Philadelphia Flyers get their man, but is Rick Tocchet the right choice?

It was always going to happen.

Despite some speculation that teams like the Boston Bruins, Seattle Kraken, possibly the Pittsburgh Penguins, and maybe just the Turner Sports media juggernaut would all be in the running for the services of Rick Tocchet, the most likely outcome was always that the Philadelphia Flyers had the right of first refusal for his services.

In fact, this was such a done-and-dusted deal that when John Tortorella got fired in late March, the media covering the Vancouver Canucks — who still employed Tocchet at the time — were basically like, "So you're taking that Philly job, huh?" After six weeks or so of hemming and hawing, he did. The deal is reportedly for five years, at $5 million per. It's one of the richest AAVs for a coach in the league.

That's a long-term, big-mon