The Vancouver Canucks have announced a major restructuring of the team's Hockey Operations Department. Among the announced changes in positions is the resignation of Dan Cloutier, who served as the team's goaltending coach for seven of the last eight years. Cloutier took over from Rollie Melanson as the Canucks' goalie coach and was promoted to Director of Goaltending last summer. He had previously stepped down in his position as goalie coach for family reasons, with Ian Clark taking on the day-to-day coaching duties. Cloutier also spent parts of five seasons between the pipes for the Canucks. No replacement has yet been named.
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Other announcements include the rejoining of the team by Chris Higgins, who will serve as Assistant Director of Player Development. Higgins suited-up in 336 games for Vancouver over the course of six seasons. Todd Harvey and Derek Richard take on new roles and additional responsibilities as Amateur Scouts. Troy Ward, Phil Golding, Martin Bakula, Patrik Jonsson, Vincent Montalbano and Brandon Benning all join the club or receive additional duties in the Amateur Scouting Department. Pat Conacher moves to the Amateur staff after five seasons as Director of Hockey Operations with Utica, Vancouver's AHL affiliate.
Ryan Biech joins the team as Video Analyst in the Hockey Analytics Department.
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