Canucks hire Manny Malhotra as head coach

A familiar face is set to step behind the bench.

The Vancouver Canucks have announced that they are hiring Manny Malhotra as the 23rd head coach in franchise history.

The decision to promote Malhotra comes as no surprise. He has been the head coach of the Canucks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, for the past two seasons. In his first year on the job, he guided the team to its first Calder Cup. While things didn’t go as well this past season, with Abbotsford missing the playoffs after finishing ninth in the AHL’s Pacific Division with a 28-37-4-3 record, Malhotra has a lot of familiarity with a lot of the young players coming up through Vancouver’s system, many of whom he’ll be coaching with the big club next season.

The 46-year-old has a good rapport with the new regime in B.C. New general manager Ryan Johnson was the GM of Abbotsford during Malhotra’s tenure as head coach. Malhotra also played three seasons with the Canucks from 2010 to 2013, skating alongside new co-presidents of hockey operations Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

This isn’t the first time the Mississauga, Ont. native has been behind the bench in Vancouver. From 2017 to 2020, he was an assistant coach under then-head coach Travis Green. In 2021, Malhotra moved back home, serving as an assistant to Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe for four years.

Malhotra also spent 16 seasons as a player in the NHL, including three years with the Canucks. Malhotra was in his first season with the team when they went on their most recent run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011.

Malhotra fills the open position left behind by Adam Foote, who was fired after one season. Under the Stanley Cup-winning defenseman, the Canucks finished with a 25-49-8 record, and their 58 points were the fewest in the NHL.

Along with Foote, assistant coaches Kevin Dean, Scott Young and Brett McLean were also let go.