Canucks: Adam Foote not to blame for 'tough spot' as WHL head coach

National Post

19-05-2025

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Adam Foote was in the coaching-criticism crosshairs with the Kelowna Rockets as a first-time bench boss, but team owner, president and general manager Bruce Hamilton is taking the bullet of blame.
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Foote, 53, was named head coach of the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday to replace Rick Tocchet. Foote had a pair of heavily scrutinized WHL seasons in the Okanagan after serving as player development and defensive assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche.
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The Toronto native was hired Oct. 23, 2018, to take over a struggling WHL team in transition, and revamping a roster on the fly as host for the 2020 Memorial Cup. But everything that could go wrong did. The Rockets went 29-28-3-3 that sorry season, scored the fewest goals, and went through 42 players.
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Foote was fired Feb. 19, 2020, with 14 games remaining and the Rockets in a nose dive. They won just five of 19 games after Christmas and, if that wasn't bad enough, the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the Memorial Cup. Add in that Foote was coaching his son Nolan and Hamilton knows it was a recipe for ridicule.
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'It was a terrible year, to be honest,' Hamilton said Monday. 'Some of the guys we acquired were not great character people. We had a really good culture going here prior to that, and when you bring in a bunch of rentals, we didn't do enough research. It's starting to change but it took a long time.
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'Adam got along with the players well because he had two boys that age and had an idea how to communicate and got help with the Xs and Os. But the number of (roster) changes we made didn't help and the team camaraderie wasn't there. And it's on me.
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'I put somebody in who didn't have a lot of experience and I didn't do him any favours. There are some interesting things he's going to have to go through as a head coach there (Vancouver). My hope, and I don't know what his assistants are like, but he's going to need somebody to help him out.'
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That comes with the territory. Foote was well liked as an assistant and the Canucks will hire offensive and defensive coaches to ease the transition. Foote turned the defence into a more cohesive and diligent group, but now he's wearing a different hat.
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'The head coach is controlling who's going to play,' said Hamilton. 'As an assistant, it's never your fault, it's the head coach's fault.'
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Hamilton didn't have to do much research about Foote, a hockey dad who often hung around the rink, even before accepting the Rockets job. However, coaching in the WHL is a different animal than coaching in the NHL.
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'It was a huge adjustment,' admitted Hamilton. 'From him being a hockey dad with one son (Cal) playing for Tampa Bay's affiliate, and the other (Nolan) on our team, he was pretty hands on with his boys. And once Cal was here, Adam was around a lot. He would come to every practice and sit up in the restaurant, so nobody knew he was there.