Welcome Matt: Big decisions and no more excuses ahead for Canucks management
It’s their team now.
Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin et al have been running the Vancouver Canucks for a year-and-a-half and enter this offseason with $7 million of newfound cap space thanks to the Oliver Ekman-Larsson buyout.
They’ve made the decisions to extend J.T. Miller, to trade for Filip Hronek, and to sign Ilya Mikheyev.
They won the Andrei Kuzmenko sweepstakes, adding a top-six winger at the NHL minimum then re-signed him to big money for these upcoming two years. And they’ve constructed two-thirds of a fourth line with handpicked free agents Nils Åman and Dakota Joshua.
So as much as we hear about the Jim Benning era and how his ghost will linger to 2031 when they’re done paying Ekman-Larsson, it’s now time to shift the responsibility to the new managers.
- You might also like:
- Ronning thinks ex-Canucks teammate Mogilny should finally get Hall of Fame call
How they spend this cap space will help define their legacy with the Canucks, much like the Miller extension, the Bo Horvat trade, and the Hronek acquisition.
Next week, they’ll make their second first-round pick, then proceed to free agency where I suspect another defenceman or a third-line centre is coming. Perhaps it’ll be via trade, but these are important positions on any club and their choices will further put their stamp on the Canucks.
The excuses are over, and so is the blame game.
It’s time for Rutherford, Allvin and company to own their agency, and be judged accordingly.