Cassidy, DeBoer, Tocchet named assistants for Canada at 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

Coaches from Golden Knights, Stars, Canucks join Cooper’s staff for top-level tournament

On Wednesday, Bruce Cassidy, Rick Tocchet, and Pete DeBoer were appointed as assistant coaches for Canada in the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off happening from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.

The tournament, which will see teams of NHL players from Finland, Sweden, Canada, and the United States compete in a round-robin format, will be the first best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.

Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who was appointed coach on June 25, will be joined by Cassidy, DeBoer, and Tocchet.

Cassidy is heading into his third season as the coach of the Vegas Golden Knights, having led them to their maiden Stanley Cup championship in 2023. DeBoer, who was appointed the coach of the Dallas Stars on June 21, 2022, has guided them to the Western Conference Final in both of his initial seasons. He has also coached two teams – the New Jersey Devils in 2012 and the San Jose Sharks in 2016 – to the Stanley Cup Final.

After leading the Vancouver Canucks to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time since 2014-15, Tocchet was honored with the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year last season. Under his guidance, the Canucks clinched 50 victories, the third-highest in their history, and rose from sixth to first place in the Pacific Division. However, they lost the Western Conference Second Round in seven games to the Edmonton Oilers.

Tocchet has won the Stanley Cup twice as a Pittsburgh Penguins assistant in 2016 and 2017, and also won it as a Penguins forward in 1992.

In an interview with the Canucks website, Tocchet said, “The honor is immense. The thrill of coaching is akin to playing for your country. There’s an overwhelming sense of pride knowing that our entire nation is behind us. I’ll need to remove my Vancouver jersey and fully commit to Team Canada, assisting the players in any way I can.”

Sidney Crosby (Penguins), Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Connor McDavid (Oilers) and Brayden Point (Lightning) were named to Canada’s roster in June.

On Wednesday, Misha Donskov, assistant of Stars, and James Emery, the video coach, were also appointed to the staff of Canada.

Cooper expressed his enthusiasm about welcoming Bruce, Peter, Misha, Rick, and James to the 4 Nations Face-Off coaching staff. He highlighted their remarkable achievements and extensive experience in the game. He expressed confidence that the players would gain significant benefits from this top-notch coaching team. Cooper also expressed eagerness towards working with them and representing Canada in the international competition scheduled for February.