VANCOUVER — If you were watching U-15 boys lacrosse in Barrie, Ont., on Monday and thought you heard a joyful whoop unrelated to the game from the parents’ section of the visiting Mimico Mountaineers, it was only Manny Malhotra celebrating his new job.
The 46-year-old was being a dad, supporting his son, Eli, at lacrosse when his contract to coach the Vancouver Canucks was finalized.
With another son and potential Canuck draft pick, Caleb, at the National Hockey League scouting combine in Buffalo, Malhotra’s week has been an emotional and physical whirlwind.
“There's been no quiet time for a celebration dinner,” Malhotra smiled Thursday, having flown to Vancouver from Toronto for his introductory press conference. “The next night, we had to go to lacrosse practice, I think, so they got a pie at home for me after practice. A celebratory pie, they called it.
“There's so much happening right now — all the messages and what's going on with my family — but, yeah, I just find myself, it sinks in here and there as I'm walking around and there's a rush of: ‘This is amazing.’ It's a really cool experience, and then I’m just very happy that it's happening here with these guys.”
The guys are general manager Ryan Johnson, who has been at his new job for three weeks longer than Malhotra, and new Canuck co-presidents Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
Malhotra was the last piece of the, uh, pie that would have seemed too good to be true when the Canucks’ dismal season ended in April with the start of a rebuild and a new regime to guide it.
Still, it’s easy to overlook how naturally the foursome came together like flour, milk, butter and sugar, and, especially, the Malhotra ingredient as a first-time NHL head coach.
Remember, the Canucks are the organization that tried in 2012 to force Malhotra into retiring as a player, then convinced him in 2016 to test-drive a player-development role even though the former centre felt he could still play and was unsure about a new profession in coaching.
After a subsequent four-season stint as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Malhotra was again lured back to the West Coast two years ago by Johnson, who from his mysterious journal of hockey observations and deep thoughts hand-picked Malhotra to be the head coach of the minor-league Abbotsford Canucks.
“It didn’t take long,” Malhotra said Thursday of the coaching bug. “When you see a player get something you've been discussing or showing on video, and then all of a sudden you see it implemented, you're like, wow, that's a cool feeling. So I've known for a long time that I wanted to coach.
“To your next point about wanting to do it at the highest level, once you’ve been an assistant for a number of years and wanted the next challenge. . . I've really enjoyed the elements of being a head coach, being able to implement your ideas and not having to compromise on certain things. So, yeah, this is definitely what I’ve wanted.”
Former Canuck GM Mike Gillis, acting out of selfless concern, told Malhotra and his wife, Joann, over coffee nine games into the 2012-13 season that the team would no longer allow Malhotra to play after a medical testing confirmed a significant level of vision loss from the player’s gruesome eye injury two years earlier.
Gillis called it the hardest thing he ever did with the Canucks. Malhotra said it was worse than the injury itself. He and Joann wept in the coffee shop, and Manny so disagreed with the decision that he went on to play three more seasons elsewhere.
No one could have imagined back then that Malhotra would eventually coach the Canucks, and that his hiring would be due not to loyalty or friendship or reparations but because he is considered one of the most promising up-and-coming coaches in the game.
Weeks like this one are worth celebrating, even if it’s just pie. But the daunting work of transforming the last-place Canucks by rebuilding their culture and roster are still ahead.
“I'm going to start with this thank you to my incredible wife, Jo, and my four kids,” Malhotra said near the start of his press conference at Rogers Arena. “A decade ago, when we decided that we were going to go down this coaching lifestyle path, we did so with the understanding that there would be some uncertainty, there would be some moving, which is not an ideal scenario for a young family with four kids. But we did so anyway, and their love and support and sacrifice motivated me and got me to where I'm sitting today.”
Malhotra’s fatherhood, of course, has become a captivating subplot for the Canucks as Johnson and his amateur scouting department seriously consider picking Caleb Malhotra, a smart, fast, conscientious two-way centre like his dad, with the third pick of the NHL draft in three weeks.
Johnson has been clear and emphatic that hiring Manny Malhotra to coach would not impact their decision on Caleb, which means there could be two Malhotras on the Canucks next season.
“I fully understand the story there, and I understand the positives and negatives of it,” the senior Malhotra said. “With so many things I've learned, it's a bit of a fool's errand to plan out things that haven't quite happened yet. But we've had a very clear understanding in my household that first and foremost I am dad, who also happens to be a professional hockey coach. When we are talking about hockey, there's a decision by my kids if they want to talk to dad or coach. We will continue to have that rule in my house, and it's served us well as a family.
“If it happens, I would treat him just as any other player. And I know people would say, 'Well, you can't because it's your son,' and I do understand the challenges there. (But) when Caleb brings up hockey to me, he always wants to talk to coach. I've seen his growth over the last couple years. . . and the evolution of his game. I think he would have the wherewithal and the ability to separate the two at the next level.”
The unity the Canucks’ new leadership display regarding the father-son dynamic is likely an early example of the alignment we should expect from Johnson, Malhotra, Sedin and Sedin on nearly everything.
Their reasons for coalescing now transcend mere friendship and the Canucks Alumni Association.
“It's not just an old boys club, like, we’ll get together and it's going to be super fun,” Malhotra explained to Sportsnet. “It's more along the lines of we all very much agree on the way things should be done and the way people should be treated, and what a locker room should look like. When you're aligned from that standpoint, it makes all the other decisions way easier. It’s more than the people that you're getting to do this with; it's their vision. Being so in sync with them, it just makes sense.”
Malhotra echoed Johnson’s message on Tuesday, when the GM had a Zoom call from Buffalo with reporters, that the foundation of the Canucks’ rebuild will be their culture.
“I think our group will be based around guys that are wanting to be here, want to be part of the solution, and are willing to get uncomfortable with their habits,” Malhotra said. “Anybody that's going to come into this locker room and be a part of training camp has to accept the fact that we will be evolving as a group.”
He said positive energy, work habits and correct body language will be essential.
“I fully understand that the NHL is based off of your need to win games,” Malhotra explained. “(But) our focus is on the process of just getting better. It's really easy to come to the rink in a great mood when things are going well, and you're scoring points and the team’s winning games. But trying to find that positivity and find that energy when things aren't going well is a part of growth and development.
“There will be some good times, there will be some bad times, but the privilege of being an NHL hockey player is all the motivation and all the joy you need to come into the rink every day. I keep talking about we're going to grind, we're going to work, we're going to evolve. But that's all rooted in finding the joy in the game. I don't think the guys really need me to come in and give a rah-rah speech and try to motivate them. It's helping them find the joy that's already here in being an NHL hockey player.”
Or an NHL coach.
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