Boudreau takes shot at Vancouver Canucks management and calls out their negotiating tactics
Bruce Boudreau didn’t mince words when talking about Vancouver Canucks management today.
The former Canucks coach spoke honestly about the current management regime’s negotiation tactics.
Allvin and Rutherford took over in January 2022 when Boudreau was already with the club, having been hired a month before. The eventual divorce between the two sides was messy, with fans chanting Boudreau’s name and the coach being forced to stick behind the bench long after it was known he would be fired.
Before that saga happened, Boudreau and the Canucks agreed for him to coach the 2023-24 season on a mutual option. Both sides reportedly had an opt-out clause, but they agreed that Boudreau should return behind the bench.
It’s not a dissimilar situation to the one the Canucks are currently going through with Rick Tocchet. Tocchet’s contract has a team option for next season, and the club is reportedly ready to use it, per a recent report by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. That tidbit has ramped up public discussion of Tocchet’s contract situation.
“I can see how Vancouver management works there…they did the same thing to me when they wanted me to sign my deal,” Boudreau said on SiriusXM radio this morning. “They put it public; they start to say, ‘Hey, if you don’t do this, we’re going to do this,’ and stuff like that… As soon as I heard the Rick Tocchet situation, I know exactly what Jim is doing here, and it’s almost bullying him into signing the deal.
“All of a sudden, you get threatened. ‘You better sign it, or we’re not going to do this. You better sign it, or we’re not going to do that.’ Me, I wasn’t negotiating with any other teams or anything, but I panicked and said, ‘Okay, I’m going to sign it right now.'”
“I just see the same thing sort of happening with Rick, but I think Rick is in a much, much stronger position than I ever was. I think he’ll do whatever he feels he has to do for himself.”
Tocchet won the Jack Adams Award as the league’s best coach last season and has done a solid job helping the team fight through loads of adversity this year. If he does hit the open market, there will surely be plenty of teams interested.
While the Canucks have an option on Tocchet’s contract for next season, it would be ideal for both sides to agree on an extension that would give him more job security. That next deal won’t be cheap, as the coach is reportedly seeking a large raise.