Canucks’ ex-Coyotes crew talk on ‘Toc’ as new coach Tocchet takes over
Tocchet #Tocchet
With Rick Tocchet behind the Vancouver Canucks bench, it’ll be interesting to see if Conor Garland gets an even greater chance to be at the forefront.
Tocchet was the Arizona Coyotes’ head coach when Garland broke into the National Hockey League with the club in 2018-19. They spent three seasons together before the Coyotes dealt Garland and defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the Canucks at the 2021 NHL Draft for a package that included forwards Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel and Loui Eriksson plus the No. 9 overall draft selection, which Arizona used on Team Canada world junior star Dylan Guenther.
Garland had a 22-goal season for Tocchet in 2019-20. The right-shot winger averaged 17 minutes, 55 seconds of ice time for him in the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign, a season in which Garland had 12 goals and 39 points in 49 games.
With Vancouver last season, Garland had 19 goals, 52 points and averaged 16:24 of ice time in 77 games. His ice time is down this season to 15:20 through 45 games, and he has eight goals and 22 points in that span.
“Toc’s obviously a huge reason that I grew as a player,” Garland, 26, said Monday after practice, the first session with Tocchet in charge after replacing the fired Bruce Boudreau.
“He worked with me tirelessly, watching video and just filling out my game. I owe a lot to him. I’m excited to play for him again. I played very, very well under him. I’m excited for that opportunity again.”
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Garland did balk at the notion that he’s an automatic to get more ice time, though.
“New coach comes in and you have to prove yourself,” Garland said. “That’s how I view it.”
He says the thing he remembers being stressed all the time under Tocchet in Arizona “was just how competitive we had to play.
“We weren’t the most talented bunch, but we worked hard,” Garland.
“You have to play hard. There’s no room for passengers.
Ekman-Larsson had a similar scouting report, tagging Tocchet as a “high-energy guy” and saying the former power forward “was a hard-working guy and that’s what he wants from his team.”
Ekman-Larsson says that he’s been quizzed by his teammates about Tocchet but maintained he was hesitant to give them too much.
“I think everybody deserves to find out about him in their own way and how he is as a coach. But I think that guys are going to like him,” Ekman-Larsson said.
There were reports of friction between Tocchet and Ekman-Larsson at end of their time together in Arizona. Tocchet said at his introductory news conference on Sunday that any issues between him and Ekman-Larsson were overblown, on which point Ekman-Larsson agreed Monday.
“That was more the media than anything else,” Ekman-Larsson said. “Me and Toc have had a lot of talks over the years we were together. He’s a great guy He’s a very honest guy. Sometimes it’s hard to hear that, but you’d rather have it that way.
“We’re on good terms. I don’t have a problem with him. I hope it goes that way with him.”
Ekman-Larsson believes the Canucks players have to take ownership for the departures of Boudreau and assistant Trent Cull.
“It’s not been good enough, to be honest with you. We hung the coaches out to dry,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We need to look at ourselves in the mirror.
“I feel that Toc is going to come in with a lot of energy and it’s going to be good for this group. He’s going to have a lot of rules (with the structure of play) and be hard on us.”
Ekman-Larsson admitted, too, that the long and winding parting of ways between Boudreau and the club was “weird.”
“You hear it. I’m not on Twitter or Instagram or anything like that, but you hear it. You hear the noise around the (dressing) room. It’s been hard on everybody,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I want to say that Bruce did a helluva job and what an unbelievable guy he is. At the same time, it’s nice to start on a new page here. We had a good practice today and I’m looking forward to tomorrow and building our game and building our structure.”
SEwen@postmedia.com
twitter.com/SteveEwen
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