{"id":461635,"date":"2025-01-29T19:42:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T00:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=461635"},"modified":"2025-01-29T19:42:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T00:42:59","slug":"canucks-president-of-hockey-operations-pours-oil-on-rough-waters-and-lights-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/29\/canucks-president-of-hockey-operations-pours-oil-on-rough-waters-and-lights-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Canucks President of Hockey Operations Pours Oil on Rough Waters and Lights It"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations, <\/span>Jim Rutherford<\/span><\/a>, spoke to <\/span>Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail<\/span><\/a> recently. In the subsequent article, he expanded on the team’s difficulties on the ice and in the dressing room. What wasn’t included was learning from the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fans are taking it as well as they ever do. But is there any choice when you follow the <\/span>most dramatic team<\/span><\/a> in the league?<\/span><\/p>\n

Canucks President: Past and Present<\/span><\/h2>\n

There is a lot of ground to cover, but a quick rundown of the timeline might help\u2014not help the team, but help those of us trying to make heads or tails of this entire foolery. Primarily, it’s about different personalities at work. For folks saying they should “just work it out,” well, they pretty much did for five years. That’s not bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, and Benning<\/span><\/h3>\n

Elias Pettersson<\/span><\/a> broke into the league in 2018-19, scoring 28 goals and 66 points in 72 games as a rookie. It was enough to earn a <\/span>Calder Memorial Trophy<\/span><\/a> win that year, and his surprisingly good defence was a standout feature. There was talk about him being moved to the wing, but head coach <\/span>Travis Green<\/span><\/a> kept him at centre. That worked out fine.<\/span><\/p>\n

J.T. Miller<\/span><\/a> joined the team in a controversial trade by Jim Benning \u2014was there any other kind? With many fans still looking for a rebuild, moving out first\u2014and third-round draft picks wasn’t a popular move. But he rapidly became a fan favourite with his active, physical style.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming to Vancouver in 2019 also pushed Miller up the lineup, going from less than 15 minutes of average ice time with Tampa Bay to over 20 minutes nightly on the Canucks. With Miller on the team that first year, the line of Miller – Pettersson – <\/span>Brock Boeser<\/span><\/a> was the Canucks best. Of course, the 2019-20 season was known for various things.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Canucks President Was Not Always Present<\/span><\/h3>\n

Vancouver hasn’t always had a president. The previous one was <\/span>Trevor Linden<\/span><\/a>, who was fired in 2018. For the next three years, Benning made the call. He even received a three-year extension in August 2019. While not a popular decision among most fans, the team had shown signs of improvement. By that low bar, the extension was understandable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, the COVID pandemic hit in 2019, escalating until the league was forced to <\/span>close entirely<\/span><\/a> in March 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Canucks were doing reasonably well at the time. <\/span>Bo Horvat<\/span><\/a> finally had some consistent scoring help ahead of him. A 20-year-old <\/span>Quinn Hughes<\/span><\/a> was set to obliterate their rookie records. <\/span>Jacob Markstrom<\/span><\/a> stood on his head most nights and was backed by a capable <\/span>Thatcher Demko<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It got even better in the playoffs when those began in August. After a round-one win, the Canucks pushed the <\/span>Vegas Golden Knights<\/span><\/a> to seven games losing 3-0 with two empty net goals. It was the most successful season in nine years, and the fans were eager to watch the team build on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Life didn’t work out that way, as the team declined to offer any of their free agents a contract for cost savings. They lost <\/span>Chris Tanev<\/span><\/a>, Jacob Markstrom, and <\/span>Tyler Toffoli<\/span><\/a>. In addition, they were unable to replace them at a lower cost. The team was not just worse but dis-spirited at the start of 2020-21.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time Vancouver fired coach Green and Benning, it was December 5th, and they were 8-15-2. Whatever good feelings their recent playoff run brought, they were well gone. <\/span>Bruce Boudreau<\/span><\/a> was announced as the new head coach, and <\/span>Stan Smyl<\/span><\/a> as the interim general manager. Four days later, Rutherford was presented as the Canucks first president of hockey operations since Linden.<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s the Big Deal?<\/span><\/h3>\n

It sounds odd to see a coach getting hired before a general manager, and it was. Patrik Allvin wasn’t brought on board until January 26, 2022. The Canucks hadn’t reached a playoff position in the standings, but they did rattle off seven wins to start Boudreau’s tenure. They returned to Earth in January, going 3-4-2 before Allvin’s hiring.<\/span><\/p>\n

They ended the season at 40-30-12, missing the playoffs by five points. Despite the mediocre finish, Vancouver went 32-15-10 under Boudreau. So it was surprising when Rutherford refused to extend him and expressed disappointment that he was signed for another season.<\/span><\/p>\n

That off-season was noisy for another reason: the <\/span>decision to re-sign<\/span><\/a> J.T. Miller to a new seven-year, $8 million per deal. Speculation was that the team would sign either the relatively new arrival Miller or the team captain Bo Horvat. Horvat had already taken slightly less than he was worth to remain with the team in his previous deals. Now, the general manager he had negotiated them with was gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Allvin had no reason to be loyal to Horvat, even if his contract demands were reasonable. Going into the final year of his deal, everyone knew what was going on. Horvat would have to accept less or be shopped around the league. What happened was surprising, as Horvat changed his game radically, focusing on personal stats rather than team play.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time he was <\/span>traded<\/span><\/a> 49 games later, Horvat had scored 31 goals and 54 points, equaling his 70-game season the previous year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Something About January<\/span><\/h3>\n

Boudreau was fired on January 22, 2023. That bizarre mess and <\/span>public relations disaster<\/span><\/a> preceded Horvat’s trade nine days later. All through the year, the <\/span>Tanner Pearson<\/span><\/a> spectacle played out. The injured player alleged mistreatment at the hands of the team, enough so that even Quinn Hughes <\/span>commented<\/span><\/a> on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

So many things had crept into the public eye that Rutherford eventually had to deal with it all.\u00a0 On January 16th, the Canucks president of hockey operations held a mid-season <\/span>press conference<\/span><\/a> to clear the air presumably. Ostensibly, it was about Pearson’s season-ending surgery and how the team handled it. But it turned into something else altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their obvious desire to fire Boudreau, their apparently ignoring Horvat in the final year of his contract, and players’ injury histories in Vancouver were all subjects of the day. Add the unknown status of several others\u2014Pettersson, Brock Boeser, <\/span>Andrei Kuzmenko<\/span><\/a>\u2014and it was quite the presser.<\/span><\/p>\n

You may have noticed Pettersson’s name in there because he was approaching the final season of his contract. “With so much chaos, would he want to sign long-term in Vancouver?” Stop me if you’ve heard that one <\/span>recently<\/span><\/a>. It comes up a lot, though the names change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to the Present<\/span><\/h3>\n

Those two weeks in January are so important because much of what’s happening now was shown to us then. Boudreau has mentioned more than once that the players in a room matter when you have different personalities. He mentioned Pearson as an example of a buffer that can ease friction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Horvat was unceremoniously moved on in favour of Miller, and then a coach who is not as easygoing as Boudreau was brought in. Despite being linemates regularly leading up to 2022-23, they each centred their own lines in 2022-23. They each had an excellent season, even if the team didn’t.<\/span><\/p>\n

Come 2023-24, career highs abounded. Many players were having excellent seasons: Miller broke the century mark, and Pettersson passed a point per game once again. But when they played on the same line, they were Vancouver’s worst, and by a substantial margin. Tocchet started keeping them on different power-play units as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about his contract status, Pettersson replied that he “wasn’t worried about it” despite management’s obvious frustration. It was evident to everyone that they pressured him to sign before the deadline. They even let it slip that there was <\/span>a possible deal<\/span><\/a> with the <\/span>Carolina Hurricanes<\/span><\/a> for his services. He <\/span>signed a week<\/span><\/a> before the trade deadline day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canucks President Under Pressure<\/span><\/h3>\n

Pettersson hated the amount of pressure put on him then, and it shows now. At the beginning of this season, when there was a <\/span>kerfuffle<\/span><\/a> during a battle drill practice, it showed. The idea, speculated on by Elliott Friedman but not strictly a rare opinion, is that the team wants him to play “harder.” That isn’t about effort so much as a willingness to take abuse to make a play.<\/span><\/p>\n

The team’s use of Miller to convey the message was likely a fatal mistake. Miller has plenty of virtues in his game, even if <\/span>some aspects<\/span><\/a> took a while to get going. But his method of “instructing” players is harsh. It doesn’t work with Pettersson, as other players <\/span>have noted<\/span><\/a>. That was known back in 2021-22. What made them think it would work now?<\/span><\/p>\n

This doesn’t make Miller a villain any more than it does Pettersson. But it does highlight how thinking of who you’re communicating with before you try to send a message can save a whole lot of effort later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Bob Frid- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, spoke to Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail recently. In the subsequent article, he expanded on the team’s difficulties on the ice and in the dressing room. What wasn’t included was learning from the past. Fans are taking it as well as they ever do. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3171,"featured_media":461700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,4547,4548],"tags":[932,1630,1509,2138],"class_list":["post-461635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canucks","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-elias-pettersson","tag-j-t-miller","tag-jim-rutherford","tag-quinn-hughes"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461635"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461701,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461635\/revisions\/461701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}