Canucks extend president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford
Rutherford, who was inducted as a builder in 2019, joined the Canucks during the 2020-21 season. He spent seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins where the franchise won two Stanley Cups with Rutherford serving as executive vice president of hockey operations and general manager.
Under Rutherford, the Canucks have gone through a reformation. Entering Friday, the Canucks (30-11-4) have the best record in the NHL and are in contention to capture the Presidents’ Trophy for the third time in franchise history and the first since the 2011-12 season.
“Jim has fostered a culture of accountability and performance,” Canucks chairman Francesco Aquilini said during the team’s news conference. “Today we sit here first overall in the league, and we have five players and our coach going to the All-Star Game. … There’s a lot of hockey to be played but it’s fun to be a Vancouver Canucks fan and be a Vancouver Canuck player again.”
When Rutherford took over the Canucks, the franchise was at something of a crossroads. The Canucks missed the playoffs for four straight seasons but made it to the second round of the 2019-20 playoffs in the Edmonton Bubble. It created the belief that the franchise and its young core could be turning the corner only to see Canucks fire then-GM Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green in December 2021.
The Canucks then brought in Rutherford, hired Bruce Boudreau to take over as their new coach and hired Patrick Allvin as their new GM all within a matter of weeks.
Although the Canucks won 32 of their 57 games under Boudreau in the 2021-22 season, the 2022-23 season proved to be a constant series of challenges. The Canucks opened the year with an 18-25-3 start which led to them falling out of playoff contention by December.
It led to them firing Boudreau — a decision that generated controversy — before hiring former Arizona Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet. Even though the Canucks won 20 of the 36 games under Tocchet last season, the franchise still faced questions.
They traded captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders and the first-round pick they received was then quickly shipped to the Detroit Red Wings to acquire defenseman Filip Hronek, another move that raised eyebrows with the timing and the Canucks’ salary cap constraints at the time.
The franchise also had to deal with the questions surrounding the handling of forward Tanner Pearson‘s hand injury. Pearson was supposed to miss four to six weeks only to miss the entire season.
“A person in my position is always going to be criticized,” Rutherford said. “You deal with different situations. We had to deal with that. We felt what we did was necessary, and you just go forward from there and talk about the different things.”
Rutherford praised Tocchet and his coaching staff for the work they did last season and during the offseason to prepare the team for this season which saw the Canucks open the year with a 12-3-1 start.
The Canucks have watched several of their players have what has a chance to be career seasons. Captain and star defenseman Quinn Hughes could win his first Norris Trophy while goaltender Thatcher Demko has a chance to contend for the Vezina Trophy.
And then there’s Elias Pettersson. Having scored a career-high 39 goals and 102 points last season, the 25-year-old center has 24 goals and 59 points this year and is projected to finish with 44 goals and 108 points.
Pettersson is also in the final year of a three-year bridge deal that saw him earn $7.35 million annually. He will be a pending restricted free agent at the end of the season which means the Canucks will have team control until he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
Rutherford was asked about the Pettersson contract situation and joked that his son, among others, asks him about it daily.
“We can wait. I’ll say the obvious and we keep saying it over and over: We really want him to stay,” Rutherford said. “He’s a very special player. He’s very important to the Canucks. He’s very important to the city and he can’t walk at the end of the season. That’s the position we’ve taken. We’ve taken it very comfortably, and so there’s not anybody getting anxious here.”