Are the Vancouver Canucks Rebuilding Without Calling it a Rebuild?

Photo credit: City News Vancouver

The Quinn Hughes trade was pretty much the nail in the coffin for the Vancouver Canucks, even though they do not want to call it a rebuild, rather GM Patrick Allvin calls it a hybrid retool, it’s a rebuild simply put, they are just avoiding the accountability that they have failed.

“This hybrid rebuild likely won’t sit too well with fans who were hoping the Canucks would tear things down completely and start anew with a core featuring Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Braeden Cootes, Tom Willander, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, among others.”-Jaxon

The Vancouver Canucks are in a rebuild, no other way around it.

Thomas Drance of the Athletic reported on the comments made by Allvin when the Canucks played the Philadelphia Flyers Monday night. Claiming it’s a retool not a rebuild, but when you trade your best player and captain, it’s a rebuild.

“The Canucks aren’t planning to rebuild with an extreme focus on draft capital and talent accumulation that we’ve long advocated for at The Athletic. They are, however, well aware that this team, as currently constructed in the wake of the Hughes trade, requires a significant injection of high-end young talent and that they must be mindful of trading expiring unrestricted free agent players for younger pieces or draft picks.”-Drance

The retool is a just a way to leaving Canucks fans in a carrot and stick situation. Not wanting to admit they failed, but giving them an excuse to not be competitive. Rather than taking accountability for building a bad hockey team, and needing to start again, they give the fans hope that they will be competitive in the near future.

“It also means that regardless of how many wins the Canucks can compile with a relatively soft schedule coming out of the holiday break and no matter how close this team comes to a playoff spot, they won’t be buying veterans to give the roster a short-term boost. The first-round pick the Canucks acquired in the Hughes trade, for example, isn’t burning a hole in the organization’s pocket the way it usually has during Rutherford’s era.”-Drance

The Canucks are 32nd in the NHL, they had talent that only two years ago earned them a pretty good season and were respected franchise again. But management ruined all of that in a short amount of time, to the point where the best coach they had in a while refused to return to the team to coach again. It’s time for the Canucks head office to be accountable and admit their wrongdoing or this cycle will just continue forever.