Adam Foote has been hired as new Vancouver Canucks head coach
The Vancouver Canucks have decided on their head coach for next season.
The club has named current assistant coach Adam Foote as head coach for next season. The contract is for three years, according to CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal.
The Canucks initially hired Foote in January 2023 as an assistant on Rick Tocchet’s staff. Tocchet left this spring to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers, and his former assistant will now take over as the 22nd head coach in team history.
Foote was confirmed to be one of the finalists for the head coaching position alongside Abbotsford Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra.
Foote is relatively inexperienced as a coach. He was the head coach of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets for parts of two seasons, finishing with a 48-49-12 record, but has never led a team beyond that.
His only other coaching experience behind the bench is the past few seasons with the Canucks, although he was also a development consultant for the Colorado Avalanche.
Since arriving in Vancouver, Foote has been responsible for the defencemen. During his tenure, he’s helped turn the Canucks into one of the league’s better defensive teams and led their penalty kill to third place in the NHL last year.
Foote also has a strong relationship with captain Quinn Hughes. It’s no secret that Hughes was a massive Tocchet fan and wanted him back. While that didn’t happen, Hughes has also spoken publicly about how much he respects Foote and the two are known to have a close relationship.
The Foote hire was Quinn Hughes-approved, per Sportsnet’s Satiar Shah. Foote helped Hughes elevate his game to another level and win the Norris Trophy in the 2023-24 season.
Hughes has just two seasons left on his contract and the Canucks are clearly willing to involve the defenceman on every decision to increase his odds of staying.
The Canucks will need to make some additional hires to fill out the staff around Foote. It’ll be interesting to see who they bring in to help support the new head coach, especially considering his relative lack of experience.
While the Canucks have been solid defensively under Foote’s guidance and have a strong defence corps for next season, they need a lot of help offensively. The Canucks ranked 10th-last in goals for last year and will need Foote to bring some new ideas to generate more shots and scoring chances.
Now that the Canucks have decided on their head coach, they can move their focus to other pressing needs. The roster needs a lot of work before next season, and this summer should be a busy one for management.