Rick Tocchet and Craig Berube have been close friends for 40 years, going back to their time as young players with the Philadelphia Flyers.
That friendship has evolved from teammates to coaching adversaries, but it remains as strong as ever.
"We've got a great relationship," Berube said. "We confide in each other daily, almost, about things and what we're going through and what the challenges are. He's a great sounding board for me. He obviously was a great player, in my opinion, and he knows the game extremely well, so he's always good for me."
That longstanding friendship will get put on the back burner for one night when Tocchet and the Flyers play Berube and the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, Prime, NBCSP), the 22nd time the two will face off as NHL coaches according to NHL Stats & Information. Tocchet holds a 13-8 edge, but Berube won their two previous games this season, 5-2 on Nov. 1 and 2-1 in overtime Jan. 8.
Each team comes in at a bit of a crossroads. The Flyers (27-21-11) have won two straight but are 5-9-3 in 17 games since the last time they played the Maple Leafs. They're six points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Maple Leafs (27-24-9) have lost three straight and nine of 12 (3-8-1) and are eight points behind the Bruins.
Philadelphia is looking to end its five-season playoff drought, while Toronto is trying to reach the postseason for the 10th straight season. So, for one night, the battle for points takes precedent.
"I don't put the personal thing in," Tocchet said. "I just want to win the game. ... You don't want to see your buddy struggle, but you're also, like, hey, I've got to win the game. I can't worry about my buddy's situation."
That's not always easy when you have two people that go back as far as Tocchet and Berube.
Tocchet was in his third season with the Flyers when Berube broke in as a rookie in 1986-87. They were teammates in Philadelphia for five seasons until Berube was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on May 30, 1991. They were reunited briefly with the Washington Capitals late in the 1996-97 season and again with the Flyers late in the 1999-2000 season.
It was around that time that Tocchet, who was 35, and Berube, at age 34, started planting the seeds for life after hockey.
"I remember, at that time, after every game that we played, we were always going back to the Main Street Pub," said Simon Gagne, a 19-year-old Flyers rookie in 1999-2000. "It was a little pub that they kept open for us, and we were watching our game that was replaying around midnight.
"I remember watching games with them and analyzing the games with them, so that's telling me a little bit that, OK, maybe one day ... so I'm not surprised they're coaching."
Tocchet's coaching career began in 2002-03, when he was hired as an assistant by the Colorado Avalanche. His first head coaching job came when he replaced Barry Melrose with the Tampa Bay Lightning 16 games into the 2008-09 season. In 10 seasons with the Lightning, Arizona Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks and Flyers, Tocchet is 313-286-98. He won the 2023 Jack Adams Award voted as NHL coach of the year.
Berube was hired in 2004 as an assistant with the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers' American Hockey League affiliate. He coached four seasons in the AHL and then six as a Flyers assistant before replacing Peter Laviolette as head coach three games into the 2013-14 season. He's 360-240-85 in 10 seasons for the Flyers, St. Louis Blues and Maple Leafs and won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2018-19.
"I think they see the game similarly," said Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones, a former teammate of both, "but I do think that the one common denominator is that they hold themselves accountable as well as the players that are playing for them."
Along the way, Tocchet and Berube have been able to bounce ideas off each other.
"We have some spirited ... debates, and kind of trying to defend your reason why you like your system better," Tocchet said. "I think that's good, too, because that's helped me. And I've actually changed a couple of things, and I know 'Chief' has, just by some conversations over the last 8-10 years. ... I'm not saying a ton, but there's been a few tweaks here and there."
One of the things Tocchet said he's learned from Berube is how important it is to be calm in the storm. He remembered a game when his Coyotes and defeated Berube's Blues 6-1 on Dec. 1, 2018, dropping St. Louis to 30th among 31 teams in the NHL standings.
"We went out for beers with him and (Blues assistants) Steve Ott and Mike van Ryn," Tocchet said. "I remember Chief said, 'All I know is, I've got to get these guys to believe in their roles. If I can get them to believe in those roles, I think we can get out of it.' And I remember just seeing the calmness."
The Blues went 36-15-6 the rest of the way en route to winning the Cup.
"I learned a lot from that situation from him, watching him not freak out, and just really find what the solution was and the task at hand," Tocchet said. "That really kind of woke me up a little bit. ... And it's helped me be calm in certain situations."
That calmness should help both of them while they lead their teams through the choppy waters that will remain through the rest of the season.
As will the lines of communication, which will remain open.
"We've shared a lot of stuff," Tocchet said. "We talk certain things, we divulge to each other things that, obviously, I wouldn't divulge with other coaches.
"If I have a problem, I'll call Chief. Even if it's an in-house problem I'll ask his opinion, knowing that I can trust him."
