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'Fire Tocchet' billboard goes up in Philly for former Canucks coach

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
Nov 13 2026, 3:44 am
'Fire Tocchet' billboard goes up in Philly for former Canucks coach
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images | @mg_lotto/X

If Rick Tocchet thought Vancouver was tough on him, he may be rethinking things now.

The former Canucks coach has had a tumultuous tenure as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, despite leading his team to the second round of the playoffs last season.

It all stems from his apparent rocky relationship with 21-year-old star Matvei Michkov. It has led many to draw parallels with Elias Pettersson, whose play cratered under Tocchet.

Michkov scored 63 points (26-37-63) as a 19-year-old rookie in 2024-25, the season before Tocchet was hired by the Flyers. His production dipped to 51 points (20-31-51) last year, and so did his ice time, from 16:41 pre-Tocchet to 14:50 last season.

Michkov has 15 points (10-5-15) in 21 games, but emotions appeared to boil over when the Flyers played the Canucks in Vancouver on Monday, as cameras caught him and teammate Nick Seeler getting into an argument.

The next day, a report from Kevin Weekes stated that Michkov would “likely want a new start elsewhere.” Flyers management has denied the report.

Add in the fact that Philadelphia has started the season with a woeful 5-10-6 record, and Flyers fans are pissed.

Fans raised $6,605 on GoFundMe to fly a “Fire Tocchet. Save Michkov.” banner around the city this weekend. The plan is for a plane to fly the banner from 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. on Sunday in Philadelphia.

Because the fundraiser earned well above the goal of $4,000, there was money left over to pay for a billboard, which went up on Thursday.

The fan who started the fundraiser, who goes by the name of “Tony Escargot” on social media, noted the billboard is digital and cycles through eight ads for eight seconds each. He added that the “Fire Tocchet” message will remain up until Nov. 18.

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