Abbotsford Canucks hire John Murray as strength and conditioning coach

The Abbotsford Canucks have named John Murray the club’s new strength and conditioning coach, general manager Ryan Johnson announced Friday.

Murray, a graduate of Western University, most recently worked as the head strength and conditioning coach for the athletic programs at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, Ontario.

He’s also worked for Gary Roberts High-Performance Training in Toronto, the preferred strength and conditioning facility of some of the National Hockey League’s top players. Nathan Williams served as the Canucks’ strength and conditioning coach last season.

“John is someone that comes with great experience in a team environment,” Johnson said in a press release on Friday. “He has been working with some of the best hockey players in the world. His knowledge and passion are qualities that I am extremely excited about adding to our organization.”

The Canucks said Murray will join the team’s human performance staff, which also includes head equipment manager Ramandeep “Chico” Dhanjal, assistant equipment manager Shingo Sasaki, head athletic therapist Roman Kaszczij, and assistant athletic therapist Chris Trivieri.

As previously announced, Jeremy Colliton will serve as head coach of the Canucks in 2022–23. Gary Agnew and Jeff Ulmer will respectively be the associate and assistant coaches on Colliton’s staff, with Marko Torenius working as the development and goaltending coach, Ian Beckenstein as the video coach, Yogi Svejkovsky as the skills coach, and Mackenzie Braid as the skating coach.

The Canucks will kick off their 2022–23 slate of games on the road against the Ontario Reign on October 14.