Canucks firing Adam Foote offers only glimmer of insight into vision for new era

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksLatest NHL mock draftUFA big boardPlayoff bracketRed Light NewsletterCanucks firing Adam Foote offers only glimmer of insight into vision for new eraAdam Foote, centre, and assistant coaches Kevin Dean and Brett McLean were fired by the Canucks on Tuesday. Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images Share articleThere will be a lot of words written, spoken and posted on social media about what Ryan Johnson had to say in the wake of his first major decision as Vancouver Canucks general manager. Words can be wind, however, and on Tuesday, it was Johnson’s actions that spoke louder. On Tuesday morning, the Canucks fired Adam Foote and assistant coaches Scott Young, Brett McLean and Kevin Dean. The dismissals arrived without hesitation. Johnson and Vancouver’s co-presidents Henrik and Daniel Sedin didn’t even give Foote an opportunity to make his pitch for how his second year behind the bench might be different than his first. “We had some brief conversations at season’s end as I was going through my own process,” Johnson said, “but I did not have in-depth conversations about vision (with Foote). “Unfortunately, this is something I would’ve loved to do in person, but with none of our group being here in person, and being out, and traveling … Out of respect for the staff, the longer you drag this out, the more difficult you make it (for them to find their next job), and I wanted to be respectful.” The decisiveness of how Johnson and the Sedins moved to fire Foote and his coaching staff cuts a pretty remarkable contrast with how Johnson handled questions about Foote’s future with the team when he was introduced as Vancouver’s GM last week. “If you look at last year as a whole, it’s really tough to evaluate a coach or anyone with all of the adversity with the injuries, the goaltending,” Johnson said Thursday of Foote’s work. “There were so many variables that changed the course of the season, and obviously, there was some drama around the group. “To evaluate Adam just on that is unfair. This is day one on the job, we’re going to talk about things as we will top to bottom in the organization, but that’s going to take us some time. To evaluate off of last season is, I think, pretty unfair.” It wasn’t exactly an unqualified endorsement, but it was at least an inscrutable kindness. A tepid defence. You’d be hard pressed to have heard or read those words and assumed that Foote’s removal might arrive at the earliest opportunity, less than a week later. When Johnson was asked later on about clarifying whether Foote would be back, he certainly left himself the wiggle room to make a change behind the bench. “This is day one walking onto the job,” Johnson said, repeating a talking point. “Just like everything, we’re going to evaluate, look at areas where we can improve. “We’ve got many departments that we want to get better, (areas) where we don’t want to be good at, but we want to be elite at. So those are all things that we’re discussing, and again, we won’t make any decision unless we’re aligned and agree that’s the best way to move forward.” We’re currently navigating a limited information environment in analyzing what exactly this new era of Canucks hockey operations will look and feel like. Questions asked and answered in news conferences are, for now, the bulk of what we have to go on. Firings and, eventually, hirings, and the team assembled to complement the trio of ex-Canucks who have replaced outgoing president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin. Words and actions, and the contrast between the two. Eventually, there will be draft picks and transactions to pore over. Trades and signings. The performance of the team on the ice across multiple seasons. Before the growing sample of work product pools, however, we just have words, and now the decision to move quickly to dismiss Foote and his staff. And across a pair of initial meetings with the media in his first few days on the job, the most powerful signal we’ve got about Johnson’s tenure as general manager so far is that we should be careful about reading too much into what’s said. We should be focused instead on his actions. On Tuesday, for example, Johnson was asked about the future of Vancouver’s assistant general managers Émilie Castonguay and Cammi Granato. “As for Cammi and Émilie, nothing has changed,” Johnson said. “They are a big part of this group and a big part of my maturation as a person and professional.” When asked to clarify if that meant that Granato and Castonguay would be remaining with the organization, Johnson appeared to confirm exactly that, but also avoided putting a specific and forceful confirmation on tape. “Yes, nothing has changed with our current staff,” Johnson said. “Obviously, I am working through making sure I have the right help and support I need to be challenged; I need ideas, I need people around me.” If that was somewhat clearer or firmer than what Johnson had said last week about evaluating Foote’s performance as head coach, it seems to be only by a matter of degrees. There is perhaps a glimmer of hope in that. Because a lot of the specific content of Johnson’s words on Tuesday was downright concerning in its lack of ambition, and the lack of organizational change that he appears prepared to preside over. Aside from mentioning on multiple occasions that he intends to bring in a new player development head to run the AHL team and presumably serve as an assistant general manager within the new-look front office, Johnson mostly outlined a vision of organizational stasis. The current assistant general managers remain. Amateur scouting director Todd Harvey received a significant endorsement, with Johnson name checking Ty Mueller, Kirill Kudryavtsev and Elias Pettersson, the defender, as significant amateur talent evaluation wins for the organization in the middle and late rounds for the organization — while omitting Danila Klimovich (who, ironically, is the same age as Mueller and has scored at nearly the same rate over the past two seasons). The analytics staff will receive additional resources. And all roads as to who Vancouver will hire as Foote’s replacement appear to go through Abbotsford Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra first. “Manny has shown his ability to develop young players, to build a connection, and obviously to win a championship with a very young group,” Johnson said. “I am going to speak with him. We’re going to sit down with him and talk about the future.” When later asked to identify the primary criteria for what Johnson wants in the next Vancouver head coach, he seemed very much to be directly describing Malhotra. “Consistency, patience, the ability to connect with a young group, and realize that we can’t blanket players; they each have their own path, their own journey that you have to be attentive to,” Johnson said. In fairness to Johnson, at no point did he hide the reality that Malhotra is the leading candidate to be Vancouver’s next bench boss. In fact, in outlining the club’s plans in the wake of Foote’s dismissal, the Canucks themselves pointedly used the word “process” instead of “search” in their official release, a stance which largely matched what Johnson explicitly said Tuesday afternoon. “I don’t think I have an expectation of how big the net needs to be cast,” Johnson said in describing his search. “I don’t want to be ignorant and say that I’m not going to have a serious conversation with Manny, that’s just the truth of it. Those discussions may determine how big that net is cast. I’m not ruling out anything. I have to go through the initial steps here.” Overall, on Tuesday, the Canucks took a necessary step. Foote’s first season as head coach delivered the worst regular season in franchise history in about 50 years. There are absolutely reasons beyond the quality of the coaching to explain the club’s dramatic downturn in results, but the way that Vancouver’s five-on-five game and structural integrity collapsed entirely was inexplicable, even factoring in the drama, the Quinn Hughes trade, injuries and other context. That the Canucks were willing to eat the cost of Foote’s dismissal — Foote had $1.5 million USD and two years remaining on his contract, and is unlikely to offset that with another NHL head coaching opportunity — is a positive indicator that the club won’t allow penny pinching to overrule common sense. That’s a hopeful data point. Beyond that, in the first major decision of the Sedin and Johnson era, Vancouver’s new GM provided some additional context about the shape of his plans for the organization. And what was outlined seemed both unambitious and conventional, concerningly so. Of course, we’ve also learned already to be careful about reading too much into Johnson’s commentary. The incoming Canucks general manager is clearly guarded and deliberate in how he’s choosing to communicate. He recycles talking points and seems to intentionally be leaving himself wiggle room, and avoiding the sort of soundbites that may haunt him in an intense market like Vancouver. This is clearly an executive who has already effectively told us to judge him based more on his actions than on the contents of what he says. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms