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Meet Ryan Mougenel: New Canucks assistant coach excited for first NHL job after a lifetime in the minors

Photo credit: NHL.com

By Jeff Paterson

Sep 10, 2026, 18:08 EDT

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In a world in which everyone always seems to be in a hurry, Ryan Mougenel has bucked that trend. A scan of his resume shows he has taken his time plotting a path to the National Hockey League.

Oh, to be clear, the 50-year-old has been on the radar of NHL teams for years as one of the top coaching prospects at lower levels. But it wasn’t until July, when he was hired by the Vancouver Canucks as one of Manny Malhotra’s assistants, that Mougenel landed his first bench role in the NHL.

He makes the move after five seasons at the helm of the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins. He also has four years of head coaching experience with the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL. Along the way, there were stops as an assistant in Fresno (ECHL) along with AHL assistant positions in Hershey, Worcester, San Jose and Providence – before he was promoted by the Bruins.

“I’ve talked to many people about being where your feet are and that applied to me as well,” Mougenel told Daily Faceoff Vancouver in a lengthy conversation outside the Canucks locker room at Rogers Arena. “I was really thankful for my time in the East Coast League. It really taught me a lot about the game and about people. I was putting the time in my craft. I was in a real good situation in Boston. They were unbelievable to me. But at this time, talking to Manny, we aligned in a lot of different ways. He’s a little bit of my peer agewise and I thought it was somebody I could grow with. There had been some opportunities earlier on, but this really felt like it was the right time to do it and I’m very thankful to be included in this group.”

While they’ve never worked together until now, Mougenel and Malhotra have crossed paths in the hockey world through the years. Both were raised in the Toronto area, and they overlapped briefly as players in the Ontario Hockey League. Malhotra was a high draft pick with a lengthy, distinguished NHL career, while Mougenel went undrafted and carved out a career in the AHL, ECHL, International League, and even spent a season with Canada’s national team program.

In some ways, though, it felt like fate that the two would be brought together at some point in their hockey journeys.

“He (Malhotra) literally lives on the same street as two of my best buddies in Etobicoke, so it’s been an interesting time connecting all the dots and how we’re connected,” Mougenel said. “You spend time with Manny and this just felt right.”

Throughout his years of coaching in the minors, Mougenel has focused on player development and helping players pursue their dreams of one day making it to the NHL. The fact that the Canucks are in the early stages of a full-blown rebuild appealed to him because he believes the club’s competitive arc matches his strengths behind the bench.

Coming off a season in which he guided Providence to a 54-16-2 record and was named the AHL’s Coach of the Year, Mougenel is eager to work with many of the Canucks promising young players to help them realize their potential.

“It’s exciting,” he explained. “Coming from the American League, that’s what you do on a daily basis. You’re growing players to get better daily. We understand there’s going to be a lot of ups, there’s going to be some downs and we’re here to help navigate that for the players. We’re creating an environment that is about growth.”

As Mougenel and the new coaching staff prepare for training camp, one of the areas he has been tasked with is overseeing the Canucks power play. He inherits a group that was second in the NHL with the man advantage after the Olympic break, converting on 32.8% of its opportunities.

He’s well aware of that success and is hoping the group can pick up where it left off down the stretch.

“The strength is in the continuity, but the real strength is the confidence they should have so we want to make sure we’re keeping that juice,” he said. “There are a lot of underlying numbers that are super positive so we don’t want to reinvent that wheel. For me, it’s about the players and how they feel and they should feel really strong about coming in and making an impact on the power play. It’s about creating anxiety for the penalty kill. Back in the day, it was about setting up. Now it’s about playing fast. After the Olympic break, their entries got a lot cleaner and they had a lot more possession time and a lot more plays to the net. You see what happens when you have confidence. It’s about not being too stagnant, getting inside the dots and having a shooter’s mindset and attacking.”

With just a week now before the staff can join players on the ice at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton, the countdown is on to training camp and the exhibition season. Mougenel can sense the excitement around the rink as players skate and scrimmage on a daily basis.

After spending the last five years being a head coach and running his own program, he understands that Manny Malhotra will have the final say on the Canucks bench. But Mougenel doesn’t anticipate much of an adjustment for himself as he settles into his new role. He’s clearly putting the team first and wants to do whatever he can to make the players he’s working with better.

“The biggest thing for me is I want to be a supportive role for Manny and relationships with players is something I’ve always preached and something I believe in, that’s never going to change,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that difference in coaching being there for the players all the time. I’m excited to be an assistant.”

It’s been a long grind for Ryan Mougenel to get to the NHL. But after all his years in the game, he has finally arrived as a 50-year-old rookie. And he can’t wait to get started.

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