Tocchet and Staff Rallied Coyotes After Disappointing Start

GLENDALE --Rick Tocchet's answer got big laughs at his "Exit Day" press conference, but on some level it was no joke.
Asked which team he was rooting for to win the first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series between the Pittsburgh Penguins, for whom he once played and then coached, and the Philadelphia Flyers, also for whom he once played, Tocchet smiled then quipped: "Coyotes, man. I'm not going down that river."

Make no mistake. It will pain Tocchet to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year instead of participate. He's a competitor, and not qualifying for the posteason stings. As a player, he skated in 145 postseason games. And as a coach, he knows the type of culture needed for a team to play beyond the first week of April. He's trying to build that in Arizona.
"It's hard to be a playoff team," Tocchet said. "What are you as an individual willing to do? Are you willing to come into camp in the best shape of your life? Are you a culture guy? Do you want to turn the culture around? Are you a buy-in guy? Who are you? We're not scared to get rid of the guys who are not."

And with those words, and others, Tocchet laid the groundwork for his first full off-season as head coach of the Coyotes.
Thanks, in big part, to a 0-10-1 start, Arizona finished the season with 70 points. However, the team rallied after New Year's Day and finished 2017-18 with a 20-14-7 record over its final 41 games. That progress has Tocchet already eagerly awaiting training camp in September.
"I'm impressed with the staff," General Manager John Chayka said of Tocchet, assistants John MacLean and Scott Allen, Goaltending Coach Corey Schwab and Video Coach Steve Peters. "I think it's pretty well-accepted that we're the most improved team in the League. Any time you're evaluating coaches, you're looking at a few things. You're not just looking at the record, you're looking at how that team evolves ... I thought they did an excellent job. I think there's a lot of players that got better, both young and old. I thought they brought together the group in a really meaningful way."
Like Chayka, Tocchet was pleased by the chemistry developed within the coaching staff. He said as the season unfolded, the assistants began to feel more comfortable respectfully questioning him, at times, and that, in turn, helped him become a better coach.

"I think our staff evolved and got better," Tocchet said. "That's a positive going into next year ... I've got to get better as a coach, for sure. I thought the first two months I wasn't as good as I should have been. I tried to correct eight million things and that affected myself. When I dialed it down to the reason why they brought me here, I think that's when I got a little more successful; a lot more teaching with the young guys, a lot more individual stuff, which I love doing on the ice with the players. I learned a lot about myself as a coach, especially the last half, and I got better ... There were certain players that I probably didn't give enough attention to early on and I found the more time I gave them the better they played. That's something I'm going to have to work on over the summer."
The Coyotes played 21 road games before Dec. 11. Twelve of those were played in the Eastern Time Zone. It was a grueling early-season schedule that took a toll on a young team with a new coaching staff.
"You're dealt a hand," Tocchet said. "We didn't have much practice time at the beginning of the year. That kind of affected me because I'm a practice guy. I believe in practice. I believe in certain aspects of a practice and maybe I should have adjusted different ways at that time. Maybe I wasn't prepared for, 'Oh, we don't have many practices. I'd better do this, I'd better do that.' All I know is when this team gets practice time, and I can implement my system and as coaches, our philosophies, the team got better."

Tocchet and Chayka will spend the off-season plotting how the Coyotes will take the next step.
"You look at your roster," Tocchet said. "You look at some of the players. Can this guy be a No. 3 center? Can this right winger be a top-six forward? How is your defense? Goaltending? You discuss and then go from there, and then you implement your system around that. That's what we're going to go through on this evaluation of our team."
He added: "I'll be in the Valley (this off-season). I'll be here quite a bit. I'll see some of the players. Some players are going to be training quite a bit. I'll make sure I see a lot of guys. I can't sit on a beach for three months. I'll get bored."