The Vancouver Canucks introduced Ryan Johnson as their new GM and Daniel and Henrik Sedin as their new co-presidents of hockey operations. Before discussing wins and losses, the environment and culture are the focus.
The Vancouver Canucks' new GM said one thing must be the focus for the rebuilding club right now before discussing wins and losses.
Ryan Johnson, who was named the 13th GM in Canucks history, spoke to reporters Thursday alongside Daniel and Henrik Sedin, the club's new co-presidents of hockey operations. Johnson said building the environment will be the top priority, and they won't race through it to rush a rebuild.
That focus comes after a couple of seasons that included a dressing room rift between J.T. Miller and center Elias Pettersson, Miller and captain Quinn Hughes being traded away and a fall from first in the Pacific Division to last in the NHL.
"I think anybody that has worked with me, alongside me, players that have played with me, they understand there's some real non-negotiables," Johnson said.
That will be made very clear to the players right away, he added.
"I always talk about the professionalism of how they approach every day and having a plan," he said. "But even more importantly, and probably guys that have played for me would tell you, my biggest challenge to them every day is, what is the quality of teammate that you could be for each other today?"
That includes how players practise, how they push each other to improve, awareness of who's in the room and how they're feeling, how they pay attention to line changes and more.
"(The players will) be very aware that when they walk into this facility in September that they've got to make a decision of who they want to be as a player, but who they want to be as a person and a teammate, and they'll know that," Johnson said.
The Sedin twins accepted an offer from owner Francesco Aquilini to become co-presidents of hockey operations after Jim Rutherford announced he'd be stepping down. They were the ones who selected Johnson over external candidate Evan Gold of the Boston Bruins.
Henrik and Daniel Sedin also discussed the importance of team culture and the improvement they've already noticed.
"Culture is huge. You cannot win without it; that's impossible, and you cannot be sustainable without it," Henrik Sedin said. "You'll see when this moves on and there's a process to everything, and you build something good, you will win a lot of the trades you make, and you will bring in free agents that are over performing than maybe you expect. So for us, the culture piece is our main, main thing to fall back on over the next little bit."
Added Daniel Sedin: "I think the last 15, 20 games last season, I was extremely excited when I left the rink after games because I saw something special happening with that group. I think there's a lot of good people in the room that want to do well for this organization. So that gave us all hope."
Henrik and Daniel Sedin are the top two scorers in Canucks history, with 1,070 and 1,041 points, respectively. They made the Stanley Cup final with Vancouver in 2011 and helped the team win the Presidents' Trophy twice.
Johnson also played for the Canucks for two seasons between 2008 and 2010 as a depth forward. During those seasons, no Canucks forward blocked more shots than Johnson's 169. No regular forward in the entire NHL averaged more blocked shots per 60 minutes than Johnson during that time, either. He then became a development coach with the Canucks in 2013-14 and had spent the past nine seasons as the GM of their AHL affiliate, winning the Calder Cup in 2024-25.
As players, Daniel Sedin said they've been through really good seasons and some tougher ones. Their best campaigns were when they were well prepared, he said.
That is one message he wants to make clear to Pettersson, who had a career-high 102 points in 80 games in 2022-23 but hasn't gotten back to that level of production. The 27-year-old had 51 points in 74 games this season and was a topic of trade speculation at times.
Johnson said he also wants to wipe away all expectations Pettersson may have for himself and just focus, along with the rest of the players and staff, on being the most physically and mentally ready they can be in the fall.
"I'll reiterate again, I'm going to challenge these guys to be as good as the teammates that they can for each other," Johnson said. "If we commit to those little things, everybody's going to better, for him included."
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.