Things are pretty quiet around the Vancouver Canucks at the moment. Lockers have been cleared, pressers have been had, and the team is off to wherever they want as the Stanley Cup Playoffs rage on. I’m sure those of them that are still watching are feeling ever more gutted as they watch the Oilers deadlocked with the Stars at two games each. The Canucks showed they deserved to be on that stage… alas it’s summer now.

With not much happening with the team, there’s also not a ton to write about. But:

- The team hired Manny Malhotra to lead the Abbotsford Canucks next season. The team was in talks to retain Jeremy Colton, but couldn’t wait around as he fielded other calls. Allvin is nothing if not decisive, and Manny is glad to be back with the organization:

“It's obviously a very exciting time to be a Vancouver Canuck, and I was extremely fortunate and happy to have this opportunity come about,” Malhotra told Sportsnet 650 radio. “When you talk about the growth and evolution of a coach... I felt like now was the time to take that next step in my coaching journey.

“I've learned a lot from a lot of really good coaches along the way, so I feel like it's my time to apply those things. Really looking forward to running my own bench.”
He’s also pumped to be working with the Sedins again.

“I literally have to get back to them on a text message right now,” Malhotra said. “My phone's been blowing up for the last two hours so I haven't had a chance to respond to everybody yet. But they are definitely two big reasons why I'm really excited to be in this role right now.”

- The organization and Mike Yeo have parted ways. He was with the team since Boudreau hired him in July 2022. During his closing press conference, Tocchet talked about the thought of maybe bringing in a special teams coach. Yeo leaving the team opens up that opportunity more – something I think the team should jump at as the Canucks power play was a negative difference maker throughout the year.

- While it’s quiet now, the leadership group of this team is going to have a very active offseason. There are a lot of UFAs and RFAs on the team, and a lot of holes to fill in the lineup. Without much of a push coming from below next year, it’s going to be a lot for Allvin to juggle. He has just north of $25 million to play with (once you take into account Poolman), but there are a lot of impact players that need to get re-signed or to sign new players for their position. Most pressing right now are top end left wingers and top end right-handed defenders.

But, last year Allvin had just $11 million to work with and came out of free agency with Suter, Blueger, Soucy, and Cole. He also traded away over $12 million in contracts to Pearson, Beauvillier, and Kuzmenko while bringing in DeSmith, Zadorov, and Lindholm. That is just to say, there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes we don’t know, and I’m sure this team is going to look vastly different than any of us think.

With that in mind, Allvin and Rutherford tend to work quickly in getting what they want, so hopefully we don’t have to wait long for things to talk about. Until then, keep it to hockey or hockey-adjacent topics, and keep all the politics, conspiracy theories, and fishing talk to the other thread.


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(Quotes from MacIntyre)

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