Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Nucks Fan Rebuild & Retool Center - Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Hank and Danny will be passing off Franny so RJ can get some work done.
At least we hope so.
Canucks announcing today the Sedins are co-presidents of hockey ops. Ryan Johnson becomes the Canucks GM. The Vancouver Canucks.
Our thoughts...
jimmi:
This is great news! Or could be if the micro-managing owners can get out of the way for a few seasons... it's possible, isn't it?
When this regime change was announced, the 'braintrust' at Canucks HQ put us through extended hell as they searched for a new GM... names like Kevyn Adams and Pierre Dorion were dangled over us on the media guillotine. Then the final four became the final two. Some Bahstoon re-tread became a threat to our post-traumatic Boourn Benning hire.
Fortunately, not only was RJ selected - Thursday's pick all along - JR found his best successor. Two of them. We've rolled in the dirt of this management rodeo before. Former beloved Nuck, Trev, was President and it worked out well. Until he managed up to get fired after advocating a rebuild.
This time it could be different, as the Sedins are inheriting a rebuild that JR/PA managed to create. So... that's good. Although... Vern warns us about performative changes.
Since the Twins are among my fav Canucks players, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. With a long and patient pathway to prove their vision. Until November at least.
Thursday:
What seemed like the obvious choice ended up being the obvious choice. But we got a dog-and-pony show first, which was considerate of them. Ideally, the owners heard enough from other potential hires that they are now aware of just where this team is and how long it will take to correct.
There are a couple standout things from their presser that I liked. An awareness of the situation from Johnson was mandatory, and it seems like he has one. That he was given a three-year contract is worth thinking about, though. I want the owners to know three years from now is a waystation, not a destination. That's going to be on them if they decide otherwise. Frankly, I don't want to hear from the owners again until he's up for renewal.
The Sedins getting the top job this soon is a bit unexpected, but it was inevitable. That, I think, was where hiring them was ending up. As I mentioned last time, they have been very deliberate in their choice to join the team, saying from Day One they wanted to learn everything about the team. They've been spending the past five years doing that. If there's one thing I'm never going to doubt, it's the Sedins working hard at whatever's in front of them.
But it's good to have the negotiating side being handled by the guy who has been a general manager before, even if it was in the AHL. There is a lot to run on a pro team, and I didn't want to see one person - or even two, if it was the Sedins - getting the whole job.
What it isn't is a clean slate. These three have been with the organization for a long time, and have a lot of pride in their work. But you know what was a clean slate? Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin, and Rick Tocchet. I'm willing to see where this goes, including the firing (or not) of head coach Adam Foote.
Right now, we have three guys who are very proud to be part of the team. Theoretically, that will sink in through the rest of the system down to the players. That's going to be essential for what will be some hard years ahead. So long as management is open and honest with their players, that will help build the culture. Johnson saying very clearly that he knows what the future holds.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, however, reality has a way of creating whole new problems the theory didn't consider. We're just going to have to see what they do about it.
The tone around the Vancouver Canucks has been changing.
Go back to the end of the season, and the news was that general manager Patrik Allvin had been removed. It was...odd, given that the coaching staff remained in place. The excuse at the time was that the new general manager, whoever that might be, should make their own decision. Rational enough. So, presumably, the GM would be named quickly to see who is where and what plans need to be made. Right?
Eh, not exactly, but close enough.
The thing about figing Allvin is that we aren't completely sure what decisions he may or may not have made with the team. The weird, two-headed ettin at the top of the Canucks' administrative food chain left those who observed it a little confused. And those who had to interact with it more so. There are reports of other teams not knowing who they were dealing with for trade proposals. That broke containment when Jim Rutherford announced he had taken the Quinn Hughes trade "off Allvin's plate," as if that were a favour to him rather than an elbowing aside.
Vern put up a post about how this particular group has treated its employees, and it's hard not to agree. It'll come up again when we get around to talking about Elias Pettersson the Forward*, but it's correct to point to Ryan Johnson getting jerked around recently. He was recently given a new contract with Vancouver because of the job he's done in Abbotsford. He has been the heir apparent for a few years now. And yet.
Johnson was not only given an expensive new deal, but was also stopped from interviewing with the Nashville Predators. They are apparently living up to their mascot's image by waiting patiently for the right moment to pounce. It's been literal months without any apparent movement down there. Most likely guess is they have someone in mind, but that person is still involved in league play. Or they're still under contract...
Johnson brought the Canucks their only league-wide trophy of any kind, winning the AHL's Calder Cup in 2025. The team has been generally competitive, though all minor teams rely heavily on their parent clubs getting the draft right, signing good free agents, and not needing 50 skaters and five goalies in any given season. For many, the assumption was that Johnson and coach Manny Malhotra would step up to the NHL level at the next opportunity. That hasn't happened yet, and why not is a bit of a mystery.
There is one rival remaining for the position, and that's Evan Gold. Currently with the Boston Bruins, Gold is known as a "power behind the throne" kind of guy. Not that he's a potential assassin or any such, of course. I think. I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about him, so perhaps murder is a pastime of his. But probably not. He is very well thought of by other people in the business, though. By all accounts, he would be a fine choice.
Rutherford likes Ryan Johnson for the job. But Rutherford has also said he is essentially leaving the club while holding a nominal position with a full paycheque. Moving back to Carolina is quite the work-from-home power move, but how much influence will he have? If the team only hires one replacement, it probably won't be the one the guy they just ghosted likes.
As an added bit of weirdness, it sounds like the Sedins might be getting a... promotion? Henrik and Daniel Sedin have been around the team in various positions, most recently in player development. If you've watched any practices, you've likely seen them working with young players, with veterans, with anyone who wanted to take advantage of their experience.
They were hired five years ago, and made one thing clear: they wanted to learn everything about the team. This isn't going to be a Mats Sundin situation, where he has lived in Sweden for several years and will likely need to get brought up to speed in Toronto. What power Sundin will have with the Leafs is unclear, as he and John Chayka were announced at the same time.
The Sedins have planned their move into the Canucks organization very carefully and deliberately. They control everything about how they get promoted, and both have made it clear they will quite happily walk away if they have to. If they feel like they are ready to assume a new job, they will.
Funny story: apparently, they also like Ryan Johnson for the next general manager. So that's something to consider.
Neither of the Sedins will be named general manager, and they probably don't want that job just yet. Wherever they do end up, it's hard to picture them away from the ice and the players asking for their advice. It certainly wouldn't hurt for them to have better-defined duties among the white-collars, though. Who knows what that will be, though.
With Rutherford fading out, Allvin gone(?), the Sedins ambiguously promoted, and the coaching staff on tenterhooks, getting some answers would be handy. The draft is coming up, and the team needs to have a plan in place soon. Either Johnson or Gold can head the team up, but they need to know who the team is, first.
Oh, did you notice that question mark? Patrik Allvin has been offered a new spot with the Canucks, according to Donnie and Dhali recently. He has a tremendous amount of scouting experience, and let's face it, another general manager position is unlikely for a few years yet. No one knows how much credit/blame to give him for his tenure with Vancouver. And the paycheque is great. It would be weird, but maybe he will still be in the "About Us" section of the Canucks website.
Rumours are circulating of a complete overhaul of the scouting department, so maybe he'll end up there. Assuming he even wants to be with the team, being on the road for most of the year can soften the blow of losing his previous job. And add to the unending weirdness that is the Vancouver Canucks.
But why the heck are we hearing that Dax Aquilini is sitting in on the GM interviews...?
*Oooo, foreshadowing!
The Hockey Gods looked upon Vancouver and said: Meh.
Vancouver had the best chance of falling to third overall in the draft lottery, and the odds didn't disappoint. The Canucks have lost a LOT of draft positions over the past decade.
2013-15: No position change in three drafts
2016: Dropped two spots, picked 5th
2017: Dropped three spots, picked 5th
2018: Dropped one spot, picked 7th
2019: Dropped one spot, picked 10th
2020-21: No first-round pick, so who cares? We're FINE!
2022: No change, picked 15th
2023: No change, picked 11th
2024: First-round picks are for the weak. So are second-round picks.
2025: No change, but Utah, who finished in 14th to Vancouver's 15th, won and moved up to fourth.
2026: Dropped two spots, because it's been a while. Any chance we can get that whole "finishing last in the league by a wide margin" thing back?
So, yeah. We had a 55% chance of watching the team drop, and they did. Which sucks, but is still a third-overall draft position. That ain't a bad thing at all.
First things first, and Jim Rutherford announced after the lottery that he would be stepping away from his position. The President of Hockey Operations is keeping his title until after the draft proper happens in June. That gives the team plenty of time to fill at least one executive position, getting a general manager in place early enough to navigate the entry draft. There is still someone here to answer questions and maintain consistency among the white-collars.
That in itself isn't "good news" exactly, but it does show that they have a direction in mind. That part's good, anyway. And it makes the hiring of two people more likely, which I like. Splitting duties as the game gets more complex isn't a bad thing at all. Though perhaps give Dorion a miss for either spot, thanks.
Without getting into the players themselves, let's talk about why getting third this season is good news. And don't forget, the two teams that jumped ahead of Vancouver may well leave either McKenna or Stenberg available at third. The easiest pick could once again fall into the Canucks' lap through no effort of their own. If not, well, there are a half-dozen players I'd be more than happy to get, for a price. Seattle or Calgary want to toss in a pick in the 20s to get the guy they want? Does Winnipeg feel optimistic about its position next year? Let's talk 2027!
Personally, I don't want ANY of the players Vancouver takes this year to appear in the NHL. Training camp, sure, but not in the league. The Canucks are going to be a difficult team to win with, make no mistake. The fans have a long year ahead of them, and so do the players.
There are two possible results if they push their pick into the league this season, and neither one is what you want. The player could have a great year, helping them enough to worsen their draft position. Lovely, but that's not really what Vancouver needs. Or, of course, he doesn't, and you have an 18-year-old getting dragged by his hair through another bottom-ranked season. I can wait a year.
No one wants to work. I don't mean that as an indictment of The Youth Today, though I am the correct demographic. I mean that, literally, no one wants to work. That's why we call it work. You can enjoy what you do, that's fine, but it would be an ideal world where you could choose how much you did and when you did it. Right? Right. Hockey managers are no different.
When a bad team gets the first overall choice, and if they play really, really well, there is temptation. Say Vancouver gets McKenna, well, then what? Even if he blows the doors off, massively outperforming expectations, he might get 60 points for the season. Given the weakness of the division, that might even put them within striking distance of a playoff spot a week before the trade deadline. Hey, imagine if this kid had just a little more help...
That impulse needs to be snuffed out immediately. That little spark of hope can't be allowed to grow, not yet. Vancouver needs to be in this for the long haul, and that doesn't mean one or two bad seasons. We, the fans, will have plenty of young players to watch out there. Adding this year's pick is a bit of overkill.
Finishing third, there's no pretending that "We can do it quickly!" or "Go for it!" Put the chip-clip on the lips and grow some patience.
One top-three pick is great, don't get me wrong. But another would be even better, especially if a couple top-ten picks follow soon after.
Vancouver is going to get better. Probably. It's going to be tough to avoid, though talent alone isn't enough to win the Stanley Cup. Besides, the Canucks have finished in the mid-twenties often enough that it feels like home. Getting picks in the teens and watching those guys pass or fail is part of the fun of a rebuilding team. But it's so much better when you draft in the teens and don't put the weight of the world on them.
Fans are talking about Braeden Cootes and his potential to be a first-line centre, and that's lunatic. If he gets there, that's awesome! But to expect him to get there, or even to hope that he does, is ridiculous. He looks like a solid, middle-six player at centre or wing, and that's great. Teams need those. It'll be better when we draft a kid in that mid-teens position and add him to a pool that has three top-ten picks already working their way through the system.
Okay, call me greedy, but there's a lot more to talk about with the Canucks picking third than if they finished in the top two. If they won either lottery, then the choice is obvious. Pick McKenna or Stenberg, whichever is available. Finishing with the third, though? Now it gets interesting!
They could pick any of a few defencemen in a draft that's very good for them. There are a couple centres in the mix, and the team might stretch to grab one of them. Or - least likely but most fun to consider - they might successfully trade down and still get a solid prospect while adding another pick.
Hey, there are 50 days to go before the actual draft. We'll take what we can get!
"Say, do you know what the secret of good comedy is?"
"No. What is the se-"
"Timing."
-Very old joke I still do when I'm drunk enough
When last we left our intrepid heroes, they were on a Holy Quest for We're Not Quite Sure What. Lists of names have emerged, rumours have abounded (if that's a word), and the Merry Band of Misfit Toys has packed up and gone home. Or off to the World Championships, as the case may be. And the fans are left to speculate.
Some very interesting names have cropped up, most of which we riffled through last week. But we're still not clear on what positions are being hired for. Could be that only one hire is made in this round, that being a general manager to go through their rolodex and think of the future. But maybe not.
On a guess, Adam Foote isn't long for the world of bench-bossing, at least not here. That Jim Rutherford has said he'd leave the decision to the general manager is a positive sign for us, the fans. Less so for Foote, the coach. But whether it was because his plans were bad or his communication of them was, his coaching simply didn't work. Sure, the team changed what the objective was halfway through the season, but I'm agreeing with Vern on this one.
But found GM or not, there is more to this white-collar hiring spree than meets the eye.
Rutherford hasn't said, but has certainly implied, that he doesn't really want the job for much longer than he's had it. Fair enough, given his age and years at the job. Heck, when he was first hired, he brought along the one who would have taken over by now if things had gone to plan. But this is Vancouver, and Vancouver feasts on hubris. Patrik Allvine is gone, and the job title of Once and Future Manager remains.
The most interesting name to crop up last week was probably Shane Doan. He has an excellent reputation among hockey folk, even if his Curriculum Vitae is a bit thin. He's mentioned a disinterest in being a general manager, per se, but the Canucks aren't only looking for a GM. They are also looking for who can take over for Rutherford himself, and relatively soon. He has a local-ish interest as part-owner of the Kamloops Blazers, his old WHL team.
Anyone the team gets as an Assistant to the President (or whatever title they go with) will have a year or two with Rutherford to get their feet wet. That seems like a better plan than someone assuming the title of general manager only to get promoted when Rutherford decides to retire. The president has a different role from the general manager, and keeping the two distinct from the start is the best idea. Doubly so if Rutherford plans to leave soon.
The big empty space is still the GM's role. While the draft is still some ways away - June 26th, to be exact - there is plenty to do between now and then. The draft lottery is on May 5th, but that's hardly a vital moment. The team doesn't need a general manager in place to watch lottery balls fall into place. But somewhere soon after would be good.
Unlike most teams, Vancouver has few restricted free agents coming up on July 1st. Pierre-Olivier Joseph is the only one on the playing roster, and his best role is as a veteran 7-8 defenceman. Good to have around, but not the most important signing of the day. Danilla Klimovich is coming due as well, and there's a decision to be made there, but probably not a huge one. You get the point.
On the other hand, the Canucks have several other players they need to make decisions on. The trade deadline may have passed, but trades can be made year-round. Even as teams are eliminated from the playoffs, the opportunity is there to ask them if, hey, maybe if you had one of our guys, you would have made it a wee bit further? Strike while the iron is still crying from a lack of home game revenue, as they always say.
So yes, while the team doesn't strictly need a general manager to be named before the draft lottery, having one in place wouldn't go amiss. At the very least, interested teams should know who to call.
Jim Rutherford is staying in place as the Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations. He just won't say for how long, possibly because he doesn't know. Welcome to a New Era of Stability!(tm)
It's unsurprising that the Canucks removed their general manager when the disastrous 2025-26 season concluded. It is something of a surprise that they kept Adam Foote on as coach and Rutherford as the administration's top dog. What's that say about the future?
Nobody does anything that doesn't make sense to them. There is a logic to every person's actions, even if it's incomprehensible to most of us. Rutherford's explanation for Foote's continued employment is that the new general manager will be free to make that decision as they please. On one hand, it shows a willingness to give whoever that is enough responsibility to guide the direction of the team. On the other, it's the strained logic of someone searching for an excuse for their employer's behaviour.
The person with the real power is the owner, Francesco Aquilini, we all know this. But that power is absolutist, something Rutherford made clear when he was first hired: Let me do my thing, or I'm out. It's not decision-making, it's a kill switch. And, by all appearances, the owner is scared to use it.
The Aquilini does NOT want to deal with the public, that's obvious. But he knows it's there. The big decisions do have to go through him, which is the same as any other sports team. Trading Quinn Hughes, for instance, affected the value of the team in multi-dimensional ways. It's not just the money involved, but the infrastructure changed. The owner's going to want to know what's happening and why.
That being said, they took a lot of heat for backing the last guy too long. There's no way he wants to go through that again. If the GM, president, and coach were all fired on the same day, he would be the only one available to face the microphones. So Rutherford stays in place. For now.
One of the more confusing things about this week is that Ryan Johnson hasn't already been named the Canucks' new general manager. He's done a very good job with Abbotsford, bringing the organization their first national championship of any kind. He signed a four-year deal, apparently at very good money, with the understanding he was the heir apparent. His familiarity with the younger players on the team should be obvious.
Initial reports of the Nashville Predators being denied permission to speak to Johnson for their general manager job were dismissed by Rutherford, saying the reporting was a misunderstanding of some kind. That seems an open-and-shut case that the search wouldn't be performative, quickly handing the job to the obvious frontrunner.
Then local reporter Cam Robinson said that he was told the denial was exactly that - a denial of permission. The team does not want to lose Johnson, and will hold him to his contract. Rumours abound that Johnson is Rutherford's pick, but the owners still need to be convinced. To me, it sounds like they are afraid of more anger from the public about not casting a wide enough net in their search.
Right now, any interviews seem like window dressing, but the conversation of who the team might want is interesting.
We know former NHL player Kevyn Adams has been interviewed and can be considered a front-runner. He spent several years trying to piece the Buffalo Sabres together with pipe cleaners and dreams after the COVID-19 pandemic. He managed a few major deals, had a good enough draft record, and was lousy at being the public face of the team.
It was also his first real job as a white-collar in the NHL, and on Day One he fired pretty much everyone he came into eye contact with. So he has a history of doing unpleasant work as needed, and presumably he's also learned from that first job. For a team looking to do a rebuild, bringing someone in without any ties might be a top priority.
Then again, a smart employer might add someone else to stand between him and anyone in the public eye. Or on the ice, for that matter. A team getting a "new coach bump" is a common enough occurrence that is has a name. The "new GM bump" is unique to Adams' dismissal.
Tom Fitzgerald has a history with Rutherford, working in Pittsburgh as an assistant general manager. His time in the top job with the New Jersey Devils has been relatively successful, but he wedged himself and the team into a corner with high-priced signings. Vancouver fans are familiar with the hazards of a skilled but thin team, and the results show in both cities this season.
Ron Francis was recently let go from the Seattle Kraken. Seattle is feeling a lot more pressure to perform than the Canucks are, especially with the NBA planning their return. Francis guided the expansion club through years of slow, steady growth, but they seem to have hit their ceiling under him. They couldn't take advantage of a weak division this season, and an inability to get real top-end talent to join the club counts against his tenure.
There is an odd bump when he came into conflict with Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon. The new majority owner named Francis President of Hockey Operations on March 7, 2018, then terminated his contract less than two months later. Anyone interested in a general manager who can "manage upwards" might want to skip him.
There are more than a few interesting "first-timer" names out there, including Johnson's.
Want a numbers guy? Sam Ventura is a numbers guy. A major part of one the earliest public stats-driven NHL fan sites, WAR-on-Ice, he was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins for exactly that specialty. He went from consulting with them to a vice-president role with Buffalo, and was a big reason why they have finally broken their playoff-less string. Breaking down analytical data is a vital component for proper talent evaluation, so why not have that skill at the very top?
Like Johnson, Jason Spezza is both an assistant general manager at the NHL level and the general manager of an AHL farm club. While he's only done that job for a few years, he's also been tapped as an assistant with Canada's 2026 World Championship team. He is highly thought of as a future talent, but it's hard to know if that's because of his location or not. His previous job was in Toronto, after all.
Does Spezza bring more than Johnson? The AHL Penguins have been relatively successful in their regular seasons under him. But Johnson has been guiding Abbotsford for longer and has a championship to his name. That's tough to beat.
There are a few interesting names that have cropped up, but it's hard to judge how seriously to take them. Roberto Luongo would absolutely catch some eyes, given his history in Vancouver. It wouldn't entirely be a stunt hire, either, with Luongo working closely with Bill Zito in Florida. Another former player, Shane Doan, is interested in the white collar side of the league, and is currently in Toronto as a special advisor.
Ryan Bowness was the general manager of the Belleville Senators when he was with Ottawa, but last season joined the New York Islanders full time as their director of player personnel. He's only 42, but hardly a newcomer, joining the Atlanta Thrashers as a "team manager" (I don't know, either) in 2009-10. He stayed with the team when they moved to Winnipeg, moving to their pro scouting department. Bowness later became the director of pro scouting with Pittsburgh, then assistant general manager with Ottawa. He's definitely more than Rick Bowness' son.
The most likely hire is still Ryan Johnson, I think. He knows the team, the fans, the media, and the owner, with all the hiccups and foibles that entails. Not moving him into place now would be a massive insult, and it's hard to picture him staying on once his current contract ends. Maybe the team is looking for a fall guy, knowing they have a few hard years ahead. Something to go with another season of Adam Foote, saving the hires they want to make until the worst has passed.
Yes, that's a cynical take. But given the history of this team, with this ownership, it's not something to put past them.
The end of the 2025-26 season has arrived at long, long last. Exit media and player interviews have been had, an evaluation of - Sorry, what's this?
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canucks-fire-general-manager-patrik-allvin-after-five-seasons/
Well, then. Suppose we should hold off until the President of Hockey Operations gets his notes together and -
Ah. Yes. That. Jim Rutherford's bit starts two hours and four minutes in, and I guess that's where we'll start.
So far, just the general manager has been fired. The reason, Rutherford says, is because the next general manager should decide how the team will react to a disastrous season. That means Coach Adam Foote is still most likely fired, but hasn't been yet.
That's good news. No, really! Rutherford is making a clear demarcation of responsibilities with that decision. Whether he will continue that self-imposed limit, well, that remains to be seen. In theory, the PoHO (there's gotta be a better acronym out there...) chooses the direction of the team, and the general manager executes that vision. But we all know Rutherford stepped in at a few vital points, possibly at the behest of ownership, to take power away from Allvin.
That can complicate any new search. The favourite is Ryan Johnson, who has run the Abbotsford Canucks to an AHL championship and signed a lucrative contract with the understanding he would get promotion to the big club before its term ended. Whether that's to general manager or an assistant GM position is unknown to us.
Rutherford has talked about expanding the search as widely as possible, but whoever comes here will want assurances. How much power will they actually have, what timeline is the team looking at, and what about the Sword of Damocles working an hour down the road? Not many qualified, veteran people would be thrilled with those working conditions.
This is a pretty good question, too. According to Rutherford, he had been thinking about the firing for several weeks, but didn't reach a decision until last night. That it was leaked by a Swedish magazine moved up the announcement, but was otherwise coincidental. Not sure I entirely believe that bit, but it doesn't change much in the big picture.
The first problem is that it delaying the hiring means other decisions will have to wait. That includes signing on scouting staff (or not), finding a new coaching staff (or not), and the amateur draft coming up. Given that Allvin came from the scouting world, that last was entirely in his hands, and he has the Air Miles to prove it.
Other coaches and general managers have been hired already, so another reason my be because the team really does want to have as many options as possible. The longer they wait, the more names are made unavailable. Or it may just be for show before they bring Johnson in and he calls up Manny Malhotra.
Rutherford reiterated that the team is undergoing a rebuild, and any new general manager will need to agree with that. Not a bad thing, but if anyone said differently that would be reason to end the interview early.
The Canucks need to have a rebuild, obviously. Step One is getting over the fear of saying that out loud. The fans in Vancouver aren't idiots. But they're also not made of money. The number of people willing to piss it away on the hobbled creature that appeared early in the season is diminishing. Losing isn't necessarily the thing that turns off fans: losing expensively can.
Whoever's hired as the next general manager is going to have to gain the trust of the fans. That includes having a plan that lasts longer than a few months. Hearing word of a ten-year plan is a bit silly, given the duration of most sports careers. But having a three-year plan to reach one point, then another from there, and another from there, can work for me.
As the team discovered just this season, times change, and so should goals. Vancouver wanted to be competing for a playoff spot as an eventual step to the Stanley Cup. That plan ended in December, and the stated goals soon followed.
Vern's talked about what they want to see from the team ASAP. The team got one thing off the list so far. The rest could take a bit longer.
The draft lottery is coming up in May. Until then? Smile, smile, smile!
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.
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.
There are reasons why firing each of those three would be the right decision. But that's probably not going to happen.
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.
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.
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?
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
This week's round table discusses the Canucks recent road trip, taking over the All Star Game in Toronto, and whether or not the Canucks should just go for it at the deadline and try to do the thing?
Once again, it's time for another edition of the Nucks Misconduct Round Table. I toss out some questions, and the NM writers offer up their completely sane and rational takes.
1- The Canucks have returned from their longest road trip of the season, and brought back 11 of a possible 14 points with them. So, pretty good... right?
KENT: Apart from the frustrating performance in St Louis, you really have to be excited about the way the Canucks handled an extremely tough road trip. Little rest, some really good teams, and a chance for the Canucks to battle their way through different scenarios and playing styles. All of these wins are going to help the Canucks come playoff time, especially the win over the Rangers. That was such an impressive win, a literal best on best of the two conferences and the Canucks absolutely clowned the Blueshirts. And even the loss in Columbus, given the epic journey they had to go through just to get to the game, getting a point out of that? Awesome. And what did we learn? Well, we still haven't seen their best hockey yet. We're seeing that the Canucks have a solid goaltending duo for the first time in almost a decade. We know they can adjust to different game plans against and find ways to win. And we know if you eat at Panda Express, bad things will happen.
jimmi - Pretty good? Astonishing. Stunning. Canucks became the 1st NHL team to win 15 games On The Road. That was not supposed to happen. This 7 Levels of Game Hell was specifically designed by the NHL Sadists and Schedulers Department to crush the Nucks, their fans and purge the established league pecking order of these wet coast interlopers. They failed. The Nucks did not. Other than that lousy start against the Blues and the trains, planes and buses to Carumbus ordeal, it was the best extended Nucking road trip I can recall from this century.
Westy - Should I continue with the gushing of praises? This road trip was a season crusher in years past. The resurrection of the Lotto Line was something that must have been discussed during the Holidays by the coaching staff and players, and the loss in St Louis was holy sign Taco saw to bring them back. The Trifecta in the Metro area was oh so sweet and it was good to see the Canucks play rough against Buffalo.
2- There are some who don't think the All Star Game is important, and an unnecessary distraction during the season. With this in mind, is it still not hilarious that the Canucks are sending more players to the game than the host Toronto Maple Leafs?
KENT: There are elements of the All Star Game that are great. The Skills Competition is fun, and makes for great tv. The game itself? Garbage. It bears little resemblance to the way the game is played, and so you see very little realistic game action. Not that we need scraps and dudes getting laid out, but if the All Star Game went away, we'd all survive, honest.
But anyway, even though they'll have the worst jerseys ever created, the Canucks with the most players (as well as Rick Tocchet and PA announcer Al Murdoch, best in the damn biz) in their barn in pretty funny. Not as funny as the dude tweeting about Nylander leading the voting when it showed Demko was over 100K ahead, but still funny.
jimmi - I'm not a fan or viewer of the league's PR spell-binding, self-congratulatory weekend of media fawning. But, is hilarious while CoTU is burning in controversy with the most important losing streak in hockey - will be required to be nice passive/aggressive hosts. To keep the NHL's Fluff Factor fun.
Westy - I am of the same ilk as Jimmi. I do not partake in All-Star viewing. As I have gotten older and crankier, I have less interest in watching the league trying to sell hockey to U.S. viewers. I am already a customer. I did vote for the 4 other Canucks to get into the All-Star game on NHL.com....multiple times. Fuck you Toronto.
3- So... those All Star Jerseys, eh?
KENT: But at least this year, the game isn't the worst thing about All Star Weekend, it's those godforsaken jerseys. True story: when the first picture dropped on Twitter (Get rekd, Elmo), I was in the ex-SBN Slack chat and I totally called it:
Just inexcusably awful and yet so on brand. Whoever thought this was a good idea should be publicly acknowledged, so that they can forever wear the shame of this abomination. I know the game needs to grow beyond the base of angry white dudes, but this ain't it, chief. Everyone's talking about the NHL because of this, but the old adage "There's no such thing as bad publicity" is a goddamn lie.
jimmi - Special weekend, special jerseys for the special fluff job.
Westy - Saturday morning cartoon edition. It shows that Bieber's people only let him use the primary colors, because the rest are so yummy to eat. I'm not sure who thought Bieber is the typical hockey fan and that I would relate to him. I'm not sure what age cohort is a Bieber fan anymore.
4- As of this writing, the Canucks are one point out of first place in the NHL again. In a year where we hoped that they'd be good enough to compete for a wild card slot, is it reasonable for the Canucks to say "Fuck it, Let's Do This!" and go all in at the trade deadline and load up for a potential Cup run?
KENT: The work that Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin and their staff have done since coming on board has already done two things: 1) Addressed the weaknesses the Canucks had through free agency signings, trades and better usage of assets they already had, and 2) shown us all just how incompetent the previous regime was.
If you see someone trying to give Benning any credit for the Canucks performance this season, you need to block them. No one needs a delusional bullshit artist like that in their lives. The organization was rotting from the inside, and between cleaning house in management, getting competent pro scouting, and making on ice personnel changes that paid immediate dividends, this is all on JR, PA and crew. You know things are good when we don't complain about this team's ownership. That alone, speaks volumes.
So, sitting in first in the division in mid-January, it should be obvious: Go for it. There are some prospects/roster players that, paired with this year's 1st round pick could help add a little more defensive depth and get that 2nd line center that can make the Canucks into a legitimate Cup threat. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but so did the St Louis Blues going from last place at Christmas to winning the Cup in the same season. They're close, and it would be nuts to try to do more than just be satisfied with making the playoffs.
jimmi - Alvin and the Cupmonks have done an excellent job. While they botched the Bruce firing, they've been firing on all cylinders since. Congrats to them. Frannie must be happy not to get harangued on the street anymore. Or more importantly, not vilified on NM in months.
Seems Trader Al (Trader Pat?) isn't going to stop now. 2nd line center does seem the obvious goto move. But, we will see if this is the time to trade the future, mortgage the farm team and go get a rental mercenary. Or two.
Westy - I am going to disagree with Kent just for the fun of it. GMPA has done a fine job of evaluating what was left behind and then made some changes. But.......Benning did draft Petey, Boeser, Hughes, Demko and traded for Miller. Was Benning a good GM or president? No...definitely not. He choices for coach were bad...his contract extensions were bad. His FA signings....bad
GMPA is now in a position that will define how we speak about him for the next 4 years. And Petey is making this decision more stressful by not negotiating during the season. The trade deadline might be a quiet one for this team because you might not want to fuck with the chemistry and secondly, you don't want to take on a contract that hurts the team next year or 3 years down the line. I personally would let this team ride out the year. It's easier to get by in for other changes if the team falters in the playoffs. Trade a player now and the team's ju-ju might change.
5- OPEN ICE: Here's your chance to let fly with anything you like or dislike about the season so far, Canucks related or not. And.... GO!
KENT: I have been impressed with the quality of the hockey in the PWHL so far in their debut. The jerseys leave something to be desired, but it's entertaining hockey, and it's going to do more to grow hockey than anything the NHL is doing right now. I love that the Canucks and Jets are doing so good. I'd love to see those two go head to head in the Western Conference Final.
As far as things I dislike so far, officiating continues to be an issue league wide. I know it's never going to happen, but some transparency and accountability for game officials, and a complete overhaul of the player safety department are long overdue.
jimmi - I dislike the Nucks have cheated us out of the incremental improvement scenario we were promised. As well as the anxious last wildcard spot chase.
I LIKE, really, really LIKE Nucks have cheated us out of the incremental improvement scenario. And spared us last wildcard spot nervosa. Conflicted fan feelings - NM mainstay for decades - has now been warped into a new, winning era. I'm trying to keep up.
Agree with Kent, as ever, the biased game-altering beer league officiating continues to be the NHL's forte. Can hardly wait for the Violence-On-Ice section of the league's May entertainment schedule. It's a delicate balance operating a TV Playoff War with that pesky rulebook being quoted on the internet.
Westy - I can't believe the two guys above me are still complaining about the refs after watching hockey for a combined 140 years. The only consistency is the refs inconsistency.
I hate the way the way Petey is fucking with the fanbase. Vancouver fans have been loyal to many players over 52 years and they desperately want another Swede to love and cherish. And yet it seems that Petey wants more.
I love Rick Tocchet so far. He is honest in his interviews and seems to have the players respect and they have bought into team, which has really helped some individuals improve their numbers.
I hate believing that this team is really good is the regular season, but thinking they won't have a playoff mode.
