Less than one week after introducing Ryan Johnson and Henrik and Daniel Sedin as the new faces of the Canucks front office, it has been announced that the team has let go of Adam Foote.
The Vancouver Canucks continue to make changes. Sources say Adam Foote has been let go as Head Coach. Other changes to the coaching staff also being made.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 19, 2026
As unfair as this may seem to Foote, the move is more to do with the continued mission of the Canucks steering their franchise in a different direction, and is less of an indictment on Foote’s abilities as a hockey coach.
Just over one year to the day, Foote was named head coach of the Canucks after Rick Tocchet’s departure to the Philadelphia Flyers. Since then, the Canucks have finished dead last in the NHL, traded Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, and have fired Patrik Allvin.
While some may have predicted that all of these events could occur within a year, the way the chain of events has unfolded would have seemed unlikely a year ago.
At the same time nobody can blame Adam Foote for accepting a promotion, his first head coaching opportunity in the NHL, knowing he was walking into a situation that could explode if everything went perfectly wrong, and in this case it did.
Who is next?
The time seems to be now with respect to the NHL’s coaching carousel, and the Canucks new front office is not wasting any time making their mark on the team, but now the question is: who will be the Canucks new head coach?
In continuing the theme of internal promotions, the Canucks could promote Abbotsford bench boss Manny Malhotra, who is said to be sought after by multiple NHL teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Malhotra won the Calder Cup last season as the head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks, and if the Canucks hope to retain him long term a promotion could be in order.
In addition to Malhotra, three coaches who seem to be getting a lot of attention at this time are Craig Berube, Kris Knoblauch, and Bruce Cassidy.
Head coach at the University of Denver David Carle is also garnering attention, and maybe a move to a younger and more fresh faced coach via the college hockey route could be a positive change for an organization facing an identity crisis.
Ultimately with the Canucks in total organizational rebuild mode, there was no need to wait on this move. Incumbent bench bosses are often afforded some leeway by new management groups, but in the current context of the rebuilding Canucks it is definitely a better choice for management and coaching to be in sync, and to bring in someone they believe can be a long term solution for the team.
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