Every significant Canucks move made in two years under Rutherford

Saturday marked the second anniversary of the Vancouver Canucks hiring Jim Rutherford as president of hockey operations.

Rutherford took over from the recently fired Jim Benning on December 9, 2021.

“It is time for a new vision and a new leader who will set a path forward for this team,” Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini said of the now 74-year-old executive at the time. “Jim has tremendous experience building and leading winning organizations and I believe he will help build the Vancouver Canucks into a team that can compete for championships again.”

So, how has it gone?

The Canucks enjoyed instant success under their new president, as the team rattled off seven straight wins under Bruce Boudreau.

“Bruce there it is” was born, but beneath the surface, trouble was brewing. The 2022-23 season was filled with dysfunction, change, and chaos.

But now? The Canucks have racked up a lot of wins this season — on and off the ice.

Here’s a look back at all the changes made in two years of Rutherford.

Major Canucks front office changes

Rutherford’s first task after taking over was to reconstruct the hockey operations department. He hired Patrik Allvin as GM and added a trio of assistant general managers, though he lost one of them last summer.

• December 15, 2021: Derek Clancey hired as AGM
• January 24, 2022: Émilie Castonguay hired as AGM
• January 26, 2022: Patrik Allvin hired as GM
• February 10, 2022: Cammi Granato hired as AGM
• July 18, 2023: Derek Clancey lost to Toronto Maple Leafs

Coaching staff changes

While Rutherford said he initially supported Aquilini’s decision to hire Boudreau, it later became clear that Canucks management never seemed to be on the same page as the head coach they inherited. It blew up in everyone’s face last season and was a black mark for the organization.

With that said, the Rick Tocchet hiring couldn’t have gone any better. He’s the odds-on favourite to win the Jack Adams Award right now.

• January 22, 2023: Fired Bruce Boudreau, Trent Cull
• January 22, 2023: Hired Rick Tocchet, Adam Foote, Sergei Gonchar

Every Canucks trade in the last two years

The Canucks have been one of the busiest teams in the NHL on the trade market in the Rutherford era. The decision to trade Bo Horvat and use the New York Islanders’ first-round pick to acquire Filip Hronek was a franchise-altering move.

Canucks management has made several small moves in recent months that have paid off, though they have come at the cost of losing a number of their draft picks beyond the first round.

Here’s a recap of the trades they’ve made:

• March 20, 2022: Travis Hamonic to OTT for third-round pick (80th overall, Elias Pettersson)
• March 20, 2022: 3rd-round pick to TOR for Travis Dermott
• March 21, 2022: Tyler Motte to NYR for fourth-round pick (119th overall, Matthew Perkins)
• October 7, 2022: Jason Dickinson, second-round pick to CHI for Riley Stillman
• October 27, 2022: Michael DiPietro, Jonathan Myrenberg to BOS for Jack Studnicka
• October 28, 2022: Fifth-round pick to CAR for Ethan Bear, Lane Pederson
• January 30, 2023: Bo Horvat to NYI for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty, first-round pick
• February 25, 2023: Will Lockwood to NYR for Vitali Kravtsov
• February 27, 2023: Riley Stillman to BUF for Josh Bloom
• February 28, 2023: Luke Schenn to TOR for third-round pick (89th overall, Sawyer Mynio)
• March 1, 2023: First-round pick (17th overall, Axel Sandin Pallikka), second-round pick (43rd overall, Felix Nilsson) to DET for Filip Hronek, fourth-round pick (105th overall, Ty Mueller)
• March 3, 2023: Curtis Lazar to NJD for fourth-round pick
• March 3, 2023: Wyatt Kalnyuk to NYR for future considerations
• September 19, 2023: Tanner Pearson, third-round pick to MTL for Casey DeSmith
• October 8, 2023: Fifth-round pick to TOR for Sam Lafferty
• October 17, 2023: Jack Rathbone, Karel Plasek to PIT for Mark Friedman, Ty Glover
• November 28, 2023: Anthony Beauvillier to CHI for fifth-round pick
• November 30, 2023: Third and fifth-round picks to CGY for Nikita Zadorov

Key free agent additions

The Canucks were able to convince Andrei Kuzmenko to sign in Vancouver, which was a real feather in the cap of Rutherford and Allvin.

The biggest free agent contract handed out was to Ilya Mikheyev, with most of the other signings being relatively economical.

• June 7, 2022: Nils Åman (two years, $883,750 AAV)
• July 13, 2022: Ilya Mikheyev (four years, $4.75 million AAV)
• July 13, 2022: Dakota Joshua (two years, $1.65 million AAV)
• July 13, 2022: Andrei Kuzmenko (one year, $950,000)
• July 1, 2023: Teddy Blueger (one year, $1.9 million AAV)
• July 1, 2023: Carson Soucy (three years, $3.25 million AAV)
• July 1, 2023: Ian Cole (one year, $3 million AAV)
• August 11, 2023: Pius Suter (two years, $1.6 million AAV)

Biggest buyout in NHL history

The Oliver Ekman-Larsson buyout stands as the most costly buyout in NHL history. It opened cap space for the Canucks this year, but the franchise will be paying for it until 2031.

• June 16, 2023: Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($17.01 million)

Big contract extensions

Contract extensions to Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller didn’t look so great one year ago. But now? Miller is second in the NHL in points, while Boeser is third in goals.

• July 1, 2022: Brock Boeser, three years, $6.65 million AAV
• September 2, 2022: J.T. Miller, seven years, $8 million AAV
• January 26, 2023: Andrei Kuzmenko, two years, $5.5 million AAV

First-round draft picks

Allvin has looked to his native Sweden for both of his first-round picks. After struggling last season, Jonathan Lekkerimäki has bounced back this year. Tom Willander’s just starting his NCAA career with Boston University, though the pressure’s on for that pick with Zach Benson cracking the Buffalo Sabres’ lineup as an 18-year-old.

Time will tell if they were the right picks.

• 2022 draft (15th overall): Jonathan Lekkerimäki
• 2023 draft (11th overall): Tom Willander

Naming new Canucks captain

With Horvat moving on, the Canucks were faced with a decision of who should wear the C. Should the captaincy go to Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, or J.T. Miller? Or perhaps they could join a list of teams being captainless.

They chose Hughes, which wasn’t expected at the time of the Horvat trade, though nobody’s questioning the decision now.

• September 11, 2023: Quinn Hughes named Canucks captain

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