{"id":408158,"date":"2026-01-15T00:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T00:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/408158\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T00:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T00:45:12","slug":"rutherford-says-canucks-are-open-for-business-as-they-navigate-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/408158\/","title":{"rendered":"Rutherford says Canucks are \u2018open for business\u2019 as they navigate rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, seen here at the start of the 2025-26 season, said Quinn Hughes’s desire to play with his brothers forced the team to shift into a rebuild, with Quinn dealt to Minnesota in December.ETHAN CAIRNS\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say that when Jim Rutherford agreed to become the new president of hockey<\/a> operations of the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> five years ago he thought he was taking over a team with excellent potential.<\/p>\n

It had two top centres in J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson and a burgeoning superstar defenceman in Quinn Hughes. His optimism was warranted when, three years later, the Canucks won the Pacific division with one of the best records in the NHL. Vancouver took the Edmonton Oilers to Game 7 of the second round of that season\u2019s playoffs.<\/p>\n

Rutherford couldn\u2019t have imagined that would be as good as it got.<\/p>\n

Today, both Miller and Hughes are gone, the team has the worst record in the league and is now in full rebuild mode.<\/p>\n

The Miller-Pettersson feud \u2013 the details of which still remain murky but involved an intense dislike between the pair \u2013 was affecting the entire dressing room. Rutherford views that feud as an inflection point from which a line can be drawn to where the team stands today.<\/p>\n

Gary Mason: Rebuilding Canucks had to trade Quinn Huges, but fans are entitled to feel angry<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything went sideways once we got into the Miller-Pettersson thing and we had to move J.T.,\u201d Rutherford told me in an interview this week. \u201cAnd within a year of that we were dealing with Quinn\u2019s situation as to whether he was going to stay in Vancouver or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, within a year, we moved out the two driving forces of what could have made the Canucks successful going forward. There wasn\u2019t going to be a rebuild as long as we had players like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutherford doesn\u2019t think losing Miller had anything to do with Hughes\u2019 desire to leave. In fact, Rutherford told me, he thought ending the turmoil in the dressing room by removing one of the principal actors involved in it, would make Hughes happy. As captain, Hughes never liked dealing with the questions about the entire affair and he knew the toll it was taking on his teammates.<\/p>\n

In the end, it was a desire to play with his brothers, or at least play somewhere in the east, that became the biggest factor in Hughes\u2019 decision to leave, Rutherford said. He wouldn\u2019t get as far east as he may have hoped because Minnesota made an offer that the Canucks couldn\u2019t refuse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Quinn Hughes, right, seen here in his new uniform with the Minnesota Wild, has a desire to play alongside his brothers, Canucks’ president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said.Bailey Hillesheim\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Without Hughes and Miller, and the short-term future bleak, Rutherford made the decision to pivot to a full rebuild. Something, he told me, that was completely supported by team owner Francesco Aquilini. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s fine with it,\u201d Rutherford told me. \u201cFor all the people who want to take shots at him and what not, he always wants to do what\u2019s best for the Canucks and their fan base. He\u2019s like anybody. When you have a meeting, he wants to ask questions about why? Why will we do this? Why are we doing that? Which is exactly what he should do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutherford said a rebuild involves growing young players and he thinks the Canucks have an excellent developmental system, one he thinks the team may expand as it moves forward and drafts even more young players. He said that the team already has some top young players it is in the process of building into solid NHLers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, if you want to start the clock [in terms of the rebuild], do you start it when Quinn was traded and say the Canucks started the rebuild then? <\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, the clock actually started two or three years ago because we have very good young goalies in the system and now we have very good young defencemen. These are two positions that are hard to build and we\u2019re already ahead of the rebuild before the clock started, including the [Hughes] trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canucks trade captain Quinn Hughes to the Wild<\/a><\/p>\n

He went on: \u201cWe need to strengthen our centre ice [position]. We need to build that and once you get centre ice, defence and goaltending your rebuild can move along much quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutherford pointed to teams such as Toronto and Detroit, which both took years to rebuild \u2013 somewhere between six and 10 years. He thinks the Canucks can do better than that despite their recent spate of poor play.<\/p>\n

Soon, they should start getting some key injured players back at both the centre position and defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not like it has to be as ugly as it\u2019s been over the last few weeks but as far as getting to be a contender, I believe it\u2019s going to be two to three years. In the meantime, I don\u2019t mind it being ugly this year, because getting that high [draft] pick is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutherford understands the impact a shift from a team recently viewed as one of the top in the NHL \u2013 see the 2023-24 season \u2013 to one in full rebuild mode can have on the psyche of veteran players who thought they were part of something special. <\/p>\n

Winger Brock Boeser would fall into the category of someone whose play has tailed off dramatically this season. I asked Rutherford if he thought the Hughes trade has something to do with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure it has,\u201d Rutherford said. \u201cYeah, they were very, very good friends and I\u2019m sure that was part of that. You know he\u2019s [Brock] just a terrific person and he can be sensitive sometimes to situations like this. So, I\u2019m sure it has. Yeah, no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canuck Brock Boeser has had a down season in the wake of the Hughes trade. Rutherford said Boeser is likely impacted by the move and the void that Quinn’s departure creates.Derik Hamilton\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Boeser, who is 28, is one of seven or eight Canucks players who do not fit the demographic profile of a team in the midst of a rebuild. Filip Hronek, Jake DeBrusk, Conor Garland, the aforementioned Pettersson, would be included in that group as well. Kiefer Sherwood, 30, who is an unrestricted free agent after this season, is sure to be moved before the trade deadline. But Rutherford does not view those other players as assets depreciating in value with each passing year and so should consequently be traded for draft picks or young prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just have young guys on your team or you\u2019re going to set them up to fail,\u201d Rutherford said. \u201cYou have to have good players to mentor them.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, Rutherford also agreed no player is off limits to being traded either (except those with no trade clauses) given the right offer. \u201cWe\u2019re open for business,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n

Opinion: With the Canucks\u2019 season slipping away, a Quinn Hughes trade feels inevitable<\/a><\/p>\n

Asked whether he thought rookie head coach Adam Foote was doing a good job behind the bench, Rutherford gave him a vote of confidence. Given the injuries the team has incurred, Foote is doing about as good a job as you can under the circumstances, he said. <\/p>\n

Rutherford turns 77 next month \u2013 not usually the optimal age of a president of hockey operations overseeing a total rebuild of his team. It\u2019s certainly not what he signed up for when he took the job. <\/p>\n

\u201cEventually I will have to do what\u2019s best for my family but also what\u2019s best for the Canucks,\u201d Rutherford told me. \u201cI\u2019m committed to this rebuild. I\u2019m committed to this job today and as long as I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he conceded he does not know how long that is. Asked if he\u2019s committed to next season, he said, \u201cAs we speak, yes I am.\u201d But beyond that, he said he didn\u2019t know. <\/p>\n

I think he honestly doesn\u2019t know what the future holds for him, even beyond this season. If I\u2019m betting, he\u2019s not going to be holding his current job in three years\u2019 time. That would be asking a lot. But then, you never know. Lou Lamoriello was president and general manager of the New York Islanders until he was fired at the end of last season at 82. <\/p>\n

Rutherford will have a much better idea of how his rebuild is going after this year\u2019s draft, and the team evaluates its haul from the players it\u2019s traded \u2013 and are still to be traded. He truly believes the Canucks are on the right track. Only time will tell if he\u2019s right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, seen here at the start…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5128],"tags":[1018,1001,1019,967,991,1020,19,990,1008,1009,1004,992,989,894,1014,1016,1013,1007,1000,1030,993,994,1006,5,1002,1003,997,1021,998,1025,1026,4,1028,1023,1027,786,1024,995,1011,1012,333,1010,1022,86,1015,1017,1005,999,893,27,5313,996,1029],"class_list":["post-408158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver-canucks","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-canucks","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-hockey","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-nhl","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-vancouver","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-vancouvercanucks","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}