VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Rick Tocchet is not returning as coach of the Vancouver Canucks, the team announced Tuesday, plunging them into another search and making him a top candidate for several vacancies around the NHL, such as with the division rival Seattle Kraken.

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Tocchet’s departure comes after 2 1/2 seasons in Vancouver since replacing Bruce Boudreau in January 2023. He won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2024 for guiding the Canucks to a 50-win season and first place in the Pacific Division.

Vancouver dealt with locker room drama between J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson for several months, did not have injured captain Quinn Hughes at times and missed the playoffs. Miller was traded to the New York Rangers at the end of January, and Tocchet was critical of Pettersson in his season-ending news conference.

Tocchet did not have a contract moving forward and decided not to sign another with the Canucks.

“Family is a priority, and with my contract lapsing, this becomes the opportune time,” Tocchet said. “While I don’t know where I’m headed, or exactly how this will play out for me over the near term, I feel like this is the right time for me to explore other opportunities in and around hockey.”

Tocchet won the Stanley Cup as an assistant with Pittsburgh in 2016 and ’17 and played more than a decade with Philadelphia. The Penguins and Flyers have coach openings, along with Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Anaheim, and the New York Rangers.

The Seattle Kraken parted ways with head coach Dan Bylsma last week after just one season, and made another change by promoting Jason Botterill to general manager with previous GM Ron Francis becoming team president.

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Given his resume, Tocchet joins Cup champions Mike Sullivan, Joel Quenneville and Peter Laviolette as a few of the top options available to fill those jobs.

Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford called Tocchet’s departure “very disappointing news.”

“But we respect Rick’s decision to move to a new chapter in his hockey career,” Rutherford said. “We did everything in our power to keep him, but at the end of the day Rick felt he needed a change. He is a good friend, a good coach, and we can’t thank him enough for all he did for our organization.”

Seattle Sports staff made minor additions to this post.