Adam Foote was named coach of the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
The 53-year-old replaces Rick Tocchet, who stepped down as Canucks coach April 29.
Foote was an assistant for Vancouver the past three seasons. His only previous head coaching experience was two seasons with Kelowna of the Western Hockey League (2018-20).
The Canucks (38-30-14) finished six points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference this season. That came after they won the Pacific Division (50-23-9) and reached the second round of the playoffs last season, when Tocchet was voted the Jack Adams Award winner as NHL coach of the year.
“Adam is a strong leader, good teacher and person who knows what it takes to build a great culture and winning attitude,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said. “His past experiences on the ice have translated nicely into a coaching style that fits our organization’s goals and vision. He has worked extremely hard the past few years, gaining our players respect and trust for his strong communication and honest straight forward opinion.
“He knows this group better than anyone else we interviewed and has inside knowledge and understanding of what it will take to get us back to where we want to be. Adam brings structure, accountability, and a detailed orientated approach to his coaching, a process that will send a clear message to our group about the way we want to compete, practice, and play hockey. We are very happy to have him take over as the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.”
Among the reasons for Vancouver’s struggles this season were injuries that limited goalie Thatcher Demko to 23 games. There also were reported internal issues, including a rift between forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. Miller was traded to the New York Rangers on Jan. 31.
“It wore really hard on everybody, players, coaches, managers,” Canucks president Jim Rutherford said April 29. “It was tough.”
Foote played 19 NHL seasons as a defenseman with the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets. He won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 1996 and 2001. He also helped Canada win the gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
He had 308 points (66 goals, 242 assists) in 1,154 regular-season games and 42 points (seven goals, 35 assists) in 170 playoff games. Foote also was the final active player to have skated for the Nordiques when he retired in 2010.
“This is a guy that coaches his defensemen, coaches his players, like he’d want his kids coached,” Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said in February. “And then on top of that, with all the experience he has.”
Two teams still have coaching openings, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Seattle Kraken. In addition, the Boston Bruins (Joe Sacco) and Chicago Blackhawks (Anders Sorensen) finished the season with interim coaches.
Rick Tocchet was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, and Joel Quenneville was hired by the Anaheim Ducks on May 8.
