Canucks Coaching Choice
Just playing devil’s advocate.
“I felt really comfortable that Adam was the choice to lead this franchise moving forward,” said Canucks GM Patrik Allvin last Thursday in introducing his new head coach Adam Foote.
I flashed back to sitting at the Seattle Kraken press conference last May when team executives mentioned how comfortable they were with Dan Bylsma in naming him as the franchise’s second head coach, replacing Dave Hakstol.
How’d that go? Nothing against ‘Disco Dan’, a great guy, but at the time I wondered if the club had been lazy in their approach, made too many assumptions, didn’t push the envelope. Bylsma had led the Kraken’s AHL affiliate to two consecutive Calder Cup Finals as the head man in Coachella Valley.
His tenure in Seattle lasted seven days short of eleven months.
Did the Canucks (also) take the easy way out? Was there not enough ‘high end’ demand for the position from outside? There’s a slew of other NHL jobs still available in much less disorganized and toxic situations than Vancouver.
Allvin mentioned Foote’s pedigree as a player, briefly, realizing that success on the ice means absolutely nothing when it comes to being the bench boss. Wayne Gretzky serves as the greatest example and there have been plenty of others.
Foote was crazy competitive on the ice, very unpopular with opponents, which is obviously a good thing. He was always remarkably unpopular with officials, potentially a red flag.
Is he one of those guys? Will he handle the annoying shit that heads his way from the media over the course of the long run? For some, stirring the pot and asking obnoxious questions seems to be the limit to their talents. That might not fly with an angry guy, which means things could get pretty entertaining.
But back to the main point: The Canucks just hired a first time NHL head coach. The choice comes with the rubber stamp of approval from the head coach who just bailed. That’s nice, isn’t it?
What exactly did Rick Tocchet just drop in Foote’s lap? He did throw in a classy bonus; waiting one day after Foote’s job was announced, to let it be known he’d taken the same job with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Does Tocchet really believe Foote will find success? His buddy got the gig, got the chance, and that’s all that matters. Tocc’s got plenty of other things to worry about in Philly.
Foote went .500 in one season head coaching in major juniors. Experience yes, but otherwise, another thing that really doesn’t matter.
Did the Canucks do this simply because star defenceman Quinn Hughes is an unrestricted free agent in 2027 and can be re-signed starting next summer? Hughes has expressed his admiration for Foote’s work as the assistant in charge of the Canucks ‘D’ for two-and-a-half seasons.
I mean, the Oilers hired their best player’s former junior coach to run the bench and his agent to run the front office. So why not this little nod to the Vancouver captain.
As long as everyone is comfortable.
