Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet with a surplus of exclamation marks!

Speaking of surpluses, if the Vancouver Canucks have a surplus of anything, it’s players named Elias Pettersson. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re selling them.

Obviously, the question of what to do with the senior Elias is one of the larger ones facing GM Ryan Johnson and Co., right up there with ‘who do we draft at third overall?’ and ‘where did Rutherford leave the key to the executive bathroom?’

Pettersson remains the Canucks’ highest-paid player, and by a big country mile. Even with Thatcher Demko’s impending raise, Pettersson will have a $3.1 million lead on him. And that money hasn’t bought a lot of points as of yet, so figuring out how to address that isn’t just important; it’s financially prudent. What the new front office needs to figure out is whether Pettersson can play any role in this ongoing rebuild and, if not, what they can do to move him to another team for as much return as possible.

We have to acknowledge a couple of truths here. For one, Pettersson’s contract includes a full no-movement clause, so any actual trade would have to include his approval. For another, there’s no real necessity for the Canucks to make this decision during this particular offseason. It’s not like they’re going to have to spend that money themselves anytime soon, and it’s not like Pettersson’s slump is going to get much slumpier, or his NMC any NMCier. Waiting on the Pettersson decision is a reasonable, and perhaps the most likely, option.

But if we can put all that aside for a moment, let’s instead imagine the decision can and must be made within this upcoming offseason. And let’s imagine that the decision were entirely up to you, hypothetically speaking.

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

Manny is the right guy at the right time with a great group of peers.

Hiring Manny Malhotra was a no brainer; they knew that, we knew that, and they did the right thing. No more pond hockey, glad to have systems that work back in the house.

You flatter me with the question… None the less, nothing really too deep here. Manny has been told that it is not so much about the record but more about player development. His record in Abby shows he has a high competency level in this, so he should serve this function well.

In this regard, Manny was a good choice because he knows the young players, he knows the organization, the market, and the rest of the front office, and in saying this, I expect that they will be able to work well with one another and bring some positivity to the team.

In the short term, Manny will help build a culture of focus, discipline, resilience, teamwork, and connection. Manny will work to ensure the mood at practice, in the locker room, in the film study room, on the plane, on the bus, in the hotels will be more relaxed and have some element of fun. They’re being paid big dollars to play a sport they theoretically love and he needs to remind them it is a rare privilege for them to make it to the upper echelon of the sport.

In the long term, Manny will bring innovation to how a head coach leads an NHL team and use the best available science to help his players achieve peak performance on a consistent basis. It means working with Ryan Johnson to find the best nutritionists, sports psychologists, personal trainers, skating instructors, and conditioning specialists. In the long term, Manny will help redefine how a head coach uses a team of assistants to his best advantage.

Finally, Manny will use leading edge analytical science to understand how to deploy his players so they are in the best possible position to succeed.

Lets just hope they surround him with the right assistants. I hope that they are serious about what that looks like, because there was an article the other day that has me worried. Bringing in the wrong types, where players just tune them out, is not the way to go.

As far as resumes go for a first time NHL coach, Manny’s is very strong. Stepping back from an NHL assistant to AHL head coach was a shrewd move. Manny’s track record of graduating players from the farm team to the NHL is pretty strong. Manny answers questions well and it seems his answers are well considered.

In today’s day and age, no matter how cynical I become, it is hard to keep up. The unchecked positivity about the Malhotra promotion seems premature. He hasn’t yet accomplished anything as a coach at the NHL level. Not everything Manny did in Abbotsford turned out great. He coached last season’s team to near last place in the standings. There are a number of players he had for all or parts of two seasons who have not met expectations. These include Bains, Klimovich, Woo, Lekkerimäki, Alriksson, the jury is still out on several more.

Obviously much of a player’s development rests squarely on the player. No coach can fix a player who does not have the mental or physical tools to be an NHL player. There is also an expectation an AHL coach train his players in the systems of the parent club. Hard to know how much Foote’s ineffective systems also impacted Abbotsford.

Every day we see line-ups suggested in the comments here which prioritize winning over development. As misguided as most believe there will be pressure to put up wins next season. There will be endless second guessing of roster and deployment decisions. The media honeymoon will end and the brigade of writers who believe they are smarter than those who actually do the jobs will start to pressure. This is unavoidable.

Manny is a first time NHL head coach. While there is ample reason to be optimistic about how well he will perform, it is premature to anoint him a success. He has yet to face the inevitable pressure to come.

For Manny to succeed with his job, everyone from the owners, management, players will need to be aligned with the same goal that they’re trying to build an elite championship-caliber team through a slow, methodical rebuild. The thing is, Demko could come back completely healthy next season and derail the whole rebuild effort. You can’t tell me he wouldn’t have bought the Canucks an extra 20 wins if he had been healthy this season. 20 extra wins would have got the Canucks into the playoffs. If the Canucks refuse to move a healthy Demko before the July 1st deadline, then you can pretty much say management and ownership were not serious about the rebuild and all of this was just smoke and mirrors.

I was a big supporter of Manny getting hired a year ago. Once again, Foote was an “appease Hughes” hire. Inmates running the asylum never works, just look at Edmonton. I think the contention window has closed just as it has in TO. Did not fix the goaltending or D, and now it’s into mediocrity, then a rebuild again. Manny was the coach then and he is the coach now. I am disappointed at a three-year deal, as where would Montreal be had they fired MSL two years ago? Now what to do with the twp other contracts signed to “appease Hughes” money?

Once RJ was hired, this was pretty much a given. Familiarity all around will make the next few seasons of learning and losing more tolerable. Unless things go completely off the rails, Manny should be allowed to work his full contract and go from there.