How ex-Canucks Johnson, Malhotra led Abbotsford to Calder Cup Finals

VANCOUVER — When the Vancouver Canucks were building the team that won two Presidents’ Trophies and went to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, they essentially replaced checking centre Ryan Johnson with Manny Malhotra.

That was a slight upgrade in the summer of 2010, a third-line centre replacing an older fourth-liner. But in a lot of ways, Johnson and Malhotra were the same guy: experienced veteran, exuded leadership and character, irreproachable professionalism, smart and articulate, respected by everyone.

You couldn’t speak to either one of them for more than two minutes back then and not think their future in the game, if they wanted one, could match their playing careers.

Johnson, now 48, is going to be an NHL general manager one day. And Manny Malhotra, 45, will be a head coach. They’re just not quite there yet.

Another step in the journey starts Friday when the Abbotsford Canucks open the Calder Cup Final against the Charlotte Checkers in North Carolina.

An assistant GM with the NHL Canucks, Johnson oversees the franchise’s AHL farm team in the Fraser Valley, an hour east of Vancouver. One year ago, Johnson hired Malhotra, repatriating him from the Toronto Maple Leafs and giving the teammate he never had his first head coaching opportunity.

Yes, things have gone well.

“Well, playing hockey in June, it means something special is happening,” Johnson told Sportsnet before the minor-league Canucks travelled Wednesday to Charlotte for Games 1 and 2. “So it’s been an unbelievable run for this group.

“This is massive for our organization. I mean, we started here four years ago to build a special program here in Abbotsford. We had a vision of how we wanted to do this. And a part of that was developing players of all ages, on all contracts, and developing them to win. We wanted to create an environment, a safe environment, an environment that is OK with failure as long as we’re learning from mistakes, and have the resources to help them take those steps.”

Under Malhotra and his coaching staff, the AHL team finished the regular season at 44-24-2-2, then won four rounds of playoffs to become Western Conference champion.

The NHL club relocated its farm team to Abbotsford in 2021, but Vancouver’s various affiliates have never won a Calder Cup. The Utica Comets, coached by Travis Green, lost the 2015 final.

Before leading the Ottawa Senators back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring, Green became the head coach in Vancouver in 2017. Malhotra was interviewed for the same job last month, but Canucks president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin chose to promote Adam Foote instead after Rick Tocchet decided to leave.

“Any coach that I’ve hired to bring here — going back to working with Travis and Trent Cull and Jeremy Colliton — I’ve never brought coaches here to be in the American League for 10 years,” Johnson said. “That would be a failure on my behalf.

“I knew in January or February of last year that I was going to be looking for a head coach. Jim and Patrik said: ‘What’s your list?’ There was a bunch of names on one list and then there was one name on my main list, and that was Manny. I had a ton of respect for his journey as a player, what I knew his experience was as an assistant coach in the NHL, and the quality of person that he is. I’m always intrigued by somebody that’s comfortable in their role, getting uncomfortable to come back and be able to take everything that they’ve learned and mould it into their own. Obviously, he’s done a heck of a job in his first year as a head coach at any level.”

Malhotra said Tuesday he recognizes that he’s “in a very fortunate situation.”

“We have a great group. RJ has put together a great team, and then our staff, again, I’ve been very fortunate to work with guys that are hungry, guys that want to do the work and want to be really good coaches. That elevates me. So I think I kind of walked into a perfect (situation). The overall feeling of our group and watching them grow and evolve has been pretty cool,” he said.

Green gave Malhotra his start in coaching in 2017, one year after the centre’s playing career ended in the minors. Three years later, Malhotra left for an expanded role on Sheldon Keefe’s staff in Toronto. Believing he would lose Abbotsford coach Colliton to an NHL team last summer — Colliton became Keefe’s associate coach in New Jersey — Johnson brought Malhotra back to the Canucks organization.

“We never played together,” Johnson said. “But we worked together here when he was assistant with Travis. Obviously, I knew him from those days.

“I was very confident, again, in the quality of the person. The discussions that he and I had… and what he had taken from working with all the different coaches and assistant coaches that he had — Keefe and (Spencer) Carbery and Travis — he rubbed shoulders with a lot of very good hockey minds. I was ecstatic about the hire.”

Malhotra was almost a reluctant coach when he first joined the Canucks in 2017. In an interview with Sportsnet at the time, he refused to say that he was “retired” as a player. He was clearly just dipping his toe in the turbulent coaching waters.

A serious eye injury in 2011 probably accelerated the end of Malhotra’s playing career. Out of concern for Malhotra’s well-being and quality of life, former Canucks GM Mike Gillis told him nine games into the 2012-13 season that the club would no longer play him.

Malhotra disagreed with the decision. But it brought him into Rutherford’s orbit when the Carolina Hurricanes signed him in free agency that summer.

“I’d always had the notion in my head, towards the end of my career, that I wanted to stay in the game and I wanted to coach,” Malhotra said. “I enjoyed the learning and teaching aspect of it. But at the end of that first year (coaching), going into the next year, I think I really fell in love with it and enjoyed watching the evolution of a player and seeing the growth over the course of a season. Obviously, from the playing standpoint, you see differences in guys and the team overall. But when you invest time as a coach and you’re going over video and you see guys have a-ha moments and they get it, it’s such a rewarding feeling.

“It wasn’t a very hard decision (to come back here). I needed to take the next step and take that leap of faith. But in this business, it’s not just about getting the opportunity; it’s getting the opportunity with people that you want to work with and places you want to be. I was very fortunate to come back to an organization where I have history, I know the people internally and wanted to work with them again. It worked out perfect.”

All it needs is a perfect ending.

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