"Big decisions are coming up": New Canucks bosses outline next steps
From the moment that Jim Rutherford took over as president of hockey operations, one thing was certain: he was going to make changes, and lots of them.
He’s done it everywhere he’s gone, after all. Rutherford averaged one trade per month while he was with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It’s been nearly seven weeks since Rutherford was hired by the Vancouver Canucks, and no trades have been made, so you could say he’s behind schedule. He has made a number of front-office hirings, though, including new GM Patrik Allvin, who was introduced to the media today.
Rutherford insisted that while he will be involved in big decisions, Allvin is the team’s general manager.
“I’m here to support the people that are working in hockey operations,” said Rutherford. “Everybody has to do their own job, regardless of what their titles are, where they sit in the organization. I’ve always let people do their own job.”
“Patrik is going to be able to work the day-to-day stuff as a general manager. When he needs some help or has questions, I’m going to be right there to try to work with him — just as I’ll be with the person that heads up pro scouting or amateur scouting or whatnot. That’s what I’m here for.”
“Some big decisions are coming up”
Make no mistake, though, the top hockey operations decision-maker is still Rutherford. There’s a reason he didn’t defer all hockey questions to Allvin today.
While the Canucks have been far better since Bruce Boudreau took over, you don’t get the sense that Rutherford is fooled by this short run of success.
Rutherford spoke about wanting more cap space and said “some big decisions are coming up.”
Does that mean they would consider moving J.T. Miller, who has been mentioned in trade rumours recently, or another player with a big salary? Or perhaps a pending unrestricted free agent like Tyler Motte?
We’ll have to wait and see.
“I do like a lot of players here. I like what’s just happened here, just in the recent week or so when we’ve been shorthanded,” said Rutherford. “I give our coaches and players a lot of credit. They showed a lot of character and they gave it everything they had… So there’s some good things going on here.”
But…
“We have to add more players to get to where we want to get to.Ā And that’s something that’s going to have to be decided here leading up to the trading deadline.
“How do we go about that? We’ve got to figure out a way to get a little cushion on the cap. It’s always difficult being up against the cap. A team that’s not in the playoffs at this point in time is not a good thing. So some big decisions are coming up.
“But now that we’ve added more people to hockey ops, we’re now in a stronger position to make those decisions.”
Eyeing college and European free agents
"Coming from Pittsburgh, we parted ways with a lot of picks, but we always found ways to get players."
š£ļø General Manager Patrik Allvin pic.twitter.com/DEMWpu8CeZ
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) January 26, 2022
Allvin, who is the first-ever Swedish general manager in NHL history, brought up college and European free agents on a couple of occasions. Expect the Canucks to be active in that market in the coming months.
It’s a way to try to supplement a lack of prospect depth — and certainly the Canucks are lacking in that department right now. The organization sent just one player to the World Juniors in December, and it hasn’t been a banner year for prospects in Abbotsford either.
Jim Benning left the cupboards bare.
The Canucks haven’t drafted in the first round in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history. They didn’t have third- or fourth-round picks last year, and didn’t have a second-rounder in 2020. Vancouver’s even missing a second-round pick in the upcoming draft in June.
“This organization, with fewer [draft] picks coming up, I think this is a great landing spot for a lot of European and college Canadian players. So you’re gonna get opportunities,” said Allvin. “We don’t want to use any excuses. We need to find ways to get better every day and I’m sure our scouting staff will be up for the task to find more players, better players.”
Allvin comes from a scouting background. He began his NHL management career as a European scout, first with the Montreal Canadiens (2002-2006), and then with Pittsburgh in 2006. He went on to become the Penguins’ director of European scouting and director of amateur scouting before Rutherford promoted him to Pittsburgh’s assistant general manager in 2020.
With regards to his scouting philosophy, he says you have to have an open mind.
“You’ve got to be open-minded and you’ve got to look for talent. You’ve got to trust your scouting staff, the people that work for you. We want to play a fast, skilled game. In order to be successful, you’ve got to be able to find players outside the first round in the NHL Entry Draft. You need to compliment the organization with college and European free agents.”
You need structure, depth to win the Stanley Cup
So what’s it going to take to bring a Stanley Cup to Vancouver?
Allvin has been a part of three Cup winners in Pittsburgh, and he highlighted structure and depth as key things that are needed.
“You need structure, and you need good depth. One year in Pittsburgh, we ended up with five or six players that started the season in [the AHL] and ended up with their names on the Stanley Cup,” said Allvin. “So for us to be a consistent playoff team and a consistent contender, we need to build up the depth of the organization, and that’s through the draft and signing European college free agent players.”
"What they talked about in terms to culture, identity and standards, that's something I truly believe in and I'm very excited to continue to have them on board here."
š£ļø General Manager Patrik Allvin on Henrik and Daniel Sedin pic.twitter.com/tPssR2AAfd
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) January 26, 2022
The Penguins have been a model franchise for grooming players with their AHL team — something the Canucks have struggled with dating back to the Mike Gillis era.
Players like Jake Guentzel, Matt Murray, Bryan Rust, Brian Dumoulin, Ben Lovejoy, Conor Sheary, Carter Rowney, Scott Wilson, and Tom Kuhnhackl all spent significant time with Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre before helping the Pens win back-to-back Cups.
“That’s the key in today’s game. I think that’s something we want to emphasize on moving forward here in order to be successful,” Allvin added. “I think Ryan Johnson has done a tremendous job… But I do think that’s the key, to establish a culture for the younger players down in Abbotsford to set the standard and have a lot of homegrown players. That’s something that we’ve been successful with in Pittsburgh.
“Every player has their own path… It’s a marathon, so you’ve got to be patient with the players and you’ve got to support them with the right people, coaches, and development staff.”
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