The Vancouver Canucks didn’t have to look far to find their new head coach.
The team announced Wednesday that Adam Foote has been elevated from assistant coach to head coach.
He replaces Rick Tocchet, who parted ways with the Canucks last month.
“[Foote] has worked extremely hard the past few years, gaining our player’s respect and trust for his strong communication and honest straightforward opinion,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said in a statement.
“He knows this group better than anyone else we interviewed and has inside knowledge and understanding of what it will take to get us back to where we want to be.”
Foote is the 22nd head coach in franchise history and the fourth since December 2021.
He has been on the Canucks bench as an assistant since January 2023 when Tocchet was hired as head coach.
Vancouver struggled to a 38-30-14 record last season and missed the playoffs a year after advancing to the second round of the post-season and taking the Edmonton Oilers to seven games.
The team’s search for a new bench boss began on April 29 when Tocchet he would not return for the 2025-26 campaign.
“Family is a priority, and with my contract lapsing, this becomes the opportune time,” he said in a statement released by the Canucks. “While I don’t know where I’m headed, or exactly how this will play out for me over the near term, I feel like this is the right time for me to explore other opportunities in and around hockey.”
Tocchet departure a surprise
Jim Rutherford, the Canucks president of hockey operations, said the decision took him by surprise.
Tocchet is rumoured to be the incoming head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.
It is believed the Canucks interviewed several candidates for the coaching post and narrowed the list down to Foote and Manny Malhotra, head coach of the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.
Foote is believed to be the preferred candidate of Canucks captain Quinn Hughes.
“Adam is a strong leader, good teacher and person who knows what it takes to build a great culture and winning attitude,” Allvin said. “His past experiences on the ice have translated nicely into a coaching style that fits our organization’s goals and vision.”
Foote, who hails from Toronto, was selected by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 draft.
He went on to play 1,154 regular-season NHL games for the Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets, putting up 66 goals and 242 assists, and helping the Avs to Stanley Cup wins in 1996 and 2001.
His son, Cal Foote, is one of five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team currently on trial for sexual assault in London, Ont.
Adam Foote moved into coaching in 2011-12 as a development consultant and defensive coach, and was Canada’s director of player development at the 2017 Spengler Cup, where the country captured gold.
His only previous head coaching experience came in the Western Hockey League where he led the Kelowna Rockets for a season and a half before moving to Vancouver to work as an assistant coach.
“Adam brings structure, accountability, and a detailed oriented approach to his coaching, a process that will send a clear message to our group about the way we want to compete, practice, and play hockey,” Allvin said. “We are very happy to have him take over as the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.”
The Canucks are scheduled to introduce Foote at a press conference Thursday.
