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Which Current Canucks Have Spent The Most Time Being Coached By Manny Malhotra?
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- Which Current Canucks Have Spent The Most Time Being Coached By Manny Malhotra?
The history between new head coach Manny Malhotra and the Vancouver Canucks runs deep.
The former Canuck has spent the past two seasons as the Abbotsford Canucks' head coach and also served as a development (2016–17) and assistant coach (2017–2020) for four years. Throughout this time, he's coached a grand total of 11 players currently on Vancouver's roster.
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While some have only spent a handful of games with Malhotra as one of their coaches, there are also some current Canucks who have played in over 100 games with him behind the bench.
Three Players Have Spent One Season Or Less Under Malhotra
Three players currently on Vancouver's roster have spent around one season with Malhotra as their coach, specifically with him as the head coach in Abbotsford.
The player who has spent the least amount of time coached by Malhotra while still having him as a coach is Tom Willander, who spent only five games in Abbotsford before being called up to Vancouver in October of 2025. The defenceman ended up in Vancouver after the Canucks' fall injury shuffle and ended up playing himself into an NHL spot through the rest of the season.
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The next player to spend one season's worth of time with Malhotra as their head coach was Aatu Räty. He split his 2024–25 season between the NHL and AHL, with this being his lone season under Malhotra. The forward skated in a total of 43 regular season games for Abbotsford in 2024–25 as well as six playoff games (missing the bulk of the AHL Canucks' Calder Cup run due to injury).
Linus Karlsson is the final player currently on the Canucks' roster to have spent one season's worth of time with Malhotra as their head coach. The forward, who made the jump to the NHL in a full-time role this season, played in 32 regular season games with Abbotsford in 2024–25. As well, he skated in all 24 of Abbotsford's Calder Cup playoff games, racking up a total of 37 goals and 28 games in his time under Malhotra.
While he didn't play under Malhotra specifically, Curtis Douglas spent two seasons in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization with the Marlies while Vancouver's now-head coach was an assistant for the Maple Leafs.
Six Players Have Been Coached By Malhotra During Two Different Seasons
Most current Canucks who have been coached by Malhotra spent two different seasons with the former Canuck, whether that's with him as a head or assistant coach.
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Defenceman Elias Pettersson spent a total of 41 games with Malhotra as his head coach in Abbotsford, though this time was split between two seasons — 38 in 2024–25 and three in 2025–26. He's not the only one to have played under Malhotra for most of the 2024–25 season and only a couple of games this season, as Max Sasson also ended up in a similar situation. The forward played in 65 regular and post-season games through 2024–25 and only two in 2025–26.
Three current Canucks have played under Malhotra in two different seasons as members of the Abbotsford organization: Victor Mancini, Nils Åman, and Nikita Tolopilo. Mancini's time with Malhotra as a head coach is split pretty evenly between 2024–25 and 2025–26, with the defenceman skating in 31 regular and post-season games and 33 games respectively.
Åman is the only player currently listed to the Canucks' roster who has played in over 90 games under Malhotra in Abbotsford, with the forward skating in 36 games during the 2024–25 season and 55 games in 2025–26. He has scored 13 goals and 58 assists in that span of time. Tolopilo also spent a good chunk of both seasons under Malhotra, though he ended up in Vancouver full-time after an injury to Thatcher Demko in January of 2026.
The final player currently on Vancouver's roster who spent two different seasons with Malhotra as a coach is Elias Pettersson. Malhotra was one of the Canucks' assistant coaches during the first two years of Pettersson's NHL career, with the forward skating in 156 games during Malhotra's first coaching stint with Vancouver.
Jun 4, 2026; Vancouver, BC, CANADA; Manny Malhotra speaks during press conference where the Vancouver Canucks introduce Malhotra as their new head coach during a press conference at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Two Current Canucks Played Under Malhotra For Three Seasons
Two members of the Canucks have spent three seasons of their NHL careers playing under Malhotra, though with him as an assistant coach rather than their head coach, with those two being Demko and Brock Boeser.
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Demko was drafted by the Canucks in the second round of the 2014 NHL Draft, joining the organization before Malhotra had retired from his playing career. Malhotra ended up as one of Vancouver's assistant coaches in the 2017–18 season — the same one in which Demko made his NHL debut.
Boeser's time under Malhotra follows a similar trajectory. The forward made the jump up to a full-time NHL role in 2017–18, the same season as Malhotra's promotion, and played under him up until the 2019–20. This resulted in Boeser skating in a grand total of 188 games with Malhotra as an assistant coach.
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