Former NHLer 'confirmed' as part of Rick Tocchet's new coaching staff in Vancouver.

Earlier today news broke that Vancouver Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau would be coaching in his final game tonight, with Boudreau set to be fired some time before a major press conference on Monday. Along with that news came the revelation that Monday's press conference would be for the purpose of announcing Rick Tocchet as the new head coach of the Canucks, but it sounds like Tocchet won't be coming alone.

Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal has now confirmed another member of the new Canucks' coaching staff and that man will be none other than former National Hockey League defenseman Sergei Gonchar. 

Gonchar is of course a legendary former defenseman, especially in his home country of Russia, and he is one that has played for a variety of NHL organizations throughout his career including the Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Dallas Stars and the Montreal Canadiens. Gonchar brings with him a wealth of experience as a player, including over 1300 regular season games and over 140 playoff games at the NHL level.

Following his playing career, Gonchar would go on to work in player development for the Pittsburgh Penguins and was part of their Stanley Cup winning teams in both 2016 and 2017. Gonchar will of course also be familiar with Tocchet from their time together with the Penguins, as Tocchet served as an assistant coach on those aforementioned Stanley Cup winning Penguins' teams.

Dhaliwal has also hinted at the fact that another former player is expected to join the coaching staff, although he did not disclose the name of the other person involved. Initially Dhaliwal had believed that the player in question would be former NHLer Mark Recchi, but he has since indicated that this will not be the case.