Dhaliwal: Canucks and Ian Clark’s relationship has 'definitely soured'

On Friday morning’s episode of Donnie & Dhali — The Team, CHEK TV‘s Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal discussed the recent news about former Vancouver Canucks goaltending coach Ian Clark that Elliotte Friedman discussed on 32 Thoughts — The Podcast.

Friedman mentioned that Clark may look to move on from the organization if given the Canucks’ blessing.

The noise surrounding Clark began in late August when the Canucks announced that he had asked for a new position (Goaltending Coach and Director of Goaltending) with the team and will now serve as a goalie scout and goaltending development coach. Clark is considered one of the highest respected goaltending coaches in the league, so the news is shocking as it looked like a demotion.

Here is what Dhaliwal had to say regarding the matter:

“I said last week, I will not be surprised if the Canucks give him permission to talk to other team. Now we’re hearing he’s been linked to the [New Jersey] Devils – I could throw some teams out there, but I’m not going to.”

“Look at his resume and respect around the league and you tell me he should be a goalie scout. He shouldn’t be a goalie scout. He should be the director of goaltending. I think that’s the title he wanted, but the Canucks gave him a title of goalie scout – he wasn’t even at training camp, why was he not at training camp?”

After playing a clip from Friedman, the two discussed if the Canucks relationship with Ian Clark has gone in a bad direction.

“I can confirm that,” Dhaliwal said. “I don’t think the relationship is in a good state. I think it’s definitely soured. There’s a lot of things at play here. One is the demotion to goalie scout.”

“It was his decision, by the way. Let’s get one thing straight: It was him going to the Canucks and saying, ‘My shoulders, my knees, I can’t do the goalie coach every day.’ One thing that started hearing whispers [of] in the media, that he was to blame for the Demko situation. He was to blame for overworking Demko. He was to blame for Demko’s current situation. I don’t know if that’s necessarily true. You have a ton of coaches that have overplayed Demko. You can’t put this all on Ian Clark.”

While Clark’s relationship with the Canucks may have soured, it doesn’t sound like there is any ill-will between Clark and head coach Rick Tocchet.

“One guy in the Canucks organization that absolutely loves Ian Clark and thinks he’s doing a great job is Rick Tocchet. I haven’t heard that there’s issues with Tocchet and Clark. I just heard that Tocchet respects him, and he likes the job he’s doing.”

Dhaliwal ended by highlighting what Clark has meant to this franchise and where their relationship currently sits.

“He drafted [Arturs] Silovs. When Casey DeSmith was ready to play against Nashville, it was Ian Clark who said ‘No, no, no, no, no, we’re sticking with Silovs’. Major, major decisions have been made by Ian Clark in this organization. But I don’t think they’re in a good state right now, Donnie. I think this relationship is a little bit sour.”

Clark has an outstanding resume of producing high-end calibre goaltenders in the National Hockey League; Jacob Markstrom, Thatcher Demko and a promising Arturs Silovs.

The suspicion seems to be growing that the long-time Canucks goaltending coach will likely continue to build that resume elsewhere.