arizona; and more recently, superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes in Vancouver.
Next up for him now will be getting the absolute best out of Matvei Michkov, who, by all accounts, showed he can very much be the cornerstone face of the franchise with his excellent rookie season and seems locked in on quickly becoming that person.
"I'm going to rely on the staff here to help me understand who he is," Tocchet said of Michkov. "But just watching, I didn't see a ton of Flyers games, but I saw it enough where there's a stretch where he's scoring a bunch of overtime goals, and some of the plays he made, he's got a high-level brain. So hopefully I can learn from him, but help him."
Tocchet explained that a common trait among players like Crosby, Stamkos, and Hughes is that they're all hard workers.
"They work at their game, in great shape, shoot a million pucks, always find a look outside the box. Those are the sort of things I can help [Michkov] understand," Tocchet said. "From talking to [president of hockey ops Keith Jones] and Danny, he wants to be the best. That's a good head start right there, that I get a guy where he wants to be the best. He's willing to do whatever, and that's what it's going to take.
"I'm very privileged to be able to coach that high-level guy. I know the fans already love him here, so see what happens the next five years with this guy."
A team- and rookie class-leading 26 goals is a great start, but Michkov, the Flyers, and now Tocchet are going to be after so much more.
A partnership
The consistent keys Brière honed in on when discussing Tocchet's ideal fit for the Flyers were his effectiveness as a communicator, his strengths in teaching younger players, and his ability to build successful relationships.
Players want to play for him, and in hearing him speak on Friday, you could get a sense for why.
When talking about starting work with Michkov, as noted above, he mentioned learning from him in the same breath he talked about teaching him.
And he spoke in collaborative terms about the rest of the team, too, saying outright that this isn't going to be a dictatorship, that he won't be the be-all, end-all authority behind the Flyers' bench.
This is going to be a partnership.
Said Tocchet in full:
"I think breaking in as a player, it's a different era, right? Coaches told you 'Hey, do this,' and you just did it, right? You were scared to ask 'Why?' Now this generation, they want to know why. They're smart guys, and they want to know why. 'Hey, we're doing this forecheck because of this.' They want to know, 'Why are we doing it this way?' It's my job to make them buy into it, obviously, but you have to accept that as a coach, and I enjoy that.
"I'm a partner with the players. It's not a dictatorship. You're not going to last in this league if you think you're gonna tell these guys what to do every day and have all these types of rules. But I think if you partner up with a player, listen to them, and there's gotta be accountability, don't get me wrong, that's my job to steer the ship. But I think it's important that you let the players steer the ship, too.
"They have a lot of good ideas. I've learned a lot from a lot of great hockey players. I'm not going to name a bunch of these guys, but there's some high-level guys that I got a chance to talk to and learn different systems or dealing with players, and then using your staff in different departments. You got science, you got the mental skills coaches, you got your assistant coaches, you got management, ownership. You can't be afraid to use those guys, and quite frankly, sometimes some guys might be better than you at something. You can't be afraid as a head coach to utilize those tools."
As core names like Michkov, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, Noah Cates, and so on get more and more established, it'll be interesting to see how that dynamic really develops.
There is going to be an immediate one to keep an eye on, though.
Coots cooperation
As soon as the Flyers made it official that Tocchet was the next head coach, they made it a point to put it out there right away that captain Sean Couturier was kept in the loop.
The Captain gets the call about our new bench boss. pic.twitter.com/Bz32gJkVg4
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) May 14, 2025
During the Flyers' exit days last month, Couturier wasn't all that bashful about not having much of a relationship with former coach John Tortorella, who was fired in late March after a spiral where the team looked completely demoralized.
Couturier, 32, isn't going anywhere with five more years on his contract and a no-move clause at his disposal.
The veteran center isn't the fastest skater, and by his own admission has never been, but his instinct and defensive prowess can still be put toward an effective role for the team down the middle.
He's also expected to remain as a key leader in the locker room, so he and Tocchet, who had a run as the Flyers' captain himself in the 1991-92 season, will have to find the common ground that Tortorella never seemed to discover.
According to Keith Jones, who was also available to the media after Tocchet's press conference on Friday, that process is underway.
"They've already met, which is great," Jones said. "It's important, and Tocc recognizes that. He was a captain of the Flyers in the past. That part, I think, helps.
"I think it's going to be really important, because Sean's a big part of what we're trying to do here."
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