- Frank Seravalli reports the Canucks have a deal in place to make Manny Malhotra their 23rd head coach
- Malhotra spent two seasons coaching AHL Abbotsford and won the Calder Cup as a rookie bench boss
- Read below for full details on the Sedin connection and what it means after the Adam Foote firing
The Canucks have their guy.
Frank Seravalli broke it Monday night:
Per Seravalli, Vancouver has a deal in place to make Manny Malhotra the 23rd head coach in franchise history. Announcement and timing are still to be determined.
Malhotra spent the last two seasons coaching the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks. He led the affiliate to its first-ever Calder Cup as a rookie head coach, beating Charlotte in six games.
Year two didn’t go quite as smoothly. Abbotsford finished 28-37-4-3 and missed the AHL playoffs.
Here’s the Calder Cup postgame from Abbotsford a year ago:
Vancouver’s new regime ties this together neatly. Malhotra played three seasons with the Canucks from 2010 to 2013 as Henrik and Daniel Sedin’s teammate, and the twins are now the team’s co-presidents of hockey operations.
New GM Ryan Johnson was Abbotsford’s GM through Malhotra’s two-year run, so the trust is already there from the Calder Cup season.
This isn’t his first coaching gig in Vancouver, either. The 46-year-old Mississauga native was an assistant under Travis Green from 2017 to 2020, then spent four years on Sheldon Keefe’s staff in Toronto before returning to the Canucks organization in 2024.
He replaces Adam Foote, who was fired after one season. Foote’s Canucks finished 25-49-8 with 58 points, the fewest in the NHL. Assistant coaches Kevin Dean, Scott Young and Brett McLean were let go alongside him.
Elliotte Friedman first reported active negotiations a week ago. Now Seravalli says the deal is done.
