Rutherford drops hints on potential Canucks coach candidates to replace Tocchet

Rick Tocchet is gone and the search is on for the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

Jim Rutherford described Tocchet’s decision to leave the team as “disappointing news” at a Tuesday afternoon press conference at Rogers Arena. The 76-year-old president of hockey operations has seen just about everything during his Hall of Fame career, but he called this “a little bit surprising.”

But the Canucks will push on and there will be no shortage of potential candidates.

“We will start to do a shortlist, I would expect our phones will ring on a regular basis from people that want this job. We’ll narrow it down fairly quick and start the process from there,” Rutherford said.

And who will be on that shortlist? While it’s very early in the process, Rutherford did drop some hints.

Mike Sullivan, who Rutherford hired in Pittsburgh, won’t be coming to Vancouver. The two-time Stanley Cup winning coach wants to stay in the east, Rutherford explained.

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Peter Laviolette, on the other hand, seems like someone Rutherford would consider.

The 60-year-old bench boss, who was recently fired by the New York Rangers, won a Stanley Cup with Rutherford in Carolina back in 2006.

“We had some success together. I like him as a person and coach,” Rutherford said of Laviolette. “Certainly having someone that you’re familiar with helps. But I’m not the guy on a day-to-day basis that deals with the coach and does the day-to-day work. And that’s going to be, who does Patrik Allvin deal with? And he did not work with Peter Laviolette.

“I wouldn’t want to take [Laviolette] off the list at this point. He’s had a lot of success in the league.”

Another coach in the running is Manny Malhotra, who has had quick success in his first year behind the bench of the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.

“Manny… based on the job he did [in Abbotsford], the experience he has in the league, he will certainly be on the shortlist and be a guy that will be considered,” Rutherford said of the 44-year-old coach.

Abbotsford had the fifth-best record (44-24-4) in the AHL this season, which has been Malhotra’s lone experience at any level as a head coach.

Malhotra ticks every other box though, having played 991 games in the NHL as a player, including 159 as a member of the Canucks. He spent three years in Vancouver as an assistant coach on Travis Green’s coaching staff before joining Sheldon Keefe’s staff for four years with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Rutherford seemed open to different candidates, and certainly Laviolette and Malhotra are at different ends of the spectrum in terms of coaching experience.

“You have to have some experience. You have to have leadership qualities. You have to have a good structure and system that the players can lean on when they’re not playing well. Those will be some of the things that we’re going to look for.”