The Philadelphia Flyers leadership group in the front office went out and got their guy. We know that Danny Briere and Keith Jones are fans of Rick Tocchet, hiring the former Flyer with a five-year, $26.25-million contract attached.
Tocchet has yet to cross paths with any Flyers players at the NHL level, but he was a part of the Team Canada coaching staff at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament back in February. Of course, Flyers alternate captain Travis Konecny and veteran defenseman Travis Sanheim were on that Team Canada squad that won gold.
Konecny and Sanheim — and Tyson Foerster — are currently playing for Team Canada at the World Championships in Sweden. Aaron Vickers caught up with the duo on Thursday, and the Travises had nothing but positive things to say about their new coach.
“It’s great,” Konecny said. “Really looking forward to working with him. He seems like a great guy. I’ve heard nothing but good things. And he’s a Flyer. That means something, and he knows that.:
Konecny embodies what it means to be a Flyer with his scoring and feistiness. You can already imagine Tocchet loving what he does on the ice.
“He gets it, I’m sure. It means something to put that jersey on. The city loves their hockey. They love their sports in general. You’ve got to show up to play every night, and I think that’s something that he brought and he’s going to instill in the team.”
Team Canada at the World Championships is loaded with plenty of talented players, including some who have played under Tocchet before. Sanheim has been able to pick their brains a bit on his new bench boss.
“I’ve heard nothing but good things about him from guys that have had him,” he said. “Super excited to get to see what he’s all about as a head coach…
“Obviously (Crosby) had him as an assistant, so it’s a little different, but spoke with him briefly last night at dinner about it, and just kind of getting his thoughts,” Sanheim continued. “Same with other guys. Bo (Horvat) had him for, I think, half a season. Just speaking with different guys, I’ve heard nothing but good things.”
It’s no surprise that players have nothing but good things to say about Tocchet. That was one of the primary reasons that the Flyers wanted to bring him in.
“I think that’s exciting for our organization to be able to bring in a guy like that,” Sanheim concluded.