Someone's gotta go.

After this sheer disaster of a season the fans want - and deserve - to see heads roll. Whose is a question, as is how big the axe getting swung will be and whether they'll sell general admission tickets. There have been a pile of rumours and reporting from different sources, primarily Rick Dhaliwal, about how the offseason action will play out.

Let There Be (Metaphorical) Blood

I'm personally inclined to the firing of President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford for his attempted "If you think about it, we've been rebuilding for a couple years" gambit. No you weren't, not you aren't, and do shut up. That was a ludicrous spin on a disastrous season.

In a modern org chart, the overall direction of the team is what the PHO* should be responsible for. They should be on the Big Picture, while the general manager tries to make that happen - or explains why it can't. But telling the person who can fire you why their vision won't work is tough.

I don't think General Manager Patrik Allvin disagreed with Rutherford's assessment. They both had to know they were walking a tightrope this year, as the Canucks have been doing for the past decade. The paper assessment wasn't off - decent talent, weak division, perceived troublemakers gone - but the real-world version was a huge risk.

There was one centre coming off a miserable season, another who was perpetually injured, and a third that left. Add a disgruntled star defenceman and incredibly fragile goaltender and that paper should have more annotations than Finnigan's Wake.

As for that real-world version? It's really, really tough to tightrope walk in skates. The worst possible start led to strange attempts at repair led, eventually, to trading away one of the most talented players the team has ever seen. So that didn't go great.

The rest of the year has followed suit, with what is guaranteed to be a bottom-three finish in Vancouver Canucks history, right back into the early '70s. Coach Adam Foote, promoted in large part because of Quinn Hughes' approval, hasn't been able to stem the tide. In the half-season since the team changed direction of their stated goals, they managed 27 points in 46 games. That's 11 wins, with four coming immediately after the Hughes trade.

Part of the reason Hughes liked Foote's hiring is because he wanted to change tactics. Out was Rick Tocchet's slow, careful, low-risk strategy in favour of a high-pursuit, attacking-defenceman style. More pressure, more energy, more scoring chances. A few moves were made to accommodate, and it immediately produced indifferent results, exiting October with a 6-6-0 record.

Injuries piled up, more consistent losses followed, and Foote couldn't adjust his plans to his talent level. There is some question whether he's managed to communicate his plans to the players effectively. Given the regular chaos in the Canucks' zone on any given night, it's a valid question.

Trickle or Torrent

There are reasons why firing each of those three would be the right decision. But that's probably not going to happen.

Big Jim

Rutherford has a lot of clout in the hockey world, and even the most obtuse owners have to acknowledge that. He is also something of a shied for them, as most fans understand that he only took the job with the understanding that he was driving the bus. That was reinforced when he took over the trading of Hughes from Allvin. He undoubtedly talked with ownership about the deal, but only in the sense that "this is happening" was how the conversation started.

Rutherford isn't going to take the reins as general manager, I don't think. He is 77 years old, after all, and is not all that interested in the day-to-day that the position demands. A glance at Allvin's itinerary makes me tired, even if he is getting paid for it. Rutherford is very much the least likely to go.

Don't Call Him Al

That doesn't mean Allvin is safe. By all publicly available accounts, he is highly regarded as a talent evaluator. And, again, looking at the team on paper at the beginning of the season, there is no one in the league who believed the Canucks were the worst in the league. Nobody called for a sub-60 point year. But the risk level was sky-high, and that's what they decided to do.

Whether Allvin was to blame for that risk or didn't do enough to hedge against it is a fair question. It was easy to see how thin the top-end talent was, and whether winning now was the right course. Yes, the idea was "Win for Quinn" but there could have been more than one way to do that. Convincing the captain that he'll be the veteran leader of a team ready to challenge in four years is hard when he's already 26, but did they even try?

That would have been the more assured, and frankly smarter, route. And if Hughes wasn't up for it, well, there probably would have been more bidders for his services in the offseason than in December.

Foote Soldiers On

Most vulnerable of the three is obviously the rookie coach. That he has a three-year deal is irrelevant at this point, or it should be. Right now, the only concern is protecting the reputational asset known as the Vancouver Canucks.

The team is going to skew young. They don't really have a choice, given the moves made. The assessment of Foote's overall job has got to be a failing grade. But does that mean he alone takes the fall? Or that he does at all?

Rookie players aren't expected to succeed immediately, and they shouldn't be. If your team suddenly has a Matthew Schaefer, that's a huge bonus, not an expectation. Whatever the plan was in September, it didn't happen like it was supposed to. Some of that is absolutely on Foote, as it should be. But some is going to be on the players not executing that plan as well.

The stated goal of the team spun 180 degrees mid-season. The players he had to work with changed dramatically. It's fair to say that he didn't know who was on the bench for a large part of the season. It's difficult to change "Hughes controls the puck at the point" to anything else when you don't have Hughes anymore.

There were games when Foote not only had four rookie defencemen, but also a handful of forwards with fewer than 100 games NHL experience and a rookie goaltender. Some of those players weren't just NHL rookies, but from different systems entirely. Those are tough working conditions.

But they also had the Olympic break to work together. They had nearly two weeks without games, extensive home stands without travel, and time to work on systems. The break was essentially a second training camp, if they wanted to approach it that way.

Perhaps the best argument for keeping Foote is the math: the team has had four coaches in four years. Maybe give this one a chance to work it out, huh?

Off With Their Paycheques!

Or not. It's hard to picture a more difficult public relations move than bringing everyone back again. This is doubly true if they lose coach-in-waiting Manny Malhotra and GM of the future Ryan Johnson.

It could be that the team keeps everyone in place and shifts out half a dozen players. Trading a few away, sending the kids down for seasoning in the minors, letting others walk as free agents. That could happen, though whether it would be well-received by fans is another question. It would be a legitimate changing of the talent on the team.

What I don't want to hear is that they are trying to make the playoffs in 2026-27. The goal should be to reach the Stanley Cup, and I want to know there is a plan for that which doesn't involve keeping everyone in place. It didn't work this year, it won't work next. Heck, I don't even want to see any 2026 draft picks in the lineup next year.

We don't know what going to happen in the offseason, but it will be interesting.

*not the soup

Hang in there. We're almost done. Almost through this blunderfest. Let's make the last few games slightly less dreary, by playing a little game we call Tanko.

It's the bingo-style game based on Canuck ineptitude, of which there is a whole lot. We sprinkled some new failures and foulups into tonight's edition. So turn on the TV or the radio, be prepared to be "right there," and just "trust the process" as we "focus on the details" and ...

Aw friggit.

Online writing is an interesting thing. The writing remains the same, while the medium - or at least the format - continually changes. Some of us have gone from Notepad cut and paste through Write or Die freeform gibberish over the decades. I have writing that ended up lost and gone forever because I don't have a program that can read it. No great loss, frankly, but it does make comparisons difficult.

If you look to the future, some version of it will be there, sitting in front of you to examine at your leisure. But it won't be an accurate version. Yes, this is about the Vancouver Canucks.

One Step Forward, Off A Cliff

Needless to say, this season has not gone without a hitch. Lots of prognostications had Vancouver making the playoffs, and for good reason. Yes, Quinn Hughes was still on the team - and that helped - but mostly it was all about how weak the Pacific Division was. That part of the predictions still holds true, since in no sane world is Anaheim challenging for first. The playoffs, sure, but first place? Nah.

On paper, the team was easily comparable to others in the Pacific. But there is an important feature inherent with predictions: you can't predict injuries. The Canucks are a paper-thin team, talent-wise, but if they stayed reasonably healthy, they would likely be challenging for a spot right now. But that didn't happen. Hoo, doggies, that didn't happen.

They tumbled, plans changed. And no, nobody believes the team has "been in a rebuild for a couple of years already," Jim. No one. On the other hand, a certain amount of resignation coming from the management team is an oddly refreshing change. It's nice when they acknowledge reality along with the rest of us.

Instead, everyone sees that the team isn't going to hit ten wins at home. We all know the remaining games are going to be filled with mistakes and unequal events. We get it, we really do. Some will complain you're doing it wrong, whatever "it" is, but that's going to happen. This is a city of two million general managers, after all. No one here has a wingsuit they're going to magically pull from their backpack. This team is going downhill and is going to take their lumps doing it.

Then it's time to get up and plan the next route up the mountain.

Is Our Children Learning?

Funny story: the Canucks' power play has been extremely productive since the team returned from the Olympic break. As in "around 30%" good. The penalty kill, on the other hand, remains bad. Not "worst in the league" bad, but a 75% success rate, which isn't great.

The overall goals stat isn't following the same plan. Just 51 for in 19 games is in the bottom third of the league territory, but not as bad as it could be. Scoring is probably the most forgiving stat for a young team, a place where mistakes aren't as visible as they might be otherwise. Young players are encouraged to "go try stuff" when standings aren't on the line. They were drafted for a reason, now go show it.

Their goals against, on the other hand, is brutal. The 85 given up in those same 19 games doesn't really have an equivalent. Even the Maple Leafs gave up seven fewer, and they have played one more game in that time. Not gonna lie, that one hurts. Now, the Canucks have allowed a team-record 24 empty netters this season, but you have to be behind before that's a risk. And they've been behind a LOT.

The Canucks have missed Derek Forbort as much as any other player this year. As much as we appreciate Pierre-Olivier Joseph, he was supposed to be the seventh man, not an option to keep Tom Willander company. There were games when Vancouver had four defencemen with fewer than 100 NHL games in the lineup. Yes, Kevin Lankinen and Nikita Tolopilo could have been better, but come on. There are plenty of games where opponents scored five or more and the goaltending wasn't the problem.

That makes next year's plan all the more interesting.

Balancing Blues

The newly-signed Victor Mancini is waiver-eligible next season. He hasn't been great, but he's been good enough that losing him is not only a real possibility, but would do damage. At just $1 million, there is plenty of reason to be patient. The team wants him to use his 6'3", 225 lbs frame more than he has, but that's never really been his game. But his offence hasn't been his NHL ticket, either, and he's going to be on a team with not much size. If he wants to stick, spending Summer taking an MMA course wouldn't hurt.

It's the other three that have the questions. Zeev Buium has the highest upside, but is also the youngest, almost a year younger than Tom Willander. Elias Pettersson the Defenceman has the least pressure to produce points, and is the most physically developed of the three. But his inexperience shows when he's trying to sort out his timing, especially in his end of the ice.

And never mind having a defenceman from this season's draft joining the team next year. Just no. Don't do that. Personally, I don't want to see any player from the 2026 draft on the team in the regular season. Let them avoid the pain of a full 84 games of one-win-in-four level hockey. We don't need them to be good next year in Vancouver. Let them be good right where they are.

Which brings us back to the Three Musketeers. There is, I think, a decent argument to be had for playing them in the AHL next year. Maybe one, maybe two, maybe all three. Next season is going to be hard on everyone, and there are going to be plenty of games where the Canucks are simply outmatched. The available free agents aren't great next year, but they will be veterans who can handle the workload physically and mentally.

Future Shocks

On paper, this is a more talented team than the standings indicate. Odds are very good that they will improve considerably on this year's result. But in an ideal world, they will stay in that bottom-five position while individual players gain experience and improve their skills.

We don't know what the future looks like, but we can make educated guesses and act on those. Maybe if I had learned how to save things in different formats sooner, I'd have more of my work available. Maybe if the Canucks had anticipated Hughes leaving, they could have chosen not to rely on injury-prone players. But we are here now, and can always make plans for our future tense then.

The kids are going to play out the year, of course. It's a little unfair to Tolopilo and Lankinen, but them's the breaks. What will be more interesting is seeing what happens next.

Source: National Hockey League @ Elite Prospects

We didn't invest much energy in this, largely due to the large scale system shock suffered at the (checks notes) 8-6 ww...wii .... win.... (hoof, outta practice on that word) from last night.
Is it wrong to hope that Elias Pettersson (the one that doesn't fall down all the time) or someone else flattens Quinn "Quitter" Hughes? I hope it's not wrong.

Today might be the day when the Canucks clinch the basement. Good gravy.

Following the Vancouver Canucks is a challenging thing just now. It doesn't help when marginally more successful teams are making changes either behind the bench or in the front office.

Yes, we're calling the Vegas Golden Knights a "marginally more successful team" than the Canucks. If you saw them play against Vancouver on Monday, you wouldn't be impressed, either. And they're 32 points up the standings.

Patience? Patience?!?

There are nine games left before the regular season comes to a merciful end. We've mentioned - A LOT - about how to keep any kind of interest in our favourite team. Look for growth in the kids, see the veterans find their voices, maybe just focus on a player you like.

But, lordy, there is a lot you have to ignore. And that's getting harder.

The Canucks have lost six in a row, but that's not the important part. We all know losses are going to come through the end of the year. There is a talent imbalance, an experience deficit, and little motivation for success outside personal embarrassment. So, sure, losses happen.

The loss against Vegas mostly involved the chances given. Adin Hill stopped more than Kevin Lankinen, as a percentage, but it's hard to point to Lankinen's performance as the reason Vegas won. A recurring refrain from Canucks games has been "The pass to [player] coming in alone on net."

That Vancouver played well enough to possibly win is an indictment of the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights are in the playoffs by default, not through any effort of their own. They changed coaches the day before this game, for crying out loud. They're not doing great.

Entertaining the Thought

A losing team can still be fun. In fact, if you have watched two different teams sharing the division, you probably had fun doing it. The San Jose Sharks in the past two seasons have lost plenty of games, but they're also been fun to watch. They haven't always been able to hold it together, but when they did it was cause for celebration.

The last fun game the Canucks played was against the Anaheim Ducks, who also shouldn't be in the playoffs, but are in the Pacific Division, so... They also have a bit of a "defence optional" approach to the game. Fortunately for them, their offence has been catching up, and that's an easy way to sell tickets.

What can sell tickets in Vancouver while we wait? It's tough to tell, since we don't know what they're going to do next.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

There have been vague implications of "big changes" from Jim Rutherford, and rumours that Patrik Allvin is going to take the fall. There are plenty of reasons for him to do so, of course. Possibly the biggest is every decision made leading into this season, and then being pushed aside for the biggest moment of this management's brief tenure. Rutherford stepping in for the Quinn Hughes trade was the dagger, and Allvin has been bleeding ever since.

One question is how much of the blame for the current disaster can be laid at Allvin's feet. In theory, the direction of any team is dictated by the general manager. In practice, much of that seems to be coming from Rutherford instead. That goes back to the decision to move Bo Horvat and keep J.T. Miller, a trade handled by Allvin, but likely made necessary by Rutherford's direction.

While that trade wasn't bad for the value returned, it and subsequent ones were guided by the "win now" direction. That core misunderstanding of the team is hard to forgive. Is it a a good thing that the tightrope the team chose to walk is now recognized as leading to a brick wall?

Captain vs Pilot

The current coach is here because the best defenceman the team has ever had wanted him to be. Adam Foote got a three-year contract out of that wish, though the "search" for a new coach was limited to two names. As a result, they will likely lose the other choice, Abbotsford bench boss Manny Malhotra. It's that or fire Foote and pay him to not coach. And we don't know how effective Malhotra will be in the NHL with what will be a very weak team.

To say Foote has been ineffective is an understatement. After nearly a full season, the players still look lost in their own end. Their control of the puck in the opposing end is minimal. And they seem unsure of themselves everywhere on the ice. For a team that is going young - they had four rookies on the defence at times this year - that's not a great sign. He can absolutely take his share of the blame.

But more has to be reserved for management. Rutherford said that they have known "for a while" that Quinn Hughes wasn't coming back to the team when his contract expired. Thing is, that "a while" was apparently mid-season in 2024-25. Every decision made from that point should have been pointed at a post-Hughes team. And it wasn't.

Everything from keeping Pius Suter past the deadline to re-signing Brock Boeser to hiring Foote was centered around the assumption that Hughes was staying. If they knew otherwise, none of that should have happened. The signings and trades (or lack of them) were bad enough, and that's on the general manager, but they were made to a purpose.

Abandon Ship?

We all know where this is heading. This ship was less run aground by a storm and more by "get a blindfold and hold my beer". We aren't aboard the SS Minnow but the Exxon Valdes. They are going to lose some fans in a rebuild, but it'll be worse if they don't course-correct, and soon. And fair enough - tickets aren't cheap, and the entertainment value has been minimal lately.

There is something to be salvaged yet. The Canucks have started to rebuild their prospect pool. They have picked up younger, capable players. They seem less likely to trade away high draft picks, though the night is still young. All that is positive, though we're going to need to see that through the draft and into next season to check if it's a blip or a habit.

I'm not too worried about the effect of bad coaching on the young players this season because everyone is going to try to forget it. And yes, being unable to communicate your plan or failing to adjust it to the players available is bad coaching. It's not impossible that Foote can improve in the offseason, but seeing improvement before then would be more reassuring.

Leave the Canucks, though? Nah. They're my team, and I've been here longer than damn near anyone drawing a paycheque from them. I don't know if I've seen a worse season, certainly not one with a greater discrepancy between expectations and results.

But I am a very patient fan.

Ten more to go, fans. Lordy, it's been a slog.
But we can suffer together, playing the Canucks Tanko bingo-style game.

Tank goodness the season is almost over. Because the highly-paid professional who crafts this messy little bingo-like exploration of frustration and futility was clearly NOT on the ball, delivering a sub-par effort the last few Tankos.
Speaking of Sub-par, the hapless Vancouver Canucks are in Calgary tonight.  The Canucks are horrid, the Calgary Flames are wretched, but who will outstink the other?  It's the battle of the Pacific Division basement - its the Toilet Bowl!

Ok. We've spent enough energy on words. Here's this evening's Tanko. Any five-box line means you're a winner (unlike the Canucks).

The Kings are in town. They will no doubt win, because that's just how it is. Maybe you can win, playing our bingo-like game of futility.

Good luck.