Rick Tocchet was a coach, confidant and friend to Phil Kessel for much of the past two seasons.
Tuesday night, he’ll be an opponent.
Tocchet, who left his job as a Penguins assistant this offseason to take over the head job in Arizona, will return to town Tuesday when the Coyotes visit PPG Paints Arena. While most players on the team obviously had a relationship with Tocchet, he and Kessel were especially close.
“He’s a good guy, we’re buddies,” Kessel said. “We get along well. I think we like the same kind of things and obviously when he was here, we had a good relationship.