Well, the inevitable happened: the Vancouver Canucks made a major announcement at an awkward time for media and fans. A bit surprising it wasn't another "Friday night after five" call, but the middle of Monday is bad enough. Don't tell me that's when you're at YOUR best, bucko.

Canucks Sign New Head Coach Manny alhotra

The 2011 Reunion Tour continued apace, with the expected hiring of Manny Malhotra to work the Canucks bench. This comes a year after he was one of two finalists to take over for Rick Tocchet, losing the job to Adam Foote. That they've come back to Malhotra now tells you how well that went.

Malhotra joins Canucks alumni GM Ryan Johnson, Presidents of Hockey Operations Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin, and player development coach Mikael Samuelsson. Former Canucks defenceman Alexander Edler has been asked to join the team in player development at this year's training camp, so will likely be working with/for Samuelsson.

For an added kick, the team needs a new coaching staff for Abbotsford with Malhotra's promotion. Alexandre Burrows just happens to be quite well thought of as a future head coach. He worked the bench as an assistant with Laval and Montreal, recently moving into player development. Know a team that might be interested in player development? And in former 2011 Canucks Alums?

At a glance, it looks like a mediocre Happy Gilmore-produced Netflix special, where Adam Sandler has hires his buddies to vacation somewhere and they'll work out the plot as they go. Fortunately, the new management has more than a paycheque as motivation. They also have anger.

The Rage/Vibes Based Rebuild

While Malhotra didn't leave the team on good terms, he came back because he wanted to. His eye injury left the Canucks with a hard decision to make, and then-GM Mike Gillis put him on injured reserve a month into his final contract year in 2012-13. Malhotra continued his playing career through sheer force of will before finally retiring in 2016. The Canucks hired him as a development coach almost immediately upon his announcement.

He's worked his way up the coaching ranks since then, being an assistant coach with Vancouver and Toronto before succeeding Jeremy Colliton as head coach in Abbotsford. We all know what happened then, winning the Calder Cup in his first year coaching the AHL team. And now, here he is as the big club's bench boss.

So when we say the new management is angry, we don't mean at the team itself. For the past decade, Johnson, Malhotra, and the Sedins have watched their former team fail, repeatedly and spectacularly. They've stumbled from panic to crisis to tire fire, with apparently little care for what made the team worth cheering for. PR disasters, personnel disasters, and management disasters bounced off each other like diseases in a hot tub.

They weren't pleased with what they saw. It was, frankly, embarrassing. And they decided to do something about it. The Sedins volunteered to return to the club in a typically low-key way. And now that they're in charge, they're bringing in others who not only remember the team they played for, but want to get that feeling back.

Welcome! (That's Your Last Warning.)

There is no one here who will brook fools lightly. Malhotra dragged his career back because he wasn't finished with it yet. Johnson played through 15 pro seasons and a ludicrous number of injuries, and despite peaking at 21 points in a full season, he kept finding work for a reason. And as for the Sedins, well, anyone who wants to pretend they were ever "soft" can keep thinking that right up until they break the 1300 NHL game mark.

So here's the thing: the team they're managing isn't looking to make the playoffs next year. That, paradoxically enough, means they don't need to tolerate someone who is disruptive, however they choose to interpret it.

Highest scorer on the team? Big deal! You didn't hurry back to the bench, so you're missing a couple shifts. Being a dick to teammates? Take the next game off, you won't be missed. Don't want to be part of the community service the team does? Maybe this isn't the place for you.

But they can also be more patient with players who are working hard, but don't have the experience to go with it yet. A defender who's missed his check might get a reminder, but shouldn't miss a shift if it's not a regular thing. A kid taking a bad penalty because he got emotional, well, it sucks, but that happens.

There's a saying that the NHL isn't a development league, and that's mostly true. Players shouldn't be in it without a basic toolkit they can fill elsewhere. But the Canucks are also starting from the bottom up. They can afford to be patient with young guys learning the league, especially when the entire team is pretty dang young.

New Crew, Who This?

Malhotra has coached a team that was frequently stripped for parts last year. A constant influx of new players rotating in only to have them bumped out of place by returning vets is a juggling act. Trying to find a place for prospects while encouraging veterans just added to the puzzle. One message he and Johnson gave their players was this: our job is to get you out of here.

That goal going to be different now, with longer-term players and no help coming from the parent club. You won't find guys who are "too good for the league" joining the team for a injury rehab. This is as good as it gets.

But the method is the same: it's guessing who has another gear and how to find it. Using the parts provided in the place they're most appropriate. Convincing someone who's always played one way that they'll last longer playing another. It's going to take patience, honesty, and clarity of vision at every level, from White Collars and Blue ones alike.

So, sure, the NHL isn't a development league. But for the next couple seasons, the Canucks - and Manny - are probably best served by pretending it is.