Vancouver Canucks Reportedly Set to Take a Big Risk with Next Head Coach After Naming Finalists

Patrik Allvin and the Vancouver Canucks' management group are continuing their search to find the 22nd head coach in franchise history after Rick Tocchet left the organization to pursue a new opportunity in the league.

Over the last week to ten days, several names have been mentioned as potential candidates for the role including former Vancouver Canucks forward Marco Sturm, who is currently the head coach of the American Hockey League's Ontario Reign.

When Rick Tocchet left the organization, the General Manager Patrik Allvin said that they weren't expecting to take too long with their coaching search and now, it looks like we're getting close to the club naming their next bench boss.

In a post on social media, Patrick Johnston of The Province revealed that the Vancouver Canucks have narrowed down their coaching search to two names - Manny Malhotra (head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks) and Adam Foote, who has spent parts of the last three seasons as one of their assistant coaches.

Further to that, Johnston added that at this point, Manny Malhotra is the slight favorite to become the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

Malhotra has been on the Vancouver Canucks' bench before, spending three seasons as an assistant between 2017 and 2020, and was also in the same role for four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs before returning to become bench boss of the Abbotsford Canucks.

As for Adam Foote, his coaching experience at the NHL level is limited to parts of three seasons, all of which are with the Canucks, but before joining Vancouver, he was head coach of the Western Hockey League's Kelowna Rockets, but mid-way through his second year there, he was fired.

We'll have to wait and see where things go the rest of the week, but it looks like a decision on who will be named the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks is coming very, very soon.