The Vancouver Canucks have named Manny Malhotra of Mississauga, Ontario as their new head coach according to the Canadian Press on Tuesday. Malhotra replaces Canadian Olympic gold medalist Adam Foote of Toronto, Ontario, who was fired on May 19. This past season the Canucks had the fewest points in the National Hockey League with 58. Foote was part of the Canadian team that won the gold medal in men’s ice hockey at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Over the last decade, Malhotra had been working in the organizations of the Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was the Canucks development coach from 2016 to 2017, the Canucks assistant coach from 2017 to 2020, the Maple Leafs assistant coach from 2020 to 2024, and the Abbotsford Canucks head coach in the American Hockey League from 2024 to 2026.
As a National Hockey League player, Malhotra played 16 seasons as a centre from 1998 to 2015. In all, he played for seven different teams. Malhotra was with the New York Rangers for four seasons from 1998 to 2002, the Dallas Stars for parts of three seasons from 2002 to 2003, the Columbus Blue Jackets for five seasons from 2003 to 2009, the San Jose Sharks for one season from 2009 to 2010, the Canucks for three seasons from 2010 to 2013, the Carolina Hurricanes for one season from 2013 to 2014, and the Montreal Canadiens for one season from 2014 to 2015.
In 991 NHL regular season games, Malhotra had 116 goals and 179 assists for 295 points. He was a -26 with 451 penalty minutes, 36 power-play points, seven shorthanded points, 11176 shots on goal, and 26 game-winning goals.
