Canucks' coaching search may be falling apart behind the scenes
Manny Malhotra was supposed to be the easy answer on Canucks' bench. According to David Pagnotta, that assumption is no longer holding up in Vancouver.
Pagnotta reported Wednesday morning on Morning Cuppa Hockey that the Canucks are now exploring alternative options for the head coach role.
The reason isn't fit or philosophy. It's the dollars.
Pagnotta says there may be a money issue between the two sides, and the front office is starting to look elsewhere while talks continue.
He framed it as a backup plan for now, but the fact that one exists at all tells you everything about where this conversation actually sits.
Malhotra has been the assumed name since Foote got fired. A familiar face, a former Canuck, a clean cultural fit.
Why a coaching staff stalemate matters for a 25-win Canucks team
This isn't a luxury hire. Vancouver finished 25-49-8 and dead last in the NHL at 32nd overall.
The Canucks gave up 316 goals. They scored 216. A -100 goal differential is the kind of number that gets entire staffs blown up, not built carefully.
Pagnotta's reporting suggests ownership and management aren't moving on the figure Malhotra's camp wants. That's a strange place to draw a line given the state of the roster.
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You're 32nd in the league. You're staring at a goaltending tandem where Kevin Lankinen posted a .875 save percentage across 47 appearances. What exactly is the leverage play here?
Thatcher Demko gave them 20 games at .895. The structural issues in front of him aren't getting solved by saving a few hundred thousand on a bench coach.
The optics aren't great either. Telling your fanbase you're rebuilding the staff, then haggling over a head coach's contract while sitting on a 4-6-0 finishing stretch, reads like a hardware store fighting over the price of nails after the roof caved in.
There's still a path where Malhotra ends up on the bench. Pagnotta isn't closing the door.
But the moment a team starts running parallel interviews, the original candidate rarely walks back into the room on the same terms.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 27, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| K'Andre Miller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| William Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Cole Caufield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Phillip Danault | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | - | - | |
| Jakub Dobes | - | - | - | |
| Noah Dobson | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||