The Vancouver Canucks recently announced that the team was "parting ways" with Assistant Coach Mike Yeo. Yeo, a former player and head coach, was hired as the Canucks assitant coach in 2022 under Bruce Boudreau.
Fans reacted to the 50-year-old Yeo's dismissal from the team with relative joy and relief. Many attributed the team's success (or lack thereof) on power plays to Yeo's guidance. The Canucks' inablility to convert on power plays was one of the reasons they were dismissed from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Round 2 by the Edmonton Oilers.
It is not surprising that Jack Adams Award winner Rich Tocchet and GM Patrik Allvin would want to realign the team especially since Yeo was a Bourdreau holdover. If Tocchet and the Canucks management check social media, they can see that fans have already suggested the appropriate replacement for Yeo.
Who Canucks fans think should replace Mike Yeo
In addition to wishing Yeo good riddance, fans quickly jumped on the Alex Burrows bandwagon. Burrows most recently served as the assistant coach of the Montreal Canadians.
The Canucks are in San Jose tonight.
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) November 2, 2023
Which brings back the memory of Henrik Sedin's 5 hole pass to Alex Burrows in game 4 of the Western Conference Final in 2011.
One of the great passes in Canucks history.
🎥: CanucksHD on Youtube pic.twitter.com/CPkj1NmGIC
Wishing Alex Burrows a happy retirement, and all the best in the future. You gave us Canucks a lot to cheer for. Thank you for slaying our dragon, and for every game you wore a Canucks jersey. You are a legend to us, forever a Canuck 💙💚 pic.twitter.com/7oizwQvLcr
— Dee ☕ (@forevercanuck) July 6, 2018
Burrows, 43, was a beloved Vancouver Canucks player from 2005-2017. He was inducted into the Canucks Ring of Honor in December 2019. Burrows would receive a heroes' welcome from fans if he returned to Vancouver as a coach. Fans voted him the Canucks Most Exciting Player three consecutive seasons, from 2008 to 2010, and they selected him as the Fred J. Hume Award winner denoting the unsung hero of the Canucks team in 2008.
Burrows was named the Canadians' assistant coach in February 2021. His three-year contract with the team ended with the 2023-2024 season, and it is not clear if an extension is in the works. For this reason, hiring Burrows and bringing him back home to Vancouver could be relatively straightforward from a contract standpoint, but is it the right move?