The odds of success for rookie NHL head coach Adam Foote were never favorable. As injuries piled up early in a chaotic and condensed schedule that invited fatigue and long-term ailments, it was the Vancouver Canucks bench boss who felt the pain. He could not stop his club from driving into the ditch as losses accumulated, leading to a torturous season for the NHL's last-place team.
On Tuesday morning, Adam Foote and assistant coaches Kevin Dean, Brett McLean, and Scott Young were fired. This move only increased the prospect of Abbotsford head coach Manny Malhotra, who guided the AHL affiliate to the 2025 Calder Cup championship, running his first NHL bench in Vancouver.
Foote's Unfortunate Season
As for Foote, you could almost see his departure coming because the bad luck started early and never really went away. When centers Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger were injured in the same game on October 19 in Washington, D.C., it started a spiral that would see nine players sidelined at one point by various ailments. Starting goaltender Thatcher Demko was also hurt once again as the club struggled to defend, allowing the most goals and having the worst penalty kill. The Canucks also scored the second-fewest goals.
If that was not bad enough, they set franchise records for futility with an 11-game losing streak and a disturbing 9-27-5 home-ice free-fall that convinced ownership that a roster rebuild and hockey operations department restructuring were finally imperative. That alone offered hope of better times for a frantic and faithful fan base that had reason for optimism amid all the dread.
Systemic Issues
Granted, the Canucks simply did not have or pursue the right support pieces when injuries struck this season. However, they also did not have the right direction for budding blueliners Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson, and Victor Mancini. They struggled with a system that often had them chasing the game in their own zone, more of a demanding man-to-man coverage commitment.
When new Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson stated Thursday in announcing the hockey ops hirings that it was unfair to judge at that moment what Foote endured this season — pending a review of what actually went wrong — it was the courtesy you expect Johnson to afford Foote. He was a dutiful defensive defenseman during his NHL playing career and a capable assistant under Rick Tocchet, who would run the back end and the penalty kill. It was the right job at the right time.
The Weight of the Crown
However, heavy is the head that wears the crown. It is often said an assistant coach wears the white hat to form relationships with players. The head coach dons the black hat, and that never really seemed to fit Foote. He had to deal with expectations, a room that would again become divided, the probing media, and there was no magic elixir to heal the pain of it all.
The Canucks did compete better down the stretch. There was a better spirit among young players to feel comfortable, and it bodes well for the future. The big question was always who would steer them and other prospects to ensure the rebuild would be about development and a cohesive commitment to it all. It appears to be Malhotra.
Promoting Foote this season was not surprising. He had good relationships with defensemen, especially with Quinn Hughes, and that was expected to be part of the catalyst for a strong season before it all went incredibly sideways. Hughes was traded, and the air quickly escaped the balloon of hope. How much of all that is Foote's fault? Not all. But enough to see him let go.
