Time, place align as Canucks hire Manny Malhotra as new head coach

The answer is Vancouver and the time is now. Malhotra officially became the 23rd head coach in Canucks franchise history on Monday to supplant the fired Adam Foote and guide the long and arduous roster rebuild. That required commitment from ownership and co-presidents of hockey operations in Henrik and Daniel Sedin. “He wants to be an NHL coach and we discussed his path — it was an open conversation,” Johnson told this reporter of that meeting of the minds with Malhotra when he served as Abbotsford general manager. “I go through a pretty thorough process in my hiring and I hope they become the next whatever. “I tell people that if they’re still here after eight years I’ve done something wrong. They want to elevate but that may not be here.” Malhotra was always the front-runner and he’s aligned again with Johnson, who was promoted to Canucks GM in the hockey operations department restructuring.

He knows better than anyone what makes Malhotra tick. He proved it by guiding Abbotsford to the Calder Cup crown in 2025 in his first season running a professional bench.