Canucks announce Adam Foote’s assistant coaches for 2025-26 season

The Vancouver Canucks have announced the assistant coaches joining head coach Adam Foote’s staff.

With news breaking yesterday that Yogi Svejkovsky would be leaving Vancouver to join Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers, the announcement of the Canucks’ hirings comes at a good time.

Reports earlier this week revealed the Canucks’ plans to hire Kevin Dean, who ran the defence in Chicago and Boston before that. He has a great relationship with Derek Forbort, who the Canucks re-signed on Tuesday, and is known for his work in developing young defencemen.

The Canucks announced Brett McLean and Scott Young will be joining Dean as Foote’s assistants.

McLean spent the previous two seasons as Head Coach of the Iowa Wild, Minnesota’s AHL affiliate. Under McLean, the Wild held a 54-74-16 record, failing to make the postseason in both seasons. Prior to earning his first head coaching job, McLean spent three seasons as an assistant in Minnesota. The Wild finished with a 134-63-23 record with McLean behind the bench, where the team saw three consecutive postseason runs.

Young has been in the Canucks organization for the previous three seasons, serving as the club’s Director of Player Personnel. Before his tenure in Vancouver, Young was the Director of Player Personnel with the Pittsburgh Penguins. On an international level, Young served as an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2018 Winter Olympics. USA finished third in their group with a 1-1-1 record, where they advanced as far as the Quarter Finals, where they lost to the Czech Republic 3-2 in overtime.

New Canucks head coach Adam Foote had this to say regarding his three assistants:

“Putting this staff together was an enjoyable process and a rewarding experience,” said Foote. “I talked to a lot of great hockey people and formed many important relationships. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to help me through this exercise. The group that we have brought together is a great mix of hockey people. Kevin has an impressive resume, an intelligent hockey mind, and has helped develop a lot of good defencemen. Brett and I met years ago and have stayed in touch, and I respect his hockey IQ. I have a long history with Scott, and we share a very strong bond. He has been in the organization for a few years and knows exactly how things work and what we need to do to be successful. Not only do I look forward to working with those guys, but I am also excited to continue my coaching partnership with Marko, Jason and the Sedins, who will still to be very involved in the coaching and teaching process.”

Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin spoke on the club’s search that led them to hiring Dean, McLean and Young:

“The coaching search was a very thorough process as we wanted to find the best fit for our hockey club,” said Allvin. “Once Adam was hired, we set out on selecting a team of assistant coaches who are good teachers, good communicators, and good people. Footey has done a great job in assembling a well-rounded staff with a strong mix of experience and position specific expertise. I am excited to watch this group come together and am ready to support them in every way I can to help them prepare for the upcoming season.”