Malhotra has Abbotsford 1 win from Calder Cup title as rookie coach

ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia -- The Abbotsford Canucks might have a few things to worry about after losing Game 5 of the Calder Cup Finals, failing at their first chance to clinch the American Hockey League championship and having to go back on the road against the Charlotte Checkers for the final two games.

Rookie coach Manny Malhotra isn't on that list of concerns.

From off-ice messaging to on-ice adjustments, Malhotra has pushed all the right buttons in his first season as a head coach to help the Vancouver Canucks affiliate get within one win of its first championship. Game 6 of the best-of-7 series is at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN).

"He always knows the right thing to say, whether we just won a game or just lost a game," said defenseman Victor Mancini, who came to the Canucks organization from the New York Rangers as part of the J.T. Miller trade on Jan. 31. "He's a really good motivator."

Malhotra's messages helped Abbotsford rebound from a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 2 in Charlotte to win Games 3 and 4 at home before losing 4-3 in overtime in Game 5 on Saturday. A big move was reinserting forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Vancouver's first-round pick (No. 15) in the 2022 NHL Draft, for Game 3 after he was a healthy scratch for five games. The rookie responded with two goals, including the game-winner, in a 3-2 victory in Game 4.

Malhotra, 45, will have to find the right tone again with Abbotsford heading back to Charlotte, where it was outshot 96-43 while splitting the first two games, winning the opener 4-3 in double overtime. His players are confident he will, in part because the roots of his message have remained so consistent and he's been here before as a player. Malhotra won the 2000 Calder Cup with Hartford (Rangers) in his second pro season. He played 991 games as a forward over 16 NHL seasons and helped Vancouver reach Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, a 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins.

"He's been on this kind of run before and when times are chaotic, he's levelheaded," said forward Arshdeep Bains, who has four goals and four assists in the Calder Cup Finals. "He understands playoff hockey probably more than anyone in that room. He knows what it takes to get to be a winner, to get to the end, and that's what we're all chasing. He does a really good job, lose or win, of reminding us this is a process, and it's been two months preaching the same thing."

It's Malhotra's willingness to listen that has his players convinced it won't be long before he's back coaching in the NHL.

"I've loved coaches where it's not always that they're building you up, but the communication is clear cut, and you know what they want from you, and you can have a conversation with them," said Abbotsford forward Phillip Di Giuseppe, who has played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Nashville Predators, Rangers and Canucks.

"When I first got into pro hockey, I don't want to say it was a dictatorship, but it was more militant. It was hard-nosed and coaches tried to put fear in you. Whether it's generations changing or the game changing, communication is probably the biggest aspect I see in coaching now and from my experience that's the best way to gain respect of the players and build relationships. Manny is an honest coach."

Malhotra retired from professional hockey after the 2015-16 season and joined the Canucks organization first as a development coach and then as an assistant. After that, he was a Toronto Maple Leafs assistant for four seasons before being hired by Vancouver to coach Abbotsford on May 24, 2024.

The staff included two new assistants, a new video coach and a new goaltending coach, with Malhotra responsible for bringing them all together.

"As an assistant, you stay in your lane and do your job to the best of your ability," Malhotra said. "As the head, you have to be on top of everything, the 5-on-5 play, the special teams, the culture you want to develop, what the locker room is doing, the energy of the group, the practice schedule, all those things."

Abbotsford was under .500 in January before posting winning streaks of eight and 13 games.

"There's a process we had to go through where when you're running the show, you want it to look and feel and be a certain way," Malhotra said. "And there's a learning curve that goes into knowing the group sees things the same way as you. So, yeah, it took a little while for me to be able to let go of some of those things, but I can't say enough about all of our staff, they've done an incredible job."

That desired look and feel hasn't changed in the playoffs

"That's exactly the description of this run," Malhotra said. "We're not reinventing the wheel but just wanting the guys to have that same level of consistency and execution is the key for me at this point of the year."