Head coach Manny Malhotra came back to the Canucks organization this summer and was ecstatic to see familiar faces in the coaching, development, and management ranks.
But on the ice, he didn’t know much about the players, specifically the people he would be coaching.
The good news for Malhotra is that he stepped into coaching a youthful Abbotsford Canucks team that had a young captain in the room with Chase Wouters.
The coach and the captain clicked immediately, finding common ground on their backgrounds in hockey, the level of compete that a player needs to have, and faceoffs.
“Chase is extremely easy to talk to and we've had some great conversations, not only about the team and hockey but also non-hockey subjects, which harbours a better relationship than just talking about the hockey stuff,” said Malhotra.
“He's been great in terms of not just his voice in the room, but the way he plays the game, and how he competes every shift. He leads by example, and that's what you want out of a captain."
Wouters is now in his third season as the Abbotsford Canucks captain and has been wearing a ‘C’ all his life but there’s always room to grow. Veterans John Stevens, Phil Di Giuseppe, and Christian Wolanin have used their years of experience as pros to help Wouters become a better leader.
“Good leadership is everything in a team,” said Wouters. “If you can have a good leadership group, it's a trickle-down effect, and that starts with our coaches. They are the best leaders we have. And then it falls to us as the older guys like Christian, John, and Phil – they're a big part of our culture here in Abbotsford and a big part of what it means to be an Abbotsford Canuck and be a part of this organization. They show up every day with the right attitude and make that attitude become contagious.”
Malhotra heard about the type of leader that Wouters was from people in the organization when he was settling in to be Abbotsford’s coach.
“He has not let me down one bit, if anything, he's even more than what people had described to me. He’s just such a great character person and a tremendous leader,” said Malhotra.
Wouters is the type of player who is going to grind opponents down, be good in the faceoff dot, contribute on both special teams when asked to do so, and be willing to stick up for a teammate when the situation presents itself.
Now, in his fourth full season in the AHL after signing out of the WHL as an undrafted free agent, Wouters believes he is ready to take his game to another level and believes that Malhotra is the right coach to help get him there.
“I feel like my game is getting better every year,” said Wouters. “I have a great training program back home during the summer, and I've had a great opportunity here to take a step forward in my game, be a good teammate, and be a good friend to everyone in the room. And that's something I take a lot of pride in, and I feel like it's getting better and better, and that's what I want it to be. I'm confident in building on that here with Manny.”
Wouters, Malhotra and the rest of the Abbotsford Canucks are back from their two road trips to start the season and are set to fire up the Abbotsford Centre for their home opener on Friday, October 25th.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. PT and you can find tickets for Friday’s game HERE.
