{"id":462327,"date":"2025-02-10T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T14:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=462327"},"modified":"2025-02-10T08:51:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T13:51:54","slug":"canucks-general-manager-patrik-allvin-can-take-a-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/10\/canucks-general-manager-patrik-allvin-can-take-a-break\/","title":{"rendered":"Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin Can Take A Break"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the three years since his hiring, Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin has been busy. Things seem to be working out a week into the biggest<\/a> – or possibly second-biggest<\/a> – trade of his career. But the season isn’t salvaged yet, and there are still plenty of decisions to be made. But maybe he can take a breather.<\/p>\n

General Manager Patrik Allvin Constantly Reshaping Canucks<\/h2>\n

As a fan, it’s a lot more fun when the general manager of your favourite team is active. Even when times are slow or the team isn’t particularly good, there’s something to talk about. And there’s always anticipation of another potential move or signing.<\/p>\n

As an employee of that team, it may not be so easy. As the saying goes, coaches are hired to be fired, and assistant coaches usually get swept out with them. Most players have even less security than the coaching staff. They move between the NHL and the AHL, sit as an extra, hit the waiver wire, or get traded at any moment.<\/p>\n

New management often means changes for the team. After all, if things were going well there wouldn’t be a need for new management. Whether the new general manager agreed with moves the previous regime made or not, they were hired to make changes. And change them they do.<\/p>\n

One of the first deals Allvin made was sending out the recently signed Jason Dickinson<\/a>, paying a second-round draft pick to do so. The security of a contract is only financial in hockey, as Dickinson was shuffled off in the first year of a three-season contract.<\/p>\n

Underperformance and cap space needs made the cost worthwhile, but he was also signed by Allvin’s predecessor. That’s important to note because sending away a player someone else acquired needs no excuse. Canucks players signed by Patrik Allvin, on the other hand, are all his judgement calls.<\/p>\n

In, Out, Repeat as Necessary?<\/h3>\n

Admitting you’ve made a mistake and quickly acting to correct it is a good thing. This is especially true in the mercurial world of professional sports, where lifetime stories happen in a few short months.\u00a0 For instance, another early move was waiving goalie Spencer Martin<\/a> halfway through a two-year deal. He was outplayed and lost his spot.<\/p>\n

It’s hard on players, but that’s the world they’re in. Drafted players might not make the grade, like Jack Rathbone<\/a>, who was on a two-year bridge deal when he was traded. Others are in the “wily veteran” category* who are brought in to shore up the youth. Curtis Lazar<\/a> was signed by Allvin for three years, only to be moved before the season ended.<\/p>\n

At least Ilya Mikheyev<\/a> made it halfway through his free-agent contract before he was dealt to Chicago<\/a> in 2024. Like the Dickinson trade, that also cost Vancouver a future second-round draft pick. You might begin to suspect that Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin may need an intervention.<\/p>\n

Landing Andrei Kuzmenko<\/a> to his first NHL contract was a coup<\/a> deserving of praise. But he, too, was traded away along with a first, a fourth, and two prospects mid-way through his second contract. He brought back a valuable, if temporary, piece in Elias Lindholm<\/a>, but underperformance was also part of why he was expendable.<\/p>\n

Danton Heinen<\/a>, Vincent Desharnais<\/a>, Daniel Sprong<\/a>, and Mark Friedman<\/a> were all free agents who signed to play in Vancouver. All are now gone in various deals. Heinen and Desharnais signed for multiple years and didn’t last twelve months.<\/p>\n

Let’s See What’s Here<\/h3>\n

We didn’t include J.T. Miller<\/a> here because that was a decision made out of necessity. You could judge the previous decision about which horse they chose to back, though. Vasily Podkolzin<\/a>‘s trade, while annoying, was an in-house pick moved out rather than a free-agent signing cut short.<\/p>\n

Placing Carson Soucy<\/a> on the trade block a little more than halfway through his signing is repeating the pattern. It doesn’t matter how long the contract is for, any free agent signing with Vancouver should leave their stuff in boxes. Rent, don’t buy. Which, given that it’s Vancouver, is probably what they’re doing anyway, but still!<\/p>\n

The Canucks have changed a lot under Patrik Allvin this season. Indeed, they’ve changed a lot this month. And maybe he and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford<\/a> can let the team itself settle into their new configuration.<\/p>\n

The Canucks are coming out of the break with five games in seven days. Before acquiring any more Petterae<\/a> for the team, see how these ones work together. There will still be another week before the trade deadline to satisfy that particular itch.<\/p>\n

Or, more to the point, look at the fit before trading away yet another free agent signed to a multi-year deal. Yes, free agents want to go to winning teams, but that’s not Vancouver yet. How about making it a place where someone can sign without keeping Vrbo on speed dial?<\/p>\n

*All veterans are wily.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

In the three years since his hiring, Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin has been busy. Things seem to be working out a week into the biggest – or possibly second-biggest – trade of his career. But the season isn’t salvaged yet, and there are still plenty of decisions to be made. But maybe he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3171,"featured_media":462363,"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":[7320,4454,4038],"class_list":["post-462327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canucks","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-andrei-kuzmenko","tag-carson-soucy","tag-ilya-mikheyev"],"modified_by":"Alec Roberson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462327","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=462327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462364,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462327\/revisions\/462364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}