Canucks Hire Assistant Coaches, Brad Shaw Gone, New Head in Abby

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin announced some serious changes to the organization’s coaching staffs on Friday. As speculated, former NHL head coach Mike Yeo was added as an assistant coach Thursday evening while last season’s head coach in Abbotsford, Trent Cull, has been promoted to fill the other vacancy on Bruce Boudreau’s staff.

That ‘other vacancy’ occurs with the departure of Brad Shaw, also not a shocker, to take the associate coaching position under new head coach John Tortorella in Philadephia. The two worked together with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

To replace Cull in Abbotsford, the club announced the hiring of former Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton, who was relieved of his duties in the Windy City at the conclusion of the 2020-’21 season.

Yeo actually preceded Boudreau as the head coach of the Minnesota Wild. He ran the team in St. Paul for almost five complete seasons. He was replaced after 55 games in 2015-’16 by interim head coach John Torchetti. Boudreau took over to start the 2016-’17 campaign and lasted 57 games into his fourth season before being fired by new GM Bill Guerin.

Coincidentally, Yeo sewed his coaching oats in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, the former home of both Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford and General Manager Allvin. Yeo’s tenure there coincided with part of Allvin’s, but he was gone before Rutherford arrived in 2014.

Prior to his four seasons in Pittsburgh, Yeo worked six seasons as an assistant coach with the Penguins AHL affiliate in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

Since leaving the Wild, he spent two-and-a-half seasons as the associate or head coach of the St. Louis Blues and for the last three seasons was an assistant coach with the Flyers.

Cull spent the last five seasons as the Canucks head coach at the AHL level, making the playoffs twice, and compiling a record of 39-23-and-6 this past season in Abbotsford.