Confirmed with Link: Adam Foote Named Head Coach of the Vancouver Canucks

[Joe Rogan]

 

[Hollywood Burrows]

lol the coach is another guy who kicked the canucks asses roughly 1000 times as a player. Is there any pride in this organization, at all? Is there any attempt to carve out an identity? beyond just being a place that gives jobs to guys who have been in the league for a while? I think everybody can see this for what it is: another loser hire by a loser franchise. I really don't know how you guys keep watching! I was all-in from around 1989-2018 but you couldn't pay me to call myself a fan of this team now.

 

[JT Milker]

Initials thoughts are that I don’t like this hire, but I also recognize that’s it’s very hard to predict outcomes for coaches.

Team could have an excellent offseason and return to form next year and a lot of posts in here will look very dumb. But the idea that Hughes is the primary reason we made this hire is worrying regardless.

 

[JT Milker]

lol the coach is another guy who kicked the canucks asses roughly 1000 times as a player. Is there any pride in this organization, at all? Is there any attempt to carve out an identity? beyond just being a place that gives jobs to guys who have been in the league for a while? I think everybody can see this for what it is: another loser hire by a loser franchise. I really don't know how you guys keep watching! I was all-in from around 1989-2018 but you couldn't pay me to call myself a fan of this team now.

You were all in for 4 years of Jim Benning???

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

lol the coach is another guy who kicked the canucks asses roughly 1000 times as a player. Is there any pride in this organization, at all? Is there any attempt to carve out an identity? beyond just being a place that gives jobs to guys who have been in the league for a while? I think everybody can see this for what it is: another loser hire by a loser franchise. I really don't know how you guys keep watching! I was all-in from around 1989-2018 but you couldn't pay me to call myself a fan of this team now.

Andrew Brunette and Milan Hejduk would make awesome assistant coaches.

Would Sakic come here to GM?

 

[arttk]

Did they really get the best out of non-Hughes guys last season? And management wants "continuity" from a season that was marked by dysfunction in the dressing room? I'm not sure we can label personality management as a positive here.

He was in charge of defense, PK and we saw Hronek, Myers, DP, MP performed fairly well. Hell when Hughes and Hronek were gone, the defense couldn't generate offense but defensively it held together pretty well. The only ones that didn't work well was Desharnais and Juulsen and I think it's reasonable to conclude that those players just such hard and there is only so much you can do as a coach. PK we also crushed it so hard to argue he wasn’t effective as an assistant.

You're right. We don't know what level his systems involvement were or what they are going to be. But given he has so little head coaching experience (and what he does have ended very poorly), I think it's a safe assumption to say his systems knowledge and execution is worse than Tocc's.

Not sure that is an accurate statement to make considering the strength of this team in the last 2 seasons is defensive structure and PK and that's Foote's area of focus. I think it's fair to say we don't know how he will do with the PP and offense but it's not like Tocchet was killing it in those 2 areas anyways.

Given how fast they anointed Foote and that many candidates are still coaching through the playoffs (like Manny or Mitch Love), I find it a stretch to think they did any kind of real thorough search.

Also hard to say, we know they value very specific qualities and it's not crazy to think that a lot of the coaches they talked to didn't fit that. The fact Sturm was a final candidate shows you how they are fine with exploring long shot candidates as long as they have the qualities they are looking for.

 

[moiderer]

I don't like it, for the same reasons everyone's stated. Still willing to give him a chance, of course.

But if jobs are on the line (as per Sat) in addition to Hughes' future and this really is the best option (i.e. mgmt doing its legit best), it's hard not to feel pessimistic before the offseason really starts.

Petey might hold the future of the franchise at this point even more than Hughes.

 

[beachcomber]

The more the floor hockey nerds here hate the move the more I like it.

 

[HairyKneel]

lol the coach is another guy who kicked the canucks asses roughly 1000 times as a player. Is there any pride in this organization, at all? Is there any attempt to carve out an identity? beyond just being a place that gives jobs to guys who have been in the league for a while? I think everybody can see this for what it is: another loser hire by a loser franchise. I really don't know how you guys keep watching! I was all-in from around 1989-2018 but you couldn't pay me to call myself a fan of this team now.

you couldn't pay me to call myself a fan of this team now.

You will be missed

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Mr C. You are a quality contributor in many ways. Do you feel the current regime is as inept as the circus that oteceded them. I feel we've went from gas huffers to at least boozers running the show.

Yes, I do feel Rutherford and Allvin are light years ahead of Benning, Weisbrod, and company. Are they perfect? No. But by and large, I have found them to be superior in almost every single facet of managing the team than their predecessors.

 

[HairyKneel]

The more the floor hockey nerds here hate the move the more I like it.

Jeff Patterson and Matt Sekeres hate the move. Calgarypuck is laughing at it. There might be enough brain cells to arm an ape between two bitter reporters and Bingo's board.

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

lol the coach is another guy who kicked the canucks asses roughly 1000 times as a player. Is there any pride in this organization, at all? Is there any attempt to carve out an identity? beyond just being a place that gives jobs to guys who have been in the league for a while? I think everybody can see this for what it is: another loser hire by a loser franchise. I really don't know how you guys keep watching! I was all-in from around 1989-2018 but you couldn't pay me to call myself a fan of this team now.

I mean if we were trying to 'build culture' and hired a Canucks alum people would be bitching about hiring another 'loser' who never amounted to anything and blah blah blah.

I'm not enamored with this hire and I think it is purely being done to appease Hughes and am very afraid it is going to have the complete opposite effect.

Who knows? Maybe Foote is an absolute genius or Manny is brought on board in an associate role (with the express understanding that if Foote runs, ahem, afoot of any difficulties he'd be taking over.)

Anyway, that was a fun 5-second trip to Disneyland. Back to the crushing ennui that is being a Canucks fan.

 

[Tinhorn1]

At the end of the day they hired a guy with basically zero head coaching experience at a professional level. Massive risk. And for what? What's even the rationale? So we can keep as close as possible to unwatchable Tocchet hockey?

Of course it could all work out. Who knows? Certainly not management, there being no track record whatsoever by which to assess.

 

[rypper]

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. I think with all the chatter around Malhotra lately I was thinking it was going to be him for sure, and now it's not, I'm not disappointed or anything just need to pivot.

Reports say that several of the players wanted Foote back and if they want to keep some continuity of culture it makes sense.

I'm not too concerned about his experience because the only way to gain experience is by doing it. I do think there's a significant gap between being one of the assistants who can be the friendly face liasion with the players etc and being "the guy."

 

[dez]

Malholtra spends 2 more years gaining experience coaching in the A, Foote gets fired with one year remaining after failing to make the playoffs 2 years in a row.

 

[arttk]

Malholtra spends 2 more years gaining experience coaching in the A, Foote gets fired with one year remaining after failing to make the playoffs 2 years in a row.

in general you would want people to succeed and not fail.

 

[me2]

i am so whelmed by this news

So you like it but aren't ecstatic?

 

[settinguptheplay]

I think I will wait to see how the season starts before jumping off the cliff.

 

[Bleach Clean]

I don't like it, for the same reasons everyone's stated. Still willing to give him a chance, of course.

But if jobs are on the line (as per Sat) in addition to Hughes' future and this really is the best option (i.e. mgmt doing its legit best), it's hard not to feel pessimistic before the offseason really starts.

Petey might hold the future of the franchise at this point even more than Hughes.

What did Sat say about jobs being on the line? Please source this.

 

[me2]

Maybe I'll be totally wrong, but this reminds me of Rick Ley replacing Pat Quinn or Dave Lewis replacing Scotty Bowman in Detroit.

Some guys are just 'good hockey' guy assistant coaches who thrive in that role but lack the personality and X-factor to be quality NHL head coaches, and this is especially highlighted when one of them follows behind someone who was a legitimately dynamic personality. Foote strikes me like this.

And as someone noted above, the only real silver lining to Tocchet leaving was that maybe a fresh start with new coaches could unlock Pettersson. Instead we're going back to essentially the same thing.

I will reserve judgement until I see the new assistant. I assume it's going to be an offensive oriented assistant, at least i hope so.

 

[iceburg]

To me the Kelowna year is meaningless. So many variables, WHL, first year coach, etc.
To be hired with 2.5 years experience as an assistant coach in the NHL is surprising.

All that said, I am very willing to give him a lot of rope. It seems Tocchet relied on him heavily, he is a detailed guy, and Hughes is a fan. The PK and defensive game were the strongest aspects of their performance last year. He needs to hire an assistant with strong offensive cred.

 

[me2]

I mean, they obviously really wanted to keep Tocchet, didn't want any sort of systems or culture change, and so they hired his right-hand guy. Looks pretty straightforward in retrospect.

If anything this reveals just how much they wanted to keep Tocchet around.

They should have exercised the option year then. They could have announced it 12 months ago and everyone would just be getting on with preparing for 2025-6.

 

[valkynax]

Is it possible to let Malhotra sit in as assistant coach and earn a possible promo down the line?

 

[geebster]

Totally support this. The one thing I liked about this team was the D core and how they played. And I am not as giddy for Quinn Hughes to leave as many seem to be in the fanbase. This move does both for us.

My only concern is how the offense will be managed and whether he will be as hard on guys like Pettersson as Tocchet was or if he is OK with a more free offense. Have the assistant coaches been announced? If not that is what I am eager to see since a really good powerplay coach could make all the difference for us.

Not negative on this as much as others are. Big fan of Manny but I'd rather have Quinn Hughes than Manny Malholtra, so if he vouched for Foote or showed a lack of interest in Manny then I am fine with us remaining a good defensive team.

I want to see us get more shots on net and get more offense going, not just for our own success but so that Quinn isnt the only guy we lean on all the time. Hes always going to be the main target and he plays WAY too much and we are just begging for him to get seriously injured again at this rate.

I am cautiously optimistic here and have said Foote is a guy I would be happy with given the huge impact hes had on our team. We just need a way better approach to offense and our powerplay especially. And we need a good second line center or top 6 winger (or two).

 

[krutovsdonut]

My thoughts, too.



This isn't nothing, to me. But again, hard to tell what sort of coach Foote is going to be as there's very little body of work with him being head coach of a team.

the covid era shitshow in kelowna does not look great on his resume but he has not put a visible "foote" wrong since he got here and the defence was the best part of the team this past year. if that is down to foote then it's not a bad resume stuffer.

malholtra with burrows as an assistant will have to wait.