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If ownership wants the Canucks to be the best team in the league, they need to start operating as such.
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Published Apr 18, 2026 • 4 minute read
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President of hockey operations of the Vancouver Canucks Jim Rutherford at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC, April 17, 2026. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNGArticle content
Once again, Jim Rutherford is steering the car.
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Last fall, with GM Patrik Allvin looking a little lost, the veteran president took charge of the Quinn Hughes trade.
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It was an unusual choice for Rutherford — at least, as he’d been operating in Vancouver — but not that unusual for his career. In Vancouver, his intention had been to be a senior statesman, guiding his staff into self-sufficiency, and leave after a couple years.
Rather than drive off into the sunset with his team coming off a second-round playoff exit, he stuck around in 2024. Two years later, he’s left standing in the carnage.
Of course, the word now is “rebuild.” As in: Eyes forward; go young; end up with an exciting, contending team in a couple of years.
If I know anything about hockey managers, they can’t stop because they like winning too much. It’s an addiction.
And so when we heard Rutherford say, essentially, ‘Patrik screwed up, not me,’ that was him saying he’d have done it a little differently.
But that’s still a tough claim to make. He’s the top boss, in the end. He may feel let down by those below him, but he did the picking. And now, apparently, he’ll get another chance.
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All those signings
It’s pretty hard to square the rationale behind making all these signings to show Quinn Hughes you’ve got a serious commitment to the roster, while also being pretty convinced he was going to leave.
But Rutherford did make that claim. And then guys like Conor Garland were traded.
What was the desired outcome in all this? Keeping Hughes? There was never much hope of that.
What does ownership want?
Do the Aquilinis have a clear vision for this team? What do they want, here?
The plans don’t have to be all that complex, but they do have to be clear and coherent, with smart people hired for the right roles, all pulling in the same direction.
The quality of your results are determined by the quality of your questions. It also comes back to your own ability to sit back and recognize what you don’t know — and, crucially, how you bridge that gap. The solution may not be trying to figure everything out yourself. It is very likely finding someone who is better at it than you.
Is ownership truly committed to building up the organization?
It is pretty damning that the Canucks finished bottom of The Athletic’s poll of NHL agents. They’re the worst organization in the league, the agents agreed.
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“They really don’t have the infrastructure that the players need to remove excuses,” one agent said in their survey.
Rutherford can spend all the time he wants chasing after his ideal candidate, but the truth is that other players and teams can see the setup in Vancouver; and they don’t see a setup that’s optimized towards winning. Meanwhile, season-ticket holders are frustrated by how they are treated, and some are walking away. Going forward, ownership needs to take a look inward: If they want to be the best, they need to operate as such.
The Forbort thing
It may have flown under the radar for most of the season, but the lack of on-going detail about Derek Forbort’s health was wild given what the veteran defenceman revealed Friday. He said he had a labrum tear that eventually needed surgery. He had hoped, when the season started, he could manage it with cortisone injections and other less invasive treatments, including platelet-rich plasma injections in his hip.
The Canucks’ lack of detail in their communication was a little bizarre, even for them: He was day-to day-to start, then week-to-week, then was on long-term injured reserve with no reason given.
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Boeser as captain?
I’ve mused about it before, but of all the Canucks’ veterans under contract, he’s the most articulate and considered in his responses.
“Nobody should think they had a good year,” was a very strong response from him on Friday.
The Canucks should just go with a group of alternate captains next year, not roll with a C, but Boeser is certainly the best spokesman.
Whither Kane
The Evander Kane experience was truly a strange one. A big personality, but one no one ever really had any sense of what to make of him.
He scored some goals, threw some hits. Took long shifts.
Apparently, late in the season, he tried to be a good older-brother type for the Canucks’ younger players, taking them out for dinners and the like.
But he also was nowhere to be seen in the final week of the season. He wasn’t around for exit interviews on Friday.
And it really wasn’t a story.
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