Canucks: Rick Tocchet needs a new contract

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As the Vancouver Canucks hunt for a playoff spot, Rick Tocchet will also have his eyes on his team for another reason: he’ll be contemplating what the future holds for this team.

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He’s two years into a project to rebuild pride in the crest, and a strong winning culture among his players.

That culture is built in two ways: first in finding players who have good heads on their shoulders but also in establishing strong standards that the players themselves believe in. It’s not just that everyone pulls in the same direction, it’s also about what kind of rope the players and coaches are pulling on.

There’s no doubt that Tocchet likes what he sees in the redesigned blueline corps. He’s got a pair of big, strong, good-skating blueliners in Vincent Mancini and Elias Junior Pettersson. Marcus Pettersson is a smart defenceman who makes smart plays in his own end.

There’s of course Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek to move the puck, and there’s a pair of solid veterans in Tyler Myers and Derek Forbort.

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Those seven, plus Tom Willander who is expected to sign once his collegiate season is over, form a nice, mobile, hard-to-play against defence corps, just how Tocchet likes it.

That key on his list as he thinks about where this team is going.

But there’s also the forward corps, whose future is much more cloudy. The first question is about Elias Petey Pettersson’s future: he still doesn’t have a no-movement clause and so he could yet be traded. The Canucks have explored the idea of moving on from him, though the preference is that he finds his way back to the player he was at the All-Star Break in 2024. That player is elite, a game-breaker, a player that other team executives talk about for all the right reasons.

Is he the centre to lead the Canucks to where Tocchet hopes to take them? If he is, he’ll need a big summer of reinvigorated training and preparation. The good news is he has a great, truly supportive teammate in Hughes, a guy who wants to see his friend Pettersson become the player he can be.

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The second question is how does management fill in the big salary cap hole they created when they traded J.T. Miller? There are a few intriguing free agents — John Tavares, anyone? — but the solution here does feel more likely to be filled by a trade.

There’s little doubt that what the Canucks need for the long term is a player who can bring a high level of leadership and talent to supplement Pettersson and the rest of the forward group.

The secondary question here is what happens with Brock Boeser. After management was open in their efforts to trade him, will he want to be back? And if he’s gone, that’s another hole to fill, though not necessarily a bad thing since they seem to want a different kind of winger.

A big lesson that Tocchet and management have learned this season is the challenge of integrating a multitude of free agents year after year. Stability is preferable.

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So when Tocchet steps back and looks at this, what will he see? Will he see a team whose direction makes him want to re-up with these Canucks? The team does hold an option year next season for him, but both sides would prefer longer-term security, but that’s on Tocchet and the roster question.

The players sure seem like a coachable lot. They seem to believe in what they’re doing. But they need to start winning and playing with flair and energy and excitement.

When we see that, we’ll know the project is moving forward — and if we see that, Tocchet will see that, and that will raise the likelihood that he signs on the dotted line.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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