Memorial Cup champion head coach Jussi Ahokas reportedly turned down the AHL Canucks' coaching job before being hired by the Colorado Eagles.
The Abbotsford Canucks’ search for a head coach continues.
According to a report from CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal, Abbotsford offered their open head coach position to 2026 Memorial Cup champion head coach Jussi Ahokas. However, Ahokas reportedly turned the offer down before being announced as the new head coach of the AHL's Colorado Eagles.
Ahokas has served as the Rangers’ head coach for the past three seasons, helping Kitchener to a Memorial Cup championship back in May. In all three of Ahokas’ seasons as head coach of the Rangers, Kitchener has not placed lower than sixth-overall in the OHL’s standings, with the past two seasons seeing the team take second-place with back-to-back 100-point seasons.
Prior to moving to the OHL, Ahokas spent four seasons as a head coach in Finland with KooKoo (2019–20 to 2020–21) and TPS (2021–22 to 2022–23). He coached Finland to their most recent Gold medal at the U-20 World Junior Championship back in 2019, also serving as the team’s bench boss in 2017 and 2018 as well as a video coach in 2014–15.
Abbotsford replaced ex-AHL Canucks general manager and now-Canucks GM Ryan Johnson with Richard Seeley back in June. Formerly the GM of the Ontario Reign for eight seasons, Seeley has already made moves to restructure Abbotsford’s depth, having signed five players to AHL contracts only one day ago.
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