May 3rd, 2025
JC Clemas
A couple days ago, Rick Tocchet announced that he would not return as Canucks’ coach for the 2025-26 NHL season. This was quite a shock. Though it was clear there was something holding up the contract disputes, the general sense was that something would get done between the two sides. The Canucks offered him a contract worth $25 million (likely a 5x5), but that wasn’t enough. He wanted to move on.
That leaves the Canucks with a glaring hole in their organization: who will be the next bench boss? It’s a gap that many teams are also experiencing right now, and the market for head coaches is by no means slim. The Canucks will need to take their time and make sure they hire the right guy. Let me take you through the available options, sorted into categories of good, bad, and ugly.
The Good
Manny Malhotra
It only makes sense to start out with the guy currently coaching Vancouver’s AHL affiliate to a successful season.
People say that Malhotra isn’t ready for an NHL coaching job yet. Sure, at 44, he would be on the younger side of NHL coaches. He also hasn’t been a head coach yet, so some people are hesitant to advocate for him to get the spot.
Those worries are not very significant in my mind.
Malhotra is clearly comfortable with this organization now. He played 159 games for Vancouver in the early 2010s. He was a development coach right after his retirement, before becoming an assistant coach from 2017-2020. And, obviously, he’s the current head coach in Abbotsford. He understands the market and is familiar with the players. He’s been great for the young guys. Aatu Räty and Linus Karlsson saw spikes in their production this season. Jonathan Lekkerimäki put up 19 goals in 36 games during his rookie AHL season. Danila Klimovich, who has seen his struggles in the AHL so far during his career, turned in 25 goals and 13 assists in 65 games. Malhotra clearly knows how to get a lot out of his players.
The most impressive part of Abbotsford’s season was their 13-game win streak at the end of the regular season, a record that becomes even more impressive when you remember how many of their top guys were with Vancouver at that time. No matter who was in the lineup — or who was missing — the team just continued to win. Malhotra would be cited as a key reason why. Throughout the season, and especially during this streak, he was able to keep his team calm and muscle them through adversity.
Malhotra has experience as a coach in this league now, just not as a head coach. All coaches have to start somewhere, though. Malhotra’s experience with the franchise is a strong argument to him being ready to assume the role. Look at Marty St. Louis: he was hired as the coach of the Canadiens with his only prior experience being as a consultant in Columbus. That’s it. How has that worked out for the Canadiens? Oh, they only made the playoffs in a year they likely shouldn’t have, and St. Louis is now a finalist for the Jack Adams.
Not only is Malhotra ready; he should be the frontrunner.
Jay Woodcroft
Though it would be really funny to steal the Oilers’ old coach, that’s not the main argument in Woodcroft’s case.
Woodcroft is a rare case where picking someone out of the carousel would actually likely be a good move. He has plenty of experience coaching in the league, being a video coach for the Red Wings, assistant coach for the Sharks, head coach for the Oilers’ AHL affiliate, and eventually the head coach of the Oilers themselves.
In the 2022-23 season, Woodcroft coached the Oilers to a 50-win regular season, where they would eventually lose to the Golden Knights in the 2nd round. Then, the mess began. Edmonton had the most atrocious start to the 2023-24 season that you could possibly imagine, going 3-9-1 in their first 13 games, and even dipping to 32nd place at one point. Woodcroft was fired, and the new coaching bump proved effective for Edmonton, as they made the Stanley Cup Finals under Kris Knoblauch.
It wasn’t really Woodcroft’s fault. He was more of a scapegoat. Though a 3-9-1 start with that much talent can be pinned on the coach to an extent, it’s also worth noting that his goalie was Stuart Skinner. Woodcroft is a good coach. He’s young, he’s engaged, and he knows how to get the best from his players.
Connor McDavid’s best season in the NHL came in 2022-23, the only full season for Woodcroft as Edmonton’s coach. McDavid put up 153 points in 82 games that season, a mark he hasn’t been within 20 points of in any other year in his career. Woodcroft clearly knows how to get a lot out of his stars.
I’ll preface this by saying that Elias Pettersson is no Connor McDavid. However, he still has some starpower in him, and is likely to benefit from a coach who has experience dealing with the best of the best. Pettersson’s success is instrumental to the success of the Canucks as a whole, and from an outside view, it appears Woodcroft is the most likely coach to get him back to the level he’s previously been at. He could do wonders for a Vancouver offense that looked defeated throughout so much of last season.
Maybe, under Woodcroft, Hughes would put up a 100-point season and be convinced to stay in Vancouver! I love daydreaming.
David Carle
If the Canucks are to avoid the NHL head coaching carousel, this is a perfect guy to do it with.
David Carle has been the coach of Denver University’s hockey team over the past 7 seasons. In that time, he’s seen plenty of success. Beyond his .694 point percentage with the team, Denver has also gone on to win the national championship in both 2022 and 2024.
You have to be wary about hiring a coach from the NCAA. Just because they’ve found success at the college level does not automatically mean it would translate to the NHL. But Carle’s track record is impressive, and he’s garnered a lot of interest from NHL teams with vacant head coaching spots.
One of these is Chicago, who reportedly had a lot of interest in adding Carle. To the benefit of other teams who have their eyes on him, he withdrew his name from consideration.
Carle is clearly comfortable and experienced working with younger players, given that he’s been coaching college students. The Canucks’ transition phase this past season saw them add a lot of youth to the roster. They also gave a whole wad of young AHL players chances to prove themselves in the NHL. The Canucks are generally a young team, and Carle could mesh well.
Cleaning up this mess seems to be a tall task for someone who has no experience in the NHL, though. If he turned down the situation in Chicago, I’d be shocked if he wanted to try his luck with the Canucks’ organization. However, I’m all for giving him an opportunity if there’s mutual interest between him and the front office.
A completely fresh face behind the bench could be exactly what the Canucks need to reset themselves. He’d also be eager to prove himself, which could very likely work in the favour of whatever team he lands with. Carle is just 35 years old and has already experienced a ton of success as a coach. His youthfulness and winning mentality make him one of the most ideal candidates for the role with Vancouver, no matter how unlikely it looks currently.
The Bad
Peter Laviolette
One year removed from winning the President’s Trophy with the New York Rangers, Laviolette was let go by the organization after a season that was quite symmetrical to the Canucks in terms of disappointment.
Laviolette isn’t too bad of a coach. He brought the Rangers to the Presidents’ Trophy just a season ago, and they made it all the way to the Conference Finals. He’s also made it to the Stanley Cup Finals with both the Flyers and the Predators, though his team lost both times. He has a history of finding success, and his experience would likely be valued by the teams missing a head coach right now.
An argument against Laviolette is his inability to make adjustments. Multiple players in his top 6 were experiencing sub-optimal years (Kreider, Trochek, Zibanejad), and he just continued to deploy them the same way. He was unable to dig the Rangers out of the rut they were stuck in. Would he really drag the Canucks out of their rut?
The biggest case against Laviolette is how he ended his Rangers’ tenure. I’m not just talking about the fact he was losing. The part that’s the biggest warning flag is that he fully gave up on his team. Toward the end of the season, Laviolette was asked what he can do to regain morale in the locker room. He responded by saying he doesn’t know, and that he doesn’t really go in there after games anymore.
Sure, the Canucks ended their season in losing fashion, but Rick Tocchet never spoke like that. He never quit on his team. Don’t hire Laviolette.
Joel Quenneville
Joel Quenneville is one of the most successful coaches in NHL history. He has the 2nd most coaching wins in NHL history (after Scotty Bowman) with 969 across tenures with St. Louis, Colorado, Chicago, and Florida. The most notable of these is obviously his time with Chicago, where he won 3 Stanley Cups from 2010-2015. Quenneville is the perfect example of winning in this league.
So what’s the problem?
Well, most of you would know already. He was, of course, a major part of the 2010 Blackhawks scandal that gained publicity in 2021. This led to his resignation from the Florida Panthers organization 7 games into his 3rd season as coach (fittingly, he won every one of those). He was part of the crew that swept allegations of sexual assault within the organization under the rug.
There is a clear moral dilemma when it comes to considering Quenneville.
Giving a guy with that history a chance in the league again could shine a bad light on the franchise. On the other hand, he is a proven winner. There’s really no doubt in my mind that the on-ice results of the Canucks would have every opportunity to blossom under him… as long as the off-ice relationships are strengthened.
But for a team that has had its struggles with a toxic environment recently, would it really make sense to hire Quenneville, a guy who fostered one? Probably not. Though maybe it would be a fitting punishment for Quenneville after all these years. Force him to figure out this mess.
He lands in this tier because his success is undeniable. He truly is a good coach. But it’s not worth the hire.
We aren’t the Edmonton Oilers. We shouldn’t stoop to the level of hiring controversial figures.
The Ugly
John Tortorella
I mean… It would be really funny.
Former Canucks’ coach John Tortorella was recently let go from his position as the Flyers’ head coach. With us recently finding a vacancy in that position, it certainly lines up well!
It would be the worst thing to possibly happen.
Tortorella is a good coach for certain players. Those players are not the young ones. Our team is filled with young guys who would likely find themselves either playing 5 minutes a game or sent to the press box. Reports also came out that Tortorella threatened Cam York’s career around the end of his Flyers tenure. I don’t think we need MORE toxicity in this locker room.
Tortorella’s coaching stint in Vancouver was short, but somehow had its share of controversies. Heritage Classic. Line brawl against Calgary. If nothing else, it was memorable. It was also really bad. No matter how much some fans want to see him whip Pettersson into shape, stay away.
The Rest of the Coaching Carousel
These are the coaches like Laviolette and Tortorella who have coached in the league before and are simply being recycled. I’m going to list out all these coaches together, because they’re all pretty equal:
- Dallas Eakins
- Gerard Gallant
- Jeff Blashill
- Dominique Ducharme
- Dave Hakstol
This isn’t an exhaustive list of every single free agent head coach who has coached before, but it’s the most notable and recent names that may want to get back into the top spot behind the bench. It’s an unattractive option.
The thing about all these coaches is that they failed where they once were. Everyone in the coaching carousel is there for a reason: they were not productive enough in their time as a head coach, and other teams have chosen better options. It doesn’t make sense to recycle the same old coaches just based on their coaching experience. It only makes sense to hire them if you actually think they’re a fit for the team. Most of these are not.
In defense of the coaching carousel, there are a lot of reasons why coaches may not work out that are beyond just the coach themselves. We can look at two teams for examples of this: Detroit and Boston.
Both of these are similar situations, but the coaches they’ve used have had different stories. In both cases, blame should be pinned on the management above the coaching staff. For Detroit, Steve Yzerman has run the team into a cycle of mediocrity. They’ve yet to make the playoffs since he took the wheel, and his choices are truly remarkable at some points (cap dumping Jake Walman? Andrew Copp contract? The defense? I could go on).
Recently, the Red Wings have been cycling through coaches. They’ve gone from Blashill to Lalonde to McLellan. No success. At some point, it’s not the coach’s fault. In cases like these, it is reasonable to believe these coaches could find success under better management. Boston is proof of this.
The Bruins’ front office situation is equally as bad as the Red Wings’, if not more. Don Sweeney has been the general manager for the past decade, and the wheels have fallen off the bus more recently. After a record-setting 2023 season that had an abrupt end in the playoffs, the past two seasons have not been incredible.
In the time Sweeney has been GM, the Bruins have had 4 coaches. The longest tenured of these was Bruce Cassidy, who was fired in 2022. He was immediately picked up by Vegas, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2023. This season, the Bruins fired Jim Montgomery. He was immediately picked up by St. Louis and led them to an unlikely playoff berth. Meanwhile, the Bruins have fallen apart.
The example of Boston’s failure shows that the coaching carousel can work. Sometimes, good coaches are just in bad situations. But it doesn’t seem like the route the Canucks need to go. Unless it’s Woodcroft.
That’s why this lands in ugly. The Canucks do not need to chew up coaches who have not found success at the NHL level, just to spit them right back out when it doesn’t work. Even Gallant, who has made it to a Stanley Cup Final and found regular season success, would be a mistake. Laviolette is lucky enough to land above this because of his consistent success with different franchises and his recent experience.
The coaching carousel has been heavily criticized in the league, often being a representation of the “old boys’ club” that has been found within the NHL. It’s time to mix it up and find someone new. The Canucks need to find someone who is young and forward-thinking, not an old guy who’s been around. In the very likely case that they default to the carousel, they need to at least hire someone who was able to find success as a head coach.
Not Happening
Mike Sullivan
Mike Sullivan was recently let go from his position as Penguins’ head coach, a title he held for a decade. In his time there, he coached the team to back-to-back Stanley Cups (2016 and 2017). Prior to his head coaching job for Pittsburgh, he was an assistant coach for Vancouver during the John Tortorella season. Along with that, he’s quite familiar with Rutherford and Allvin from their time in Pittsburgh. With former ties to Vancouver already, and a winning history, it made sense that many Canucks fans’ minds went straight to Sullivan as Tocchet’s successor.
Insert the New York Rangers.
It was pretty likely from the start that Sullivan would end up as the bench boss for the Rangers. Before it was even announced, I think basically everyone could see it trending in that direction. But yes, Mike Sullivan officially became the Rangers’ head coach on Friday morning. If the Canucks were to take someone out of the coaching carousel, this was the best guy for it to be. He didn’t really mesh well with Pittsburgh during his last couple seasons there, so I do think it would have been a risk. Still, he would have been a valuable addition.
Jon Cooper
After a 3rd straight first-round exit for the Tampa Bay Lightning, questions had been raised about Jon Cooper’s future with the club.
Cooper has coached the Lightning to 2 Stanley Cups in the 20s, and now an 8-season playoff streak. He was the head coach of Canada’s 4 Nations team in February, helping them take the tournament. Cooper knows how to win. That alone would be enough for the Canucks to throw everything they could at him to bring him to Vancouver if he were to be let go.
To add to that, though, he’s also a BC boy.
However, Lightning general manager confirmed on Friday morning that Cooper would be back to coach the team for the 2025-26 season. Along with that, he has ties to the ownership in Utah. If he were to leave anywhere, it would probably be there. The Lightning made the right move by holding onto him, though. He’s probably the best active coach in the league after Maurice. Tampa has been unlucky in the playoffs these past 3 years, too, especially this season, where they dealt with countless injuries in the 1st round. Letting him go would have been a mistake.
Bruce Boudreau
This would never, ever happen, but I can’t make an article about coaches and not mention Bruce. I’m going to call him by his first name. It feels right.
Bruce was the Canucks coach from 2021-2023, taking over for Travis Green and being succeeded by Tocchet. In his time with the Canucks, he developed a strong relationship with the players. Most interesting of all, though, was the relationship he built with the fans, which was beyond what most coaches create. Boudreau did it in just over a season. His lovable personality and the team’s early heater under Boudreau led the fans to chanting “Bruce, there it is!” practically every game.
Boudreau and management were not exactly made for each other. They weren’t the ones who brought him in, and as soon as they found the opportunity, they brought in a coach they liked more. Boudreau’s final game coaching the Canucks ended with one last chant from the fans, and a teary-eyed Boudreau acknowledging them before walking off.
Nowadays, he’s an analyst on NHL Network, which is where he worked before coaching the Canucks as well. This management would never bring him back, and I’d be shocked if he would even want to come back after the way they treated him in the final month of his tenure.
But I just gotta mention Boudreau.