Welcome Matt: Rutherford's dressing room address was a wise move to wake up struggling Canucks

Jim Rutherford picked a good spot. And he may have started a trend.

It’s not often that the head of hockey operations addresses the dressing room, let alone early in the season with the team struggling.

But Rutherford, the Canucks’ president of hockey operations, decided to speak to the players at some point during the team’s winless seven-game start, and according to insiders, he let them have it.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported he let them know there would be changes to the roster, and even said he would resort to waiving players.

In our second hour @FriedgeHNIC stopped by and talked about the temperature around the #Canucks over the past couple of weeks before the two wins to end last week.

Full interview.. https://t.co/STEgFbDw7j pic.twitter.com/yzT0eiFejY

— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) October 31, 2022

Friedman said the players were angry. Our friend Rick Dhaliwal has reported that there were interesting conversations were taking place between players and agents.

And guess what? You lose seven straight games, blowing leads in five of them, there should be some uncomfortable conversations. Players should be leaning on agents, expressing their anger and their fears. No one should feel settled.

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The Canucks have a pair of wins since the dressing-room dressing down, and it seems Rutherford’s playbook has found its way to St. Louis.

Reports out of that town today have GM Doug Armstrong informing the players that coach Craig Berube “isn’t going anywhere,” according Blues’ reporter Andy Strickland.

Putting the onus on the players not only helps empower the coach, but it also forces the players to take ownership of the record, and the process forward. The solution is in their hands, on their sticks.

Wise bit of managing from two Stanley Cup-winning leaders. Now let’s see how their players respond.