The chatter surrounding the Philadelphia Flyers has been the potential link Rick Tocchet provides to the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks, as has been the narrative, are looking to move their impending UFAs.
Given Tocchet’s familiarity with the current Canucks roster, it only seems natural that the Flyers could look at targeting players in Vancouver.
But then again, that’s a strategy that could be frowned upon. Allow me to elaborate.
In the business world, when a manager leaves one company for another, it is frowned upon to begin plucking employees from the previous company or the new one. Depending on how blatant the pinching is, companies can get into trouble for such practices.
In this situation, the NHL may consider the Flyers' targeting Canucks players a type of tampering. Of course, it would be outright tampering if Tocchet called up a player and asked him if he wanted to join the Flyers. That’s not what we’re getting at here. But knowing how sensitive the league is about everything, it would behoove the Flyers to ensure there is no doubt regarding their business practices.
But then again, Tocchet has insider knowledge regarding which players could be useful for his current lineup. And that’s something that hits a grey area. The league has been adamant about avoiding anything that could be construed as tampering. So, the Flyers will need to tread carefully if they are to target Vancouver players.
Flyers may need to get league’s blessing before dealing with Canucks
One behind-the-scenes move the Flyers may need to make is to get the NHL’s official blessing to deal with the Canucks. It might be something as simple as a phone call to make sure everything is on the up and up.
The last thing the Flyers want is to give off any sort of indication that something shady is going on. There’s no harm in clearing the air before talking turkey.
Ultimately, coaches bringing in former players is nothing new. It’s something that happens all the time. But that typically happens either via free agency or sometime after a coach has been removed from his previous role.
In this situation, Tocchet has been gone from Vancouver for less than a season. So, it might be best to just clear the air and ensure that both sides are acting in good faith. There’s nothing wrong with taking preemptive action to avoid unsavory criticisms and situations down the road.