The Vancouver Canucks had another terrible year, and it cost GM Patrik Allvin his job. The Canucks' next GM needs to take advantage of their clean slate and tear down Vancouver’s roster in order to go through a much-needed full rebuild.
The Vancouver Canucks fired GM Patrik Allvin on Friday, ending a tenure that lasted four-and-a-half seasons.
Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford was his usual media-friendly self in the press conference announcing Allvin’s firing, weighing in on a slew of issues, including the poisonous atmosphere in Vancouver’s dressing room, as well as Rutherford’s opinions on the direction of the team in the short and long term.
Rutherford said he wants the person picked as Allvin’s successor to make all hockey decisions. That must be a sigh of relief for potential GM candidates as they decide whether to take the job in Vancouver.
However, the next Canucks GM has to take advantage of the clean slate they’ll come in with. That means tearing down the roster and finding new homes for star center Elias Pettersson, star winger Brock Boeser and star goaltender Thatcher Demko.
Rutherford said giving Demko and Boeser lucrative contract extensions were partially efforts to convince star defenseman Quinn Hughes to stay in Vancouver long-term. But clearly, those efforts failed, with Hughes dealt to the Minnesota Wild.
As soon as Hughes was gone, it was time to go back to those veterans and explore which other teams they’re comfortable being dealt to. That’s exactly what happened with sniper Conor Garland.
He signed a six-year, $36-million contract extension last July, but Allvin and Rutherford found a new home for Garland in the Columbus Blue Jackets at the trade deadline. Garland surely didn’t want to participate in a full rebuild in Vancouver, and Demko and Boeser could feel the same way.
The biggest question for the next Canucks GM is, of course, what to do with Pettersson. He had another sub-par season, with 15 goals and 51 points in 74 games. Pettersson has another six seasons at $ 11.6 million per season, so Vancouver may have to retain some salary to make a trade palatable to another team. That’s also why the next Canucks GM won’t get much for Pettersson other than his cap space.
That said, in a league where good goaltending is at a premium, Vancouver should be able to get a solid return for Demko. The same goes for a once 40-goal-scoring Boeser. Although Demko and Boeser have full no-movement clauses, there are ways for teams and players to work around it.
In any case, Rutherford’s frank discussion on Friday should be all the evidence needed that wholesale change is coming for the Canucks. They don’t have the generational talent a team needs to be a legitimate Stanley Cup front-runner, and until they do, Vancouver is going to be mediocre at best. That’s the last thing Canucks fans want to see.
Vancouver fans are smart enough to support a full rebuild. They know that’s the safest and most-proven way to build a long-term Cup contender. The top draft pick they’ll have this summer – no worse than third-overall – will be talented enough to be a key part of the Canucks’ core over the long haul.
Nevertheless, there had to be significant consequences for Canucks brass in the wake of a second straight terrible season. The team Allvin built simply wasn’t good enough, and the next GM now has to untangle this team from its heavy contracts and start anew with a different core.
Rutherford fired Allvin because he didn’t deliver the results the Canucks wanted, but that’s also a reflection of the players who were absolutely abysmal this season. It’s clearer than ever that the Canucks’ next season must be one of renewal – and major roster alterations.
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