The Vancouver Canucks’ extensive search for a new head coach ended within the confines of Rogers Arena.
Ultimately, that might be a good thing. First-time head coach Adam Foote had a leg up on other, more experienced candidates because he knows exactly what he’s getting into. He just went through one of the most turbulent seasons in franchise history and had a front row seat for all of the drama.
Foote is about as familiar with the players on the current Canucks roster as a new head coach could possibly be, which should help him know which buttons to push and, crucially, which buttons not to push.
"I think Adam Foote is the best coach I've ever had"
It will be a to get the Canucks back to the playoffs in the 2025-26 season, and there have been plenty of opinions thrown around about whether Foote is up to the task. After all, he has limited NHL experience even as an assistant coach, and his only experience as a head coach at any level was in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets. .
That was five years ago, and a lot can change in that time. By all accounts, Foote has been an excellent assistant coach for the Canucks, working primarily with the defence and penalty kill units. He’s earned the trust and confidence of the defence corps, particularly Canucks captain Quinn Hughes.
“I think Adam Foote is the best coach I’ve ever had,” said Hughes after one game, crediting Foote for his communication skills and ability to teach the game.
So, will Foote be a good head coach for the Canucks?
Let’s be honest: nobody knows.
Quinn Hughes doesn’t know. The insiders and experts on sports talk radio don’t know. His former teammates don’t know. Rick Tocchet doesn’t know. Not even Foote himself knows for sure, though one would hope he has confidence and belief that he will be a good head coach.
I certainly don’t know whether Foote will be a good head coach, and there’s no use pretending I do.
Being a head coach in the NHL is a trial-by-fire situation. Sometimes, people who seem like they would be great NHL head coaches burn to a crisp, while others who have been entirely untested pass through the flames unscorched.
The range of coaching experience from Desjardins to St. Louis
Take Willie Desjardins, who was hired by the Canucks as head coach in 2014. He came with literal decades of experience as a coach at multiple levels, including head coaching experience in university hockey, the WHL, and the AHL. Before he was hired by the Canucks, he was named the 2013 AHL coach of the year, an award won by the likes of Jacques Demers, Barry Trotz, and Jon Cooper, then he won the Calder Cup Trophy with the Texas Stars in 2014.
That’s a pretty impeccable resume, one that would give a fanbase confidence that the coach knows what he’s doing.
Instead, Desjardins was a disaster, coaching the Canucks to a first-round exit in his first year, then two of the worst seasons in franchise history in his second and third years. Desjardins seemed incapable of in-game adjustments and seemingly refused to match lines, , one after another like it was a beer league game. Then there was his inexplicable affection for Jayson Megna and Michael Chaput, putting them in top-six positions for which they were not the least bit qualified.
On the flip side, there’s someone like Martin St. Louis.
As much as St. Louis always, his only experience as a coach prior to being hired by the Montreal Canadiens was coaching his preteen kids in PeeWee and AAA hockey. In other words, it’s not just that he had a worse resume than Desjardins; he didn’t have any resume at all.
Now, St. Louis is one of the three finalists for the Jack Adams as the coach of the year after getting the rebuilding Canadiens back to the playoffs for the first time in four years.
"He has so evolved as a coach"
Foote has some experience, of course — more than St. Louis, certainly. He worked in development for the Colorado Avalanche for several years, was head coach of the Kelowna Rockets for just short of two years, and has been the Canucks’ assistant coach for two-and-half years.
Under his tutelage, the Canucks’ defence and penalty killing improved, with Tocchet giving his former assistant plenty of praise for his work.
“I love the guy, I’m so happy for him,” . “It’s a little bittersweet, I wish he was coming with me…He has so evolved as a coach. I knew this day would come where he would be a head coach. Smart guy, great relationship guy, knows that organization inside and out.”
“I gave Footey a lot of autonomy,” he added. “He did a lot of stuff for me. It’s not like he just was in a box. He ran the D, he ran the PK, if I had issues with some players, he was right there for me.”
But being an assistant coach is not the same as being a head coach. Assistant coaches tend to do more teaching and one-on-one work; the head coach has to think of the big picture. The head coach has to deliver hard news and make tough decisions that an assistant coach doesn't have to. The assistant coach gets to be the good guy, swooping in to reassure a player after the head coach goes off on him for a mistake. And when things go wrong, it's the head coach who has to face the tough questions, whether from management or from the media, stepping into the spotlight while the assistants fade into the background.
"Now Footey’s gonna have to deal with the media," said Tocchet. "Listen, I know everybody laughs. Somebody said, oh, the media chased me out of town. I love the media there. There’s no problem with the media. Like, it’s the biggest fallacy I’ve ever heard...Footey, I gave him advice. I said, these guys, don’t be afraid to educate them or explain things. And sometimes they’re going to take a shot at you, and you’ve got to be able to have thick skin. But just as long as they respect you and you respect each other, it’ll be fine."
Best case scenario, Foote winds up like another hard-nosed former player with over 1000 games played, who was also promoted from assistant coach to head coach: Rod Brind’Amour.
Brind’Amour spent seven years as an assistant coach with the Carolina Hurricanes before taking over as head coach. He subsequently led the Hurricanes to seven straight playoff appearances and some of the most consistently excellent underlying numbers in the regular season.
But until the rubber hits the road, no one knows how good Foote will be.
