Manny Malhotra recently shared his coaching influences ahead of first season in the American Hockey League as head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks.
Former Vancouver Canucks forward Manny Malhotra is returning to the organization next season as it was announced back at the end of may that he’ll be the new Head Coach of the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, replacing Jeremy Colliton who left for an assistant coaching role in New Jersey.
Recently, Malhotra sat down with Thomas Drance of The Athletic for a one-on-one interview and one of the questions he was asked was in regards to his coaching influences.
Malhotra shared two names – Ken Hitchcock, who was his coach briefly with the Dallas Stars and then again for a couple seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The other was Todd McLellan, who was his bench boss with the San Jose Sharks during the 2009-10 season.
“I always tell people that playing for Hitch was a very big part of my development and growth as a player. Understanding the game, the way he saw it, I give him a ton of respect for the fact that he never played the game at a high level, but his attention to detail was second to none.” Malhotra said.
He added, “Then playing for Todd in San Jose, that’s where it all came together, in terms of his knowledge of the game and the way he taught, in addition to the communication aspect.”
For Manny Malhotra, 44, this won’t be his first rodeo with the Vancouver Canucks organization. As a player, he spent three seasons with the team, wearing an ‘A’ every year, from 2010-11 to 2012-13. Once his career was over, Malhotra joined the Canucks as a Development Coach during the 2016-17 season, before transitioning to an assistant coach from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
The Mississauga, Ontario native will have plenty of talent to work with in Abbotsford next season including 2022 first round pick Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Elias Pettersson, Aatu Raty, Arshdeep Bains, Cole McWard, among others.
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