A surprising Manny Malhotra family detail is turning heads in Vancouver
The Vancouver Canucks fired head coach Adam Foote this week, and the search to replace him has GM Ryan Johnson staring at a complicated subplot involving Manny Malhotra.
The hook isn't just the resume. It's the draft.
Malhotra's son Caleb sits as the near-consensus third overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, the exact slot Vancouver owns after a 25-49-8 season that left them 32nd in the league.
That kind of finish doesn't happen by accident. The Canucks posted a -100 goal differential, surrendered 316 goals against, and went 9-27-5 at Rogers Arena. Brutal in every direction.
So now Johnson has two decisions sitting on the same desk. Hire the dad. Draft the son. Or split them.
Johnson addressed the optics directly this week, saying he wouldn't let the family tie influence the call either way. "There will be no sacrifice because of a father-son relationship," the GM said.
Caleb Malhotra adds new pressure to Vancouver's third overall pick
Manny's pitch is genuine. He guided the Abbotsford Canucks to a Calder Cup in 2025 and has built a reputation inside the org for connecting with young players still finding their footing as pros.
For a rebuild this deep, that profile fits. The Canucks are bleeding goals against at 3.9 per game and finished 4-6-0 over their final 10. They need a voice the kids will actually listen to.
Caleb, meanwhile, is a six-foot-two centre committed to Boston University next season. His two-way game and centre-ice value scream Canucks need, even if some scouts wonder about his offensive ceiling at the very top of the draft.
And that's the editorial fork in the road. Picking a coach's son third overall is one of the most scrutinized things a front office can do in hockey. Doing it while hiring the father at the same time? That's a story that follows everyone into training camp.
Could Johnson really sell that room on accountability when the head coach is grading his own kid's shifts? Fair question. The answer doesn't exist yet.
The runway helps. Caleb heading to the NCAA delays the awkward overlap, but it doesn't erase it. Eventually he turns pro, and eventually someone writes his name on a lineup card.
Vancouver has earned the right to pick third by losing 49 games. What they do with that pick, and who's behind the bench when the kid arrives, may define the next five years of this rebuild.
The Malhotra question isn't going away. Johnson now has to answer it twice.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 20, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Dylan Coghlan | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nic Dowd | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Colton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ben Hutton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brandon Saad | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Sissons | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Devon Toews | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||