[Hiring] Manny Malhotra as Abbotsford Canucks Head Coach

[Chickenspear]

2 hours ago, CanuckMan said:

Canucks requirements for being hired: 

 

- be good

- be bald

I'll just take my average self with my full head of hair elsewhere then...

[ArtyParty]

7 hours ago, Hogs and Podz said:

This is great news!  Losing Manny to the Leaves sucked.  So great to get him back.  He's a great communicator, well liked, super competitive and will join a great team of management that he's both played with and against. 

 

He reminds me a lot of Ryan Johnson who was a defensive shot blocking specialist.  Whom understood in order to extended his time in the NHL he had to adapt and specializing and use his smarts.  Manny's perfect!  The players will love playing for him. 

And a player who was drafted 7th overall and had to change his game to become a defensive specialist. This aspect is huge to player's development. He can impart that not all of them will be top 6 players but they can find ways to make the NHL and contribute other ways. He's been through it, he's one of the best technical players that played. He's a huge add and I think may end up being more valuable than Colliton was because of his focus on the small details needed to be effective in the NHL.

[RomanPer]

6 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

Source?

 

As far as I knew Colliton is highly regarded and was doing a great job in Abby.  He's a great interview and honestly, being well spoken and able to communicate well is way up the list of skills that a good coach should have.  I'd really like to know the story if anybody has a credible source.

 

Taking nothing from Malhotra.  He's first class as well.  

 

This is rather mysterious.

 

Edit:  According to Squire Barnes, Colliton couldn't come to terms with the Canucks on his new contract.

 

You don’t have to believe me but what i said is 100% true. Won’t say anything beyond that.

[Nucks780]

Manny is awesome. Was sad to see him go to T.O, hopefully he works his way to be an assistant with the big club eventually.

[flat land fish]

13 hours ago, CanuckMan said:

Canucks requirements for being hired: 

 

- be good

- be bald

As a bald guy I can support this.  Who was the last pretty boy head coach to win a championship?

[bertuzzi44fan]

20 hours ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

 

Time for Raty to shine?

Hope so,haven't heard anything about him recently.

[WillisD]

Awesome hiring! Glad to have him back in the organization

[TNucks1]

21 hours ago, Bounce000 said:

He left us for Toronto… should we forgive?

 

Uhm, shouldn't of been upset in the first place he got offered a promotion gig in the nhl, trying to work his way up, could possibly turn into a head coach after this ahl stint if he does** good, unless you're being sarcastic

Edited May 25 by TNucks1

[spook007]

19 hours ago, RomanPer said:

Now that the news of Colliton not coming back are official, I can say it - Canucks management wasn't happy about player development in Abby. Decision on Colliton was made up top. It wasn't Colliton not signing the offered extension, it's the other way around.

May I ask, where you get that info from? Just really curious....

 

Edit... see you kind of answered my question to Crabcakes, so...

Edited May 25 by spook007

[spook007]

This organisation under JR/PAs leadership don't hang around... 

 

Shear joy as there is always something happening, and most of it is definitely positives... 

 

Love the hire of Manny... 

[kilgore]

I always respected the drive in Manny.  That he was pissed at the Canucks for letting him go because of his eye injury. That our medical staff (dubious that they are) said that was it for him, and it was 'unsafe' for him to play any longer.

So he packed his things and went to Carolina, then off to Montreal to keep playing.  Screw you guys...I'm outa here.

 

I think that was a reason he wasn't quick to come back once he retired from playing.  But new management, new team, water under the bridge.  But you can't slag him for that determination.

[MikeyD]

Love Manny but Jeremy Colliton was a pretty damn good coach for Abby. 

[bertuzzi44fan]

40 minutes ago, kilgore said:

I always respected the drive in Manny.  That he was pissed at the Canucks for letting him go because of his eye injury. That our medical staff (dubious that they are) said that was it for him, and it was 'unsafe' for him to play any longer.

So he packed his things and went to Carolina, then off to Montreal to keep playing.  Screw you guys...I'm outa here.

 

I think that was a reason he wasn't quick to come back once he retired from playing.  But new management, new team, water under the bridge.  But you can't slag him for that determination.

What you talkin about?He was our faceoff coach like a year or two after retired. Doubt he had any beef.

[Sooey Steamer]

23 hours ago, RomanPer said:

Now that the news of Colliton not coming back are official, I can say it - Canucks management wasn't happy about player development in Abby. Decision on Colliton was made up top. It wasn't Colliton not signing the offered extension, it's the other way around.

I was surprised by your comment too.  I just assumed that he didn't accept the extension so that he could pursue NHL jobs.  Everything I heard about Colliton was complementary and that he was paralleling Tochett in implementing sound defensive structure for the team. 

 

But, maybe, as another poster suggested, he was prioritizing winning in the AHL vs. developing prospects for the NHL.  Without being too familiar with the Abby team, as an outsider, I can see a couple of possible things that Vancouver management might not have agreed with... for example moving Raty to wing from centre and not managing Klimovich's season very well?  @RomanPer does this sound reasonable to you?

[kilgore]

38 minutes ago, bertuzzi44fan said:

What you talkin about?He was our faceoff coach like a year or two after retired. Doubt he had any beef.

 

My bad.

I totally forgot he came back for that stint.

But he was clearly not happy with the Canucks opinion at the time just after his injury, that he couldn't play anymore. I just love that determination. He not only played for Carolina, then Montreal, but even after that also wanted to keep playing even if it meant a try out for the Columbus Blue jacket's farm team.

[RomanPer]

1 hour ago, Sooey Steamer said:

I was surprised by your comment too.  I just assumed that he didn't accept the extension so that he could pursue NHL jobs.  Everything I heard about Colliton was complementary and that he was paralleling Tochett in implementing sound defensive structure for the team. 

 

But, maybe, as another poster suggested, he was prioritizing winning in the AHL vs. developing prospects for the NHL.  Without being too familiar with the Abby team, as an outsider, I can see a couple of possible things that Vancouver management might not have agreed with... for example moving Raty to wing from centre and not managing Klimovich's season very well?  @RomanPer does this sound reasonable to you?

 

You are very close  

[Alflives]

14 hours ago, RomanPer said:

 

You don’t have to believe me but what i said is 100% true. Won’t say anything beyond that.

Thank you for the clarification @RomanPer. Winning is nice but making our future Vancouver Canucks players the best they can be must come first. Sounds like Collitan was more interested in his career than that of his players. Which is okay, of course, but not what is best for our Abbotsford youngsters. Manny will put his players first. 

[Attila Umbrus]

1 hour ago, Sooey Steamer said:

I was surprised by your comment too.  I just assumed that he didn't accept the extension so that he could pursue NHL jobs.  Everything I heard about Colliton was complementary and that he was paralleling Tochett in implementing sound defensive structure for the team. 

 

But, maybe, as another poster suggested, he was prioritizing winning in the AHL vs. developing prospects for the NHL.  Without being too familiar with the Abby team, as an outsider, I can see a couple of possible things that Vancouver management might not have agreed with... for example moving Raty to wing from centre and not managing Klimovich's season very well?  @RomanPer does this sound reasonable to you?

 

This drove a lot of us nuts. I had to spend a lot of this season explaining that Raty was fine at center, when given the chance to play the position.

 

I went to a game at the end of the season and Raty was taking faceoffs during the PP and PK, but 5 V 5 he was on the wing. I was hoping to see more of him at center. Because in my mind he's good at it.

 

Colliton made head scratching decisions all year imo. 

 

He wouldn't dress his tough guys either against the really mucky teams like the Calgary Wranglers. Our guys just got mobbed all game. It was ridiculous to watch. He finally clued in and started playing some tough guys later on in the season to finally give some push back and allow our prospects room to breathe. 

 

There were some great story lines player growth wise on the farm, but I feel that the growth was more due to the player than the coach. Karlsson, Bains, Sasson, Nielsen, Woo, Raty all have great drive and don't need a coach to push them to be better.

 

For prospects like Klim, McDonough, Bloom, Zlodeev, etc that needed some more time and patience to properly mold them they kinda got tossed aside other than McDonough who at the end of the season started to figure things out on his own.

 

The Sedins have been great mentors and coaches but they don't decide the line ups. So a lot of young prospects barely got a sniff of playing time all year.

[Attila Umbrus]

As for Klim, the games I did get to see of him this year he looked pretty good. He obviously has his warts but they will get ironed out with proper coaching.

 

You can see he has a lot of passion and wants to get better. When he was playing he played it like a wolf hunting in the o zone looking for soft spots to get his ripper of a shot off. People who want to see a complete 200 foot game may be waiting a long time for that. But his shot is lethal, his size is great, his skating is improving, his positioning in the ozone is good. You can tell he's a sniper waiting for his chance. Nothing wrong with him playing that kind of game.

 

This year he back checked a lot better. Played better in the dzone. Blew his man to man coverage here and there...but you gotta let him make mistakes to learn...instead Colliton would staple his butt to the bench. It was frustrating to watch.

 

The perfect game for Klim would be you don't notice him until he scores. 

 

If he learns to defend better and keep up with play in the d zone he'll be right there ready for the NHL in a couple years. He just needs to keep his head above the water defensively. Luckily we still have lots of runway left with him. There is still a bright side to all this.

 

I hope next year he has a fully healthy season and shuts everyone up.

[Crabcakes]

14 hours ago, RomanPer said:

 

You don’t have to believe me but what i said is 100% true. Won’t say anything beyond that.

Asking for a source is common on here.  You might be protecting your source but without providing one it is just hearsay.  

 

It's not a big deal to me.  I was surprised to hear that Colliton wasn't being renewed.  Maybe he wants more money than the team is willing to pay. That's not surprising since he has been a head coach in the NHL already.  Maybe he thought that he would have been offered the job when Bruce was let go. That's fine, they've hired another coach for Abby who is first rate. 

[Alflives]

17 minutes ago, Crabcakes said:

Asking for a source is common on here.  You might be protecting your source but without providing one it is just hearsay.  

 

It's not a big deal to me.  I was surprised to hear that Colliton wasn't being renewed.  Maybe he wants more money than the team is willing to pay. That's not surprising since he has been a head coach in the NHL already.  Maybe he thought that he would have been offered the job when Bruce was let go. That's fine, they've hired another coach for Abby who is first rate. 

Collitan sounds like he selfishly put his career ahead of our players. Good riddance to bad rubbish. He can go ruin some other club’s players. F him! 

[RomanPer]

47 minutes ago, Crabcakes said:

Asking for a source is common on here.  You might be protecting your source but without providing one it is just hearsay.  

 

It's not a big deal to me.  I was surprised to hear that Colliton wasn't being renewed.  Maybe he wants more money than the team is willing to pay. That's not surprising since he has been a head coach in the NHL already.  Maybe he thought that he would have been offered the job when Bruce was let go. That's fine, they've hired another coach for Abby who is first rate. 

Fine, let it be hearsay.

[RomanPer]

1 hour ago, Attila Umbrus said:

As for Klim, the games I did get to see of him this year he looked pretty good. He obviously has his warts but they will get ironed out with proper coaching.

 

You can see he has a lot of passion and wants to get better. When he was playing he played it like a wolf hunting in the o zone looking for soft spots to get his ripper of a shot off. People who want to see a complete 200 foot game may be waiting a long time for that. But his shot is lethal, his size is great, his skating is improving, his positioning in the ozone is good. You can tell he's a sniper waiting for his chance. Nothing wrong with him playing that kind of game.

 

This year he back checked a lot better. Played better in the dzone. Blew his man to man coverage here and there...but you gotta let him make mistakes to learn...instead Colliton would staple his butt to the bench. It was frustrating to watch.

 

The perfect game for Klim would be you don't notice him until he scores. 

 

If he learns to defend better and keep up with play in the d zone he'll be right there ready for the NHL in a couple years. He just needs to keep his head above the water defensively. Luckily we still have lots of runway left with him. There is still a bright side to all this.

 

I hope next year he has a fully healthy season and shuts everyone up.

This is precisely what the Sedins are working with him - complete game. After every game they would analyze with him all his shifts from that perspective and more often than not - they were happy with the progress. The message was - don’t worry about the goals at the moment, learn to play the complete game and the goals will come. But thanks to Colliton, there was nothing to review in the second half of the season.

[Attila Umbrus]

11 minutes ago, RomanPer said:

This is precisely what the Sedins are working with him - complete game. After every game they would analyze with him all his shifts from that perspective and more often than not - they were happy with the progress. The message was - don’t worry about the goals at the moment, learn to play the complete game and the goals will come. But thanks to Colliton, there was nothing to review in the second half of the season.

 

Nice to see my frustrations were valid. Thanks for the info!

[Sargon]

I see his son is playing for chilliwack.