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Surprising Turn of Events as Two New Top Head Coach Candidates Comepete for the Vancouver Canucks
Photo credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
A pair of potential candidates have emerged for the Vancouver Canucks' head coaching vacancy, one of whom has been on the bench with the club before in the last five years.
The Vancouver Canucks are continuing to search for their next head coach and there certainly won't be a shortage of potential candidates for Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford to choose from.
Finding a replacement for Rick Tocchet, who departed the organization this week, is at the top of Allvin and Rutherford's to-do list, but who could we see behind the bench in Vancouver this fall?
Two potential head coaching candidates named for Vancouver Canucks
In recent days, former Stanley Cup champion Peter Laviolette and Abbotsford Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra have been named as potential options for the Vancouver Canucks, but on Friday, a pair of "new" names have emerged.
In an article on Sportsnet, Iain MacIntyre mentioned a pair of former Vancouver Canucks assistant coaches that should be in consideration for the head coaching role.
The first coach suggested by Iain MacIntyre are Mike Yeo, who is currently an assistant with the Ottawa Senators on Travis Green's staff.
Yeo spent two seasons on the Vancouver Canucks bench as an assistant during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns before leaving for Ottawa last offseason and has several years of experience as a bench boss with the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues.
"Ottawa Senators assistant Mike Yeo should be a coaching candidate in Vancouver. It was Yeo, a former head coach in Minnesota and St. Louis, who was chosen by Allvin and Rutherford three years ago to assist previous Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau and try to bring some tactical structure to Vancouver." MacIntyre said.
As for the second coach mentioned by MacIntyre, that's Glen Gulutzan of the Edmonton Oilers, who spent three seasons as an assistant with the Vancouver Canucks between 2013-14 and 2015-16.
Gulutzan also has some experience as a head coach in the National Hockey League with two years behind the bench in Dallas and two years with the Calgary Flames.
"Glen Gulutzan, a former head coach in Dallas and Calgary who also did a three-year tour as an assistant in Vancouver, is widely respected for his work on the Edmonton Oilers' staff the last seven seasons and could also be a person-of-interest for the Canucks. Gulutzan, obviously, has experience handling superstar players. MacIntyre said.
Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford will certainly have a strong list of candidates for the 22nd head coach in Vancouver Canucks franchise history and at some point soon, that list will get narrowed down and interviews will begin.
Source: Iain MacIntyre/Sportsnet
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Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily
| POLL | ||
MAI 2 | 660 ANSWERS Surprising Turn of Events as Two New Top Head Coach Candidates Comepete for the Vancouver Canucks Which coach do you think would be a better fit for the Vancouver Canucks? | ||
| Mike Yeo | 384 | 58.2 % |
| Glen Gulutzan | 276 | 41.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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