As two more coaching vacancies are filled, Bruins’ search continues

As the coaching carousel goes round and round another big name is reportedly coming off the industry as the Bruins search for a new bench boss continues After Mike Sullivan landed with the New York Rangers last week multiple reports indicate that Rick Tocchet linked by particular to the B s open will take the Philadelphia Flyers job And much like the occurrence of Sullivan and the Blueshirts it seemed like Tocchet who turned down an opportunity to return as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks was destined to return to Philly where he played much of his standout playing career After Sullivan under whom Tocchet was an assistant in Pittsburgh when the Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups in and Tocchet had the highest name recognition on the domain and had selected options including television as a fallback to work the best deal workable The B s have not been known to get in a bidding war over coaches and in the end Tocchet is going to Philly Another name off the board though not one that had been linked to the B s is Adam Foote who was hired by the Canucks who had been Tocchet s assistant in Vancouver So where do the Bruins go from here A number of options remain as does competition with Chicago Seattle Pittsburgh and possibly Los Angeles still looking for coaches A name that has come to the forefront in the last couple of days has been former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft who was floated by the Daily Faceoff s Frank Seravalli as being a strong candidate And he does have the kind of NHL experience that GM Don Sweeney is looking for The -year-old Woodcroft has been an NHL assistant in San Jose and Edmonton a head coach in the AHL in Bakersfield and lastly a head coach in Edmonton He was a mid-season hire by the Oilers in - and was an immediate success going - - and making the Western Conference finals with the talent-laden Oilers Edmonton was knocked out of the playoffs in the second round the next year and after a - - start last season he was fired Kris Knoblauch took over and went - - - then going all the way to Tournament of the Cup final There s also former Bruin Marco Sturm who has been coaching in the Los Angeles Kings organization for the last seven years the first four seasons as an NHL assistant and the last three as the head coach of the Kings AHL affiliate the Ontario Reign Sturm could be a candidate for the Kings job though new GM Ken Holland goes back to the Red Wings organization with current head coach Jim Hiller so Hiller might be safe despite absorbing a rough first round loss to the Oilers Dallas assistant Misha Donskov right now wrapped up in the Stars promising playoff run is another possibility He has not been a head coach at any level a practicable stumbling block But he was an associate head coach with the Ottawa s and he has extensive international experience including being an assistant for Band Canada helmed by GM Sweeney in last winter s Four Nations Faceoff He was on Bruce Cassidy s Vegas staff when the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in Other NHL assistants who are generating several interest around the league are Mitch Love Washington Jeff Blashill Tampa Jeff Halpern Tampa while Hershey Bears AHL head coach Todd Nelson who briefly held the Oilers head job in - and has been an NHL assistant in Edmonton and Dallas has had his name bandied about And until a coach is named B s interim coach Joe Sacco and assistant Jay Leach remain in the mix while long-time NHL head coach Peter Laviolette also remains out there Jeremy Swayman seeking to regain his competition at the IIHF World Championships had a rough one in Gang USA s - overtime win over Norway on Wednesday After recording a -save shutout win over Hungary earlier in the tournament Swayman allowed five goals on shots to the Norwegians losing a - lead and giving up the tying goal late in regulation with the Norway goalie pulled for the extra skater The Americans who had suffered a loss to Switzerland in their previous tournament prevailed over Norway with Tage Thompson s third goal of the competition a power-play tally in OT