This adorable pup joined the Philadelphia Flyers. Here's why
'Take another step': What new head coach Rick Tocchet will mean to Philadelphia Flyers
Longtime play-by-play voice of the Philadelphia Flyers Jim Jackson sits down with NBC10's Keith Jones and Erin Coleman to talk about what the hiring of legendary Flyer Rick Tocchet to lead the Orange and Black will mean to the rebuilding team.'Take another step': What new head coach Rick Tocchet will mean to Philadelphia Flyers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Report: Vancouver Canucks Assistant Coach Yogi Švejkovský To Join Former Head Coach Rick Tocchet In Philadelphia
Only a day after it was reported that Kevin Dean would be joining the Vancouver Canucks as an assistant coach, news has circulated that Canucks assistant coach Yogi Švejkovský will be departing from the organization. He is expected to join former Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, who is now with the Philadelphia Flyers. Latest From THN's Vancouver Canucks Site: Re-Signing Derek Forbort Is A Low-Risk, High-Reward Move By The Canucks Advertisement Canucks Re-Sign Derek Forbort To A One-Year Extension Former Canucks In The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Round 3 Recap Švejkovský has spent virtually his entire coaching career in Vancouver. He started out as an assistant coach for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL from 2006 to 2014, later changing roles and becoming a skills coach from 2014 to 2018. During this span of time, he also coached the Seafair Islanders PW (2013–14) and at Delta Hockey Academy (2015–2017). After spending time with St. George's at a head coach from 2017 to 2019, he went back to Delta for one season. Vancouver brought Švejkovský into the organization for the 2021–22 season, with the coach drawing in as a skills coach with the Abbotsford Canucks. He spent one season in the AHL before being brought up to Vancouver in 2022–23, where he was able to become a part of Tocchet's coaching arsenal. Švejkovský was promoted from a skills coach to an assistant coach after the 2023–24 season as a replacement for Mike Yeo who is currently with the Ottawa Senators. Feb 4, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks assistant coach Yogi Svejkovsky and head coach Rick Tocchet on the bench against the Colorado Avalanche in the first period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images Švejkovský had been considered a favourite for the final assistant coach spot on new Canucks head coach Adam Foote's bench. Now that reports are claiming that he has moved on, Vancouver may have to look outside the organization to find their final assistant coach. Advertisement Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, be sure to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum.
New York Times
3 days ago
- New York Times
What we're hearing about Adam Foote's Canucks coaching staff, and more notes
Over the course of the next month, the Vancouver Canucks intend to go all-in and fundamentally reimagine their forward group. This has already been a busy offseason for the club to this point. From the surprising departure of Rick Tocchet in the wake of a disappointing season to a proactive coaching search process that resulted in the club hiring first-time NHL bench boss Adam Foote and amateur and professional scouting meetings last week, there's been no shortage of news, and no shortage of situations demanding the club's attention. Advertisement And we're just getting started. The NHL combine is this week in Buffalo, N.Y., and the league's various general managers — including Canucks GM Patrik Allvin — will descend upon Western New York to interview prospects, hold discussions with various agents, eat Dinosaur Barbecue and, perhaps, get into the weeds on trade talks that could come to fruition over the next four weeks. Allvin and Canucks president Jim Rutherford intend to be aggressive, and have already attempted to do so. The club, however, feels like this is the week when the process of reshaping the forward group will really begin to kick into high gear. Let's get into the notebook and share some of what we're hearing about how the club is working to flesh out Foote's coaching staff, an update on Pius Suter and the club's willingness to break the mold and cast a wide net in search of significantly bolstering the forward group. Foote has been steadily pecking away at filling out his coaching staff over the past few weeks. And that effort is beginning to produce results behind the scenes, even if the club's hires to this point won't be formally announced until the work is complete. Team sources have confirmed to The Athletic, for example, that the Canucks are poised to hire former Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins assistant coach Kevin Dean. The experienced 56-year-old assistant, who specializes in running the defence, drew interest from a variety of NHL teams following his offseason departure from Chicago. Dean is highly regarded in the industry, in part, because of a consistent willingness to heavily utilize and lean on young defenders. Dean blooded Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo as younger players when he was in Boston. He worked players like Alex Vlasic, Kevin Korchinski, Wyatt Kaiser, Nolan Allen and Artyom Levshunov into high usage roles in the lineup during his Blackhawks tenure. Advertisement One can understand why that profile would be appealing to Vancouver, especially considering the composition of its blue-line depth with Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson and perhaps Victor Mancini factoring into the organization's plans for next season and beyond. The club still intends to add an offensive specialist assistant coach, and that part of the process is still ongoing. Despite the fact that Foote has never been a head coach at the professional level, the club intends to prioritize experience running the power play above head coaching experience in finalizing Foote's coaching staff for 2025-26. We're already beginning to see the market for middle-six forwards capable of playing centre come into focus. On Monday, the Tampa Bay Lightning signed Yan Gourde to a six-year contract worth $14 million in total value ($2.33 million annual average value). It's a fascinating deal in part because it's a contract that was tailor-made to work for a Lightning team that enters the offseason with very little cap flexibility relative to the rest of the league. Gourde, who will turn 34 next season, isn't the sort of player we'd typically expect to earn six years of term. For a win-now Tampa Bay team that has a lot of ground to make up against its in-state rival, the Florida Panthers, who dispatched them with disturbing ease from the first round of the playoffs this spring, however, they were comfortable prioritizing long-term risk for short-term cap workability. The best way, then, to really think about Gourde's contract is that it's a stretched-out version of a four-year, $3.5 million AAV contract for a middle-six forward capable of playing centre. That's an instructive baseline for our purposes, as we think about Canucks pending unrestricted free agent Pius Suter. Advertisement On Tuesday, meanwhile, another interesting, if somewhat imperfect, comparable dropped when the Philadelphia Flyers signed arbitration-eligible restricted free agent Noah Cates to a four-year contract worth $16 million in total value ($4 million AAV). Now, Cates' overall valuation on his new deal isn't a direct comparable for any unrestricted free agent values, obviously, but it's still an instructive deal from a market price perspective. Cates, like Suter, is a productive defensive specialist forward capable of pitching in on the wings or at centre. He was projected by Evolving-Hockey's contract projection model to earn $2.94 million on a one-year contract, and indeed, the actual salary breakdown of his contract includes one season at $5 million, two seasons at $4 million and one season at $3 million, according to Cap Wages. If we throw out that lowest-salaried season as representing Cates' valuation for his final restricted free agent season, we get a three-year deal worth $4.33 million per season. And that's a strong indication of where the market for a player like Suter, who outproduced Cates by 10 points last season, and is a far more consistent goal scorer, is trending. However, there's no new traction between Vancouver and Suter's camp. The club and the player are staying in touch, but Suter has set himself up to cash in significantly this summer as a result of his 25-goal platform year. He's certainly looking to do better than signing a deal in the $3.5 million to $4 million per season range. The Canucks aren't necessarily closed off to getting a bit uncomfortable in order to retain Suter. It's more a matter of 'not now' than it is a matter of closing the door entirely. The Canucks have a lot of admiration and respect for Suter's versatility, overall hockey intelligence and his quality as a person and teammate. In a perfect world, they'd love to find a way to keep him. Advertisement We don't live in a perfect world, however, and Vancouver has bigger fish to fry somewhat higher up the lineup, with the club laser-focused on adding a top-two line centre (or, ideally, two) as it enters the offseason. Accomplishing what the club hopes to do is going to require maximum cap flexibility to pull off, and to this juncture, the team continues to balk at committing that space to Suter with roughly four weeks to go before the market opens on July 1, given what it could take off the table as trade talks heat up this month. To this point in the Rutherford and Allvin era, the Canucks have been somewhat scrupulous about avoiding long-term commitments or paying significant premiums in order to acquire older players. Filip Hronek was 26 when the club acquired him. Jake DeBrusk was so heavily sought after by the club last summer, in part, because he was a relatively young unrestricted free agent. It's a mold that the club has hewn closely to under this management team. And it's a mold that the club is prepared to break, given the urgency of upgrading down the middle of the forward group. Now, there are limits to this, of course. The club isn't looking to trade the 15th pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for a player in their mid-30s, but if the best option to add some elite offensive skill into the forward group turns out to be an older centre like 34-year-old Matt Duchene, as an example, then that's something the club will be willing to strongly consider and pursue. This open-mindedness and a willingness to depart from how the club has operated over the past few years is an indication, more than anything, of the gravity of Vancouver's needs up front. And of the club's willingness to chart a different path in order to get back to competing at the top of the Pacific Division after this past season went haywire so dramatically. (Photo of Kevin Dean: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
New York Times
3 days ago
- New York Times
Flyers sign Noah Cates to 4-year, $16 million extension
Noah Cates, who surged in the second half of the season to become the Philadelphia Flyers' most consistent center, signed a four-year, $16 million contract extension ($4 million AAV) on Tuesday, the club announced. The contract does not have any no-trade protection, per a team source. Cates, 26, was a pending restricted free agent who posted 16 goals and 37 points in 78 games this season. A fifth-round pick of the Flyers in 2017, Cates has played 235 games over four seasons with the team, scoring 40 goals and 102 points. BREAKING: We have signed forward @cates_noah to a four-year contract extension worth an annual average value (AAV) of $4 million. #LetsGoFlyers — Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) June 3, 2025 Cates was a healthy scratch for four of the first five games of the 2024-25 season as the club gave rookie Jett Luchanko a look. Luchanko was eventually reassigned back to his junior club, though, and Cates began to show dramatic signs of improvement beginning in late November. After Thanksgiving, Cates was the Flyers' fourth-leading scorer, posting 33 points (15 goals, 18 assists) over the final 59 games. Advertisement Cates' line with Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink, meanwhile, became a central component to the lineup on a nightly basis, too. According to MoneyPuck, among the 33 lines in the NHL that spent at least 300 minutes together at five-on-five, the Cates-Foerster-Brink line was fourth in expected goals share at 58.3 percent. Foerster, who was also a pending restricted free agent, signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract extension last week. 'Parts of our games really complemented each other,' Cates said of his line. 'Bobby's got such an elite offensive mind, and Tyson's got a big frame, and his shot and his stick defensively. A lot of factors went into helping each other out, and playing hard for each other was the biggest thing.' Cates was leaned on late in the year from a leadership standpoint, too, something captain Sean Couturier spoke about after the season. 'He's been involved in some leadership group meetings and is embracing that role,' Couturier said. 'He's more of a quiet guy, but the way he leads by example and gets himself ready for games, practices … he can rub off on some younger guys the way he goes about his business.' That's an aspect of the game Cates would like to embrace, he said in March, particularly after the trade of alternate captain Scott Laughton to Toronto at the deadline. 'You've got to look at everything as an opportunity,' Cates said. 'Younger guy, but I'm getting older. Step up and be a leader, bring that energy. … Try to build myself up to be that leader and a guy that how (others) looked at (Laughton) — just like an older veteran guy, calming presence in the years to come. Great guy to learn from. I've got to take a little bit of what he had.' The Flyers likely view Cates as a third-line center as they attempt to improve that position. As it stands, Couturier and Ryan Poehling are the only other players on the roster with significant experience playing that position at the NHL level. The Flyers have two remaining pending restricted free agents who finished the season with the NHL club: defenseman Cam York and forward Jakob Pelletier.
