VANCOUVER – Promoting skills coach Yogi Svejkovsky to take the place of senior assistant Mike Yeo, the Vancouver Canucks are replacing a coach with two decades of National Hockey League bench experience with one who has been on staff for two years.
Svejkovsky, 47, is actually a good hire. He is a talented, innovative coach who has earned the trust of Canuck players and head coach Rick Tocchet. And in terms of actual coaching chops, the former minor-hockey director and youth academy coach has more years instructing skaters than anyone else on Tocchet’s staff.
But Yeo, who turned down the Canucks’ offer of a one-year extension and signed a longer deal closer to home to join Travis Green’s staff with the Ottawa Senators, is a two-time NHL head coach who has worked in professional hockey since his minor-league playing career ended 24 years ago.
Tocchet also confirmed in a Zoom call on Wednesday that Hall-of-Fame players Henrik and Daniel Sedin, part of the Canucks’ player-development staff, will take increased coaching roles next season. One or the other will be on road trips, Tocchet said, and the Sedins will be more involved in Vancouver’s power play.
Tocchet, of course, is the newly-minted NHL coach-of-the-year after guiding the Canucks to a 50-win, 109-point regular season and the Stanley Cup quarterfinals, where Vancouver lost two weeks ago in Game 7 to the Edmonton Oilers. Tocchet also appeared to hit home runs when he insisted upon his arrival in Vancouver 17 months ago that Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar be part of his staff.
Tocchet’s contract runs for two more seasons, although 2025-26 is a team option.
What his talented and respected staff lacks is much NHL coaching experience. Yeo’s departure follows by one summer the dismissal of assistant coach Jason King. So in just over a year, the Canucks have lost their penalty-kill coach (Yeo) and power-play coach (King).
“Mike Yeo was a great asset for me,” Tocchet told reporters after the Canucks announced the coaching changes Wednesday morning. “He wanted a little bit more security, wanted to be a little bit closer to home. I would be lying (if I denied) he’s a big loss. I’m happy for him that he’s hooked on with Greeny’s team. So, you know, it’s bittersweet. But I’m also happy for him.”
On his reconfigured staff, Tocchet said: “The twins, I mean, they’re getting another year of experience as… coaches. Sergei, he’s been a coach here (in the NHL) for six, seven years. I think Footy has come leaps and bounds. I know it’s only really his second year technically, but the way he handled this year… he’s a veteran. He’s been a captain. Obviously, (goaltending coach) Ian Clark is huge on our staff. Yogi is a guy that is going to bring enthusiasm to our staff. So I’m not concerned about the experience. It’s up to me to make us gel together.”
Tocchet said the team will hire another skills coach who will be available to work with injured players in Vancouver when the Canucks are on road trips next season.
He also told Sportsnet that he had contact with several “veteran” NHL coaches but hockey operations president Jim Rutherford believes in promoting from within the organization and that everyone involved agreed Svejkovsky was the best candidate to replace Yeo.
“After exploring all of our options, it became clear very quickly that the best candidate was already in our organization,” general manager Patrik Allvin said in a press release. “The ability to promote from within will help us in the transition, as Yogi has a great understanding of our systems and the way we want to play. Including the Sedins more in our day-to-day coaching duties will be hugely beneficial to our group both on and off the ice.”
Canuck special teams will be an area of focus next season.
Vancouver’s penalty-killing climbed to 17th this season from last in the league the previous year and needs to continue that trend.
The power play finished tied for 10th in the regular season. But after peaking at 33.3 per cent efficiency on Nov. 16, it was only 20th in the NHL the rest of the season. It went 5-for-36 (13.9 per cent) in the playoffs and was 0-for-14 as the Canucks lost three of their final four games against the Oilers.
In Vancouver’s 3-2 loss in Game 7, the power play failed to generate a shot on goal during a four-minute advantage late in the first period.
Tocchet has taken ownership for the power play after trying a coaching-by-committee approach in the wake of King’s departure.
It sounded Wednesday like there will be another committee next season, but with Svejkovsky playing a key role alongside the Sedins.
“To me, it really comes (down to). . . being more connected,” Tocchet said of the power play. “I don’t really believe it’s about plays. I think we have to teach it a little different way. I think we’re going to have to be a little bit more strict on discipline — retrievals, more of a downhill approach, being willing to play in a different spot at times. I think these are things that we’ve got to improve on. It’s on me to make these guys connected. I think adding Yogi, who’s very enthusiastic and has a lot of great ideas, with the twins and, obviously, with Sergei’s knowledge helping me run (the power play) in Pittsburgh, I think we have a lot of hands-on deck.”
Tocchet said he was eyeing a greater role for Svejkovsky even before Yeo left.
“I watch the players around him,” he said. “Like, they go by my office and they’re looking, and I’m: ‘Do you need me?’ And they’re like, ‘No, we don’t need you, we’re looking for Yogi.’ So that impresses me. They’ve got his trust.”
With Edmonton now in the Final, having a chance to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993, Tocchet has had a hard time watching the playoffs since the Canucks were eliminated.
“I have a lot of mixed emotions,” Tocchet said. “You play the what-if game. Could I have done something different? Should I have skated (the team) maybe one of those days we didn’t? I tried to watch the last two games. . . and just tried to enjoy the game. It’s hard, I’ll be honest with you. I wish we had a better first period (in Game 7) and maybe things would have been different. But that’s the way it works.
“I’ve got to give Edmonton a lot of credit. They had a hard series against us, I thought. And they went into Dallas and really played very well (to win the Western Conference Final in six games). I heard some of their players say they learned a lot from our series. Hopefully our players. . . it motivates them even harder. We know it’s going to get harder and harder. I know it’s going to be harder, and I have to come up with something different (to prepare them). But to answer your question, I get mixed emotions watching the series. You’re always like, what if we did this or what if we did that? You’ve got to be careful because it can torment your mind.”