Dhaliwal: Canucks looking for mixture of NHL and AHL experience for next coach; Todd Nelson ‘in the mix’

It has now been one week since the Vancouver Canucks found out that there two-and-a-half-year head coach and 2023-2024 Jack Adams Award winner, Rick Tocchet, had decided to move on from the organization.

Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal shined some light on the type of coach the Canucks are targeting, as well as some potential targets to keep an eye one:

“I think the Canucks could be looking for a guy with a mixture of American Hockey League and National Hockey League experience. What do you get with the American Hockey League guy? [He] works with the young kids. What do you get with a veteran in the NHL? He knows how to run a veteran club. So we’ll keep an eye on that.

“Todd [Nelson] is in the mix, Manny Malhotra is in the mix, Adam Foote will get his interview with the Canucks. I wonder if Luke Richardson gets an interview with the Canucks – former Blackhawks coach. [He] did a good job with that young roster in Chicago. Mitch Love…keep an eye on that name – people in Everett know him. He’s on the radar for a lot of teams, but he’s the Washington Capitals’ assistant coach right now.”

Both Malhotra and Foote are the two internal options for the Canucks, with Malhotra currently head coaching the Abbotsford Canucks during their Calder Cup run and Foote spending the previous two-and-a-half seasons as Tocchet’s assistant coach.

There has already been some chatter about those two options, but Nelson, Richardson and Love are new names.

Nelson is currently working within the Washington Capitals organization, enjoying time in the AHL with the Hershey Bears. He has coached them to back-to-back Calder Cup titles, and is currently going for their third, although they are currently trailing their series 2-1 to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. While he has heaps of AHL experience, Nelson has spent just two seasons behind an NHL bench as an assistant coach and took over for the Oilers as interim coach for half a season in 2014-2015.

Love is another name currently working in the Capitals organization, but he is with the NHL as an assistant coach, primarily working with the defencemen. However, this was his first NHL job after spending the previous three seasons as the head coach of the Stockton Heat/Calgary Wranglers. Love was in strong consideration for an NHL head coaching job last season, and should be in the mix again this season after the Capitals’ success.

Richardson is the more recognizable name, as he has spent various stops throughout multiple locations (Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens) before finding his first NHL head coaching gig with the Chicago Blackhawks. As the team was going through a rebuild, the Richardson-led Blackhawks struggled with a 57-118-5 record in his two-and-a-half seasons in Chicago. It can be challenging to judge a head coaching performance when the team was rebuilding.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Are you happy with any of these options?