Former Canucks forward leading the charge in Vancouver's head coach search

The Vancouver Canucks are reportedly narrowing down their list of potential next head coaches, and leading the pack is none other than former Canucks forward Manny Malhotra, who currently helm's their minor-league affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.

According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, Malhotra is expected to be among the three or four names on the Canucks' shortlist to be Vancouver's next head coach.

"I believe that, this week, the Canucks are going to try to drop down to a shortlist of three or four candidates," Friedman said on Donnie and Dhali Monday afternoon. "I would think that [Marco Sturm] would be on that list. I would think that Malhotra would be on that list. And then, probably, one or two more. But that's what I understand the Canucks are in the process of doing. They did their larger group last week, and they're going to narrow it down to three or four this week and prepare to do those interviews."

Malhotra, 44, is in his first year serving as a head coach at any level, and in doing so, has guided his Abby Canucks to an impressive fifth-place finish in the AHL standings. The Canucks finished with a 44-24-2-2 record and 92 points, as well as leading the league (tied with the Colorado Eagles) in regulation wins with 38.

Additionally, Malhotra's Canucks finished fourth in goals scored with 244 tucks, and 10th in goals against with 204. And that's with prospects like Arturs Silovs, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Aatu Raty, Max Sasson, Linus Karlsson, Elias Pettersson, and more spending chunks of their seasons in the NHL with Vancouver.

Malhotra's Canucks have advanced to the Pacific Division Finals in the Calder Cup playoffs, where they await the No. 1 seed Colorado Eagles. Should all go according to plan, the former Canucks forward could be competing for silverware in a few weeks and cement himself as the frontrunner for the Canucks' head coaching vacancy.