Ryan Papaioannou is in his 20th season of coaching and has seen a lot of changes in the game over two decades. While he’s been busy teaching others, he’s learned a lot along the way and is continuing to expand his horizons with the Abbotsford Canucks.
The Abby Canucks Head Coach started his coaching journey with the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits at the tender age of 23 and took over as the Head Coach and GM at 24. He started with a goal to improve the program year over year, taking small steps that would ultimately create a dynasty in the AJHL.
“We started off just with a culture and environment of fun. We wanted our guys to want to be at the rink and want to be around the staff. From there it evolved over the years, but I think that was kind of the beginning of everything,” Papaioannou said.
His second season as head coach was his first full season, helping the Bandits to the second round of the playoffs. The next year they reached the third round of the playoffs and in his third full season as bench boss, they won the AJHL championship. Once they had reached the pinnacle of the league, they looked at other ways to get better, for example, adding to their facility to make it a better environment for the players.
“It was always just a pursuit of trying to be better for our players, trying to make sure that the team had high expectations,” Papaioannou said. “I think we just always thought that things could be done a different way, and we could do things better, and so we made changes, and off we went.”
This mindset also serves him well in Abbotsford. With the team winning the Calder Cup in 2025, and a handful of players from the championship team still there, he didn’t need to re-invent the wheel but find ways to help the team get better.
“It is an interesting spot because they did have such recent success. They have a great culture here, good environment. You don't need to come in and change anything. You just need to put your own stamp and your own spin on things,” Papaioannou said.
He enjoys adapting as things change, and he noted a lot of differences in junior and pro hockey as he took on head coaching duties for the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers last season. In junior hockey, the formula was to get as much practice time as possible to help set players up for college. In the pro game, there’s a lot more to cover, and it’s about dialing in the days and streamlining the process of practice, video sessions, and off-ice workouts.
The pro game also means adopting different systems, and Papaioannou says it’s been an easy transition because Abbotsford and Vancouver’s clubs are so connected.
“Having an open line of communication with the NHL staff and with Manny and being able to ask questions and bounce ideas [has been great]. There's been some clips that have come up over the last little bit where, even using Harry as a resource because of his couple years with Manny, asking ‘How do you think Manny would sort this, or how would you see that?’ Not that everything we do has to be exactly the same, but foundationally, we want to make sure that our guys are in that place,” Papaioannou said.
“Our job day-to-day is to do what we can to make these guys better and when they get an opportunity in Vancouver, that they hit the ground running.”
Papaioannou says a lot of his foundation for how he coaches is rooted in wanting to see his players succeed and to do that, things need to be done the right way.
He wants his team to be relentless in pursuit of the puck over 200-feet and offensively willing to make plays and be creative and not being afraid to make mistakes. He’s looking forward to playing at Rogers Forum this weekend for their home opener and having support of Abbotsford fans behind them.
“The most exciting part for me is looking towards that home opener Friday night. A full building, and just seeing what the people bring for energy. Being on the road certainly you're in hostile environments at times, and [I’m] excited to be standing behind the bench where the people are behind us,” Papaioannou said.
Listen to this and much more as Papaioannou joins Chris Faber on the latest episode of the Canucks Insider Podcast.
