Did Vancouver Canucks fans actually prevent the Pierre Dorion GM hiring?
There weren’t many wins for Vancouver Canucks fans during the 2025-26 season, but this might go down as the crowning achievement.
On Monday, news surfaced that the Canucks had interviewed former Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion for their front-office opening. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Dorion was one of just a handful of applicants who met with the Canucks in person for an interview.
Things began to escalate on Tuesday, when ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported that Dorion wasn’t just a candidate, but a front-runner for the role. The Athletic’s Thomas Drance also reported that there was a “strong possibility” that Dorion was going to be hired.
It was a potential move that didn’t sit well with Canucks fans.
Many took to social media to voice their displeasure, with fans threatening to protest and cancel their season tickets.
Hey @canucks & @fr_aquilini ā¦been a #canucks season ticket holder for decades & decades..been through a lot of rough seasons, but still renewed. You hire Pierre Dorion you will not get any more of my money. My kids are already celebrini fans.Will guide them to be #sjsharks fans
— Robby (@Dosange) May 5, 2026
Then, during Tuesday’s episode of Donnie and Dhali, co-host Rick Dhaliwal abruptly left the show, before returning with another update on Dorion.
āI can also tell you that the negative feedback about Dorion has hit Rogers Arena,” Dhaliwal said. “There is concern.”
āA lot of people are up in arms and upset that Dorion is a finalist and possibly the new GM of the Canucks.ā
Then, within a matter of hours, the Dorion connection to Vancouver began to fizzle out.
The Globe and Mail’s Gary Mason put out a couple of tweets, with his last on Tuesday suggesting the Dorion hiring had been nullified.
I may be proven wrong, but I would say at this point that Pierre Dorion's chances of being the next Canucks GM are between nil and non-existent.
— Gary Mason šØš¦šŗš¦ (@garymasonglobe) May 5, 2026
On Wednesday, Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre wrote that the Dorion hire would seem impossible for the Canucks, based on the backlash from the fanbase following his linkage to the job.
In case there was still any thought of Dorion joining Vancouver, Dhaliwal may have put it to bed. He reported on Thursday that the Canucks got calls from season ticket holders threatening to cancel their tickets and protest the potential hiring.
So, did Canucks fans actually prevent this hiring?
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman dribbled some cold water on reporting that Dorion was a front-runner, although he did acknowledge the Canucks’ seriousness in considering him for the GM job.
“I don’t know how anybody can say he wasn’t a legitimate candidate,” Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast. “They brought him there [for an in-person interview].”
While perhaps the deal wasn’t as close as Canucks Nation believed on Tuesday, it’s naive to think that fans didn’t play a role in helping steer the organization away from this decision. Welcome to the power of the online world.
As of now, the Canucks have narrowed down their GM candidate list to five people, and it seems safe to assume that Dorion isn’t one of them.