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Will Manny Malhotra have the chance to coach playoff games as head coach of Vancouver Canucks?
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Jun 6, 2026, 15:38 EDT
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Manny Malhotra was hired on Monday and officially introduced on Thursday, and by his first weekend as the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, the question is being asked: will Malhotra reach a point where he coaches playoff games with the rebuilding hockey club? Welcome to life in a hockey-mad Canadian market.
The notion was floated as a poll question on Friday’s Sekeres and Price show. It arose after Malhotra himself acknowledged that he is prepared for his team to struggle in the early going of his tenure. 
Let’s make it abundantly clear that there are absolutely no expectations on the new coach to guide the Canucks back to the postseason in his first year behind the bench. And as it stands now, a playoff berth two seasons from now feels like a long shot, too. 
The Canucks have firmly stated their plans for an intentional rebuild, which means taking the necessary steps to assemble a competitive hockey club – with no shortcuts. But the harsh reality of the business is that head coaches are chewed up and spat out by struggling hockey teams at an alarming rate. The churn behind the bench is real, and it’s ugly. 
So can Manny Malhotra do enough in his first two years on the job to earn a contract extension? That may be the more prudent question in this exercise. Coaches at this level rarely work into the final year of their contract without the security of an extension. If Malhotra is able to gain a second contract, then surely he will coach a playoff game with the Canucks. That’s not to say the rebuild will be officially over with a return to the postseason, but certainly by his third – and fourth – season, Malhotra will begin to feel the heat that all NHL head coaches experience. It’s a bottom-line business, and a time will come when Malhotra will be judged on more than his ability to instill better work habits, change the culture and develop young players. However, if he’s successful on those fronts, there is every reason to believe that the Canucks rebuild is heading in the right direction.
Of course, Malhotra is only one piece of the puzzle. He’s going to need new general manager Ryan Johnson, co-Presidents Daniel and Henrik Sedin and the scouting staff to excel in their jobs and provide him with a roster that ultimately can and will get the job done.
Next season is the honeymoon. The organization needs to establish a direction and find out which players on the current roster can be part of the solution here. The 2027-28 season will need to be one of significant growth. Whether improvement comes from within, from the addition of top prospects through the draft, and from whatever trades and free-agent signings the club makes over the next two summers, by the fall of 2027, the Canucks need to be showing signs of a team headed in the right direction. 
With Malhotra as the guiding hand, the Canucks have to demonstrate an ability to play with structure. He wants his team to play an uptempo style, and every effort needs to be made to provide him with players who can set that pace. Under the new head coach, the Canucks have to adhere to analytics and deploy players in the right spots to give them the best chance for individual and collective success. While wins and losses won’t be the markers by which Malhotra is judged in the early going, there is still pressure on him to perform and to deliver his team to a place before too long where results will, indeed, matter.
If the Canucks aren’t much further ahead two years from now than they are at the moment, then all bets are off. That goes not only for Malhotra, but the entire new management regime.
These are early days, and Malhotra still has months before he steps behind the bench for the first time in his new role. He feels like a good fit for a young hockey club with nowhere to go but up. He proved he can get the job done in the American Hockey League and has earned the opportunity to prove he can do the same at the next level. 
The next two seasons have to be a slow, steady climb so that by the third season, the Canucks are ready to take significant strides. The Montreal Canadiens, viewed by many in the industry as the model of a successful rebuild, missed the playoffs for three straight seasons before bowing out in the opening round a year ago. This season, they made it to the Eastern Conference Final and show no signs of fading anytime soon.
The Canucks lack the difference-makers the Habs have, so that’s a massive challenge. But the hope has to be that Malhota will get the best out of players like Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, Liam Ohgren, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Braeden Cootes, and that top draft picks this year and again next will step in and accelerate the program. 
No one knows how the story will go, but the Canucks are convinced that they are starting down a path that will lead to prosperity. The end goal isn’t just returning to the postseason, but building a championship contender. The club is clearly a long way from that at the moment. 
However, with his extensive playing experience coupled with what he accomplished in two years in Abbotsford, Manny Malhotra has demonstrated an ability to deliver. And there are plenty of reasons to believe he’ll do the same as head coach of the Canucks. So to answer the initial question, yes, Malhotra will coach playoff games in Vancouver.
And the hope is that he’ll do a lot more than that.
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