Vancouver Giants add coach search to GM one, as Manny Viveiros leaves team
The Vancouver Giants are now looking for both a coach and a general manager.
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The Giants announced Monday morning that Manny Viveiros won't be back for a third season with the WHL club because he's landed a job in professional hockey.
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Viveiros, 59, was under contract with Vancouver for this coming campaign but he had an out clause if he was hired by a pro team. There's no official word where he's headed, but there have been reports connecting him to Red Bull Salzburg, an Austrian team. Viveiros has coached in Europe previously.
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The Giants and general manager Barclay Parneta, 54, parted ways on April 30. Parneta had been in the post since 2018-19 and his contract had run out at the end of this past season.
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Owner Ron Toigo isn't ruling out the idea of combining the jobs. That might put the Giants in the mix for higher-end coaches wanting control of hockey operations.
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Appears the @WHLGiants, who recently parted ways with GM Barclay Parneta, will be on the hunt for a coach now, too. (Google translate for below: Manny Viveiros is rumored to take over the position of head coach at ice hockey champion Red Bull Salzburg.) https://t.co/NZdMrkmzBE
— Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) May 19, 2025
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The Giants aren't alone in the WHL in looking for hockey operation staff. The Kelowna Rockets are among the teams looking for a head coach. Kelowna is hosting the Memorial Cup national championship next spring, so should attract some bigger-name bench bosses.
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Viveiros had been the coach/director of player personnel for two seasons in the WHL with the Swift Current Broncos but it was the trio of vice-president of operations/assistant general manager Peter Toigo, director of player personnel Greg Batters and head scout Terry Bonner who led the way for the Giants with both the WHL draft and Penticton Vees expansion draft, which both took place after Parneta departed.
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The Giants finished in sixth spot in the Western Conference in both seasons with Viveiros as coach, and were a combined 66-58-12-0 in that time. They lost in the first round of the playoffs both times as well.
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The team has won just a single playoff round in the past four campaigns. They did go to the WHL final in 2019, which was Parneta's first year. There were no playoffs the next two seasons because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Viveiros was quoted in a Giants statement on Monday as saying: 'First off, I'd like to thank Ron Toigo and the ownership group of the Giants for the tremendous opportunity I've had. I'd also like to thank the hockey operations staff I worked with on a daily basis. More importantly, I would like to thank the players, and wish them continued success in their young careers.'
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