New Vancouver Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson explained why the team fired former head coach Adam Foote.
The team announced on Monday that they fired Foote after just one season as the team’s head coach. The Canucks finished with an NHL-low 58 points this season, and it cost Foote his job.
Ryan Explains Why Canucks Fired Adam Foote
Speaking to the Canucks official website, Johnson explained that firing Foote and the team’s other assistant coaches, Scott Young, Kevin Dean, and Brett McLean, was more about the organization going through changes after former GM Patrik Allvin was fired last month.
“First off, I want to thank Adam, Kevin, Brett and Scott for the job they did, (and) the commitment they had through a very tough and tumultuous year of so many variables. So, this wasn’t an easy day. They’re great coaches, but great people, and I want to thank them personally. As I said in the press conference, it’s less about change in the past and more about implementing something for the future,” Johnson said.
What’s Next for the Canucks?
Before being promoted to Canucks GM, Johnson was the GM of their AHL team. He said that hiring a new GM for the Abbotsford Canucks is one of his priorities going forward.
“There’s so much time and commitment that goes into managing an AHL team that I do find it, with our proximity, tough to wear a lot of hats in that I think the AHL GM is such a conduit to the big team, you’ve got everyday decisions, call-ups, people going down. I’m in the process, but I would like to find somebody that’s just specifically focused on the development based off essentially what we’re trying to do, (which) is draft and develop. I think that role over the next two, three, four years is going to be massive in determining the fate of the organization,” he said.
As well, Johnson made sure to tell the fans that changes will be coming to the team after a failed season where they came in last place in the league. After such a terrible year, he made sure to let the fans know that there will be positive changes coming to the organization, and he hopes that going forward, the club will have much more success than what they have the last few years.
“The biggest change will be what is implemented and what the focus and what the energy is, what every day is going to look like, and what we’re trying to accomplish. I think at times when organizations get caught in the middle, and nobody knows exactly day to day what we are actually trying to accomplish here, you can lose your way. I think come September, from our players to our staff to management, I think there’s going to be very clear alignment of what we’re trying to accomplish each day that we walk in there, and I think that will be refreshing for a lot of people, our fans included,” Johnson said.
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