Canucks Daily: Coaching Change Complete, ‘Red’ and Nadia Clean Up Well

… especially Nadia. Vancouver Canucks assistant equipment manager Brian “Red” Hamilton and his eagle-eyed med’ student hero Nadia Popovici appeared on the NHL Awards show Tuesday night and handed out the final prize of the evening, the Hart Trophy to Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Matthews not only won that traditional award for “player deemed most valuable to his team”, he also won the Ted Lindsay Award, the league most valuable player honour voted on by his peers.

Hamilton and Popovici, who effectively and delightfully went full glam with let’s say, maybe the aide of a stylist — if she didn’t get help she should be going into fashion as opposed to medicine — did an upbeat and efficient job of reading the prompter and taking care of business. It was a nice finish to what is typically a cringe-worthy affair.

"I cannot thank this amazing woman enough for saving my life."#Canucks very own, Brian 'Red' Hamilton with his MVP, Nadia Popovici, presenting at the #NHLAwards 👏 pic.twitter.com/unhC2bzxsx

— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) June 22, 2022

The Envelope Please

Other key winners from last night: defenceman Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings won the Calder Trophy as rookie-of-the-year, New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin won the Vezina Trophy for best goalie, and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche won the Norris for the NHL’s best defenceman.

No Vancouver Canucks were involved as award finalists, although center JT Miller did receive 5 third-place votes in the first and second-team post-season all-star voting, with Thatcher Demko earning six votes, 1 second and 5 thirds, in the goaltender category. They finished tied for seventh and eighth respectively. The NHL site has the pic’s of the first and second-team winners.

DeBoer to Dallas

Pete Deboer, booted and replaced by Bruce Cassidy as head coach in Vegas by the Golden Knights, promptly landed on his feet by being hired by general manager JIm Nill and the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.

“Over the last few seasons, I have seen firsthand what the Stars are building with a mix of dynamic young players and established leaders,” DeBoer said in a statement. “The chance to become this team’s next head coach was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.”

He replaced Rick Bowness, who resigned.

Deboer went 98-50-and-12 in three seasons with the Golden Knights, yet it appears narrowly missing the playoffs this past season, despite guiding a team plagued by major injuries, cost him his job. He previously coached the New Jersey Devils, the San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers, taking the previous two to the Stanley Cup Final, and has posted an overall NHL mark of 513-379-and-123 in 14 NHL seasons.

The Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks, an ‘Original Six’ triumvirate, are still looking for a head coach. The Vancouver Canucks still need to fill a couple of assistant coach positions.

Game On!

Game-4 of the Stanley Cup Final from Tampa begins this evening a little after 5 pm pacific.

Enjoy the Hockey Action !!