The Vancouver Canucks have a deal in place to make Manny Malhotra the 23rd head coach in franchise history, according to a report from NHL insider Frank Seravalli.

Over the weekend, Elliotte Friedman reported that things were moving “in the right direction” for Malhotra to be named the Canucks’ next bench boss.

Malhotra, who was initially brought in to coach current Canucks GM Ryan Johnson’s Abbotsford Canucks, has long been considered a strong candidate to land an NHL head coaching job. His case only got stronger after leading Abbotsford to a Calder Cup championship victory in 2024-25. After Rick Tocchet decided to leave last summer, the Canucks talked to Malhotra about taking over the NHL team, but instead elected to promote Adam Foote to head coach. As we’ve written about multiple times, that was quite clearly a mistake, and it’s encouraging to see the Canucks pivot to a coach who should be a much better fit for a rebuilding team.

Malhotra helped build a strong culture in AHL Abbotsford, and should be a great fit for a team whose new management group has already spoken plenty about the need for the big club’s culture to improve as this new wave of Canucks comes through.

The Sedins and Johnson wasted little time in relieving Adam Foote of his head coaching duties, making the move less than a week after they were hired. Johnson was upfront right away that he would be talking to Malhotra, and that the Canucks viewed him as a very strong internal candidate.

“It’s hard to be ignorant of an internal candidate that we obviously have,” he said at the time. “I’m not gonna deflect that. Manny has shown his ability to develop young players, to build a connection, and obviously win a championship with a very young group. So won’t be ignorant to the fact that I am going to speak with him, sit down with him, and talk about the future.”

More to come.