Why Canucks fired Adam Foote after just 1 season

Adam Foote lasted only one season with the Vancouver Canucks.

He's been fired as of Tuesday, according to multiple reports that include TSN and The Athletic.

Foote had been an assistant with the Canucks prior to his promotion to the top job, but his work as the top decision maker didn't align with the success he had as an assistant.

The Canucks went 25-49-8 in the 2025-26 season. That "earned" them the top lottery odds, but Vancouver ended up with just the No. 3 overall pick.

Now, Foote is on his way out.

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Why did the Canucks fire Adam Foote?

Plenty was working against Foote that led to his firing.

According to The Athletic's Thomas Drance, Foote wasn't equipped to handle the top job on a staff.

"Promoted to the role of head coach ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, Foote struggled massively in the top job," Drance writes. "While Foote attempted to project positivity, his daily briefings were often unclear and antagonistic with the local media. On the ice, meanwhile, the team performed unacceptably. The club’s organized, defense-first identity established under (Rick) Tocchet fell off, and Canucks players far too frequently looked like they had no idea what to do."

Drance goes on to write that Foote didn't do a good job of developing younger players, instead using older guys out on the ice too often.

"Far more concerning, with the possible exception of winger Liam Öhgren, Vancouver’s best young players — Elias Pettersson (the defender), Tom Willander and Zeev Buium — failed to take a developmental step forward, in terms of their on-ice results, over the course of the season," Drance writes.

Vancouver struggled to win hockey games while simultaneously struggling to get better. That's as good a case as any that it's time for a change.

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