Canucks Jim Rutherford Gives Outlook On The Future Of The Organization

The Vancouver Canucks are at a pivotal point in their organization's history. After a disastrous start to the 2025-26 season, Vancouver sits 32nd in the league and is on pace to finish the campaign at the bottom of the standings. Ultimately, the poor start has led to significant change and has now forced the Canucks into starting a rebuild. 

While Vancouver's goal is to compete for a Stanley Cup, the organization has now realized that a rebuild is required. Recently, President of Hockey Operations, Jim Rutherford, appeared on the  100% Hockey podcast, where he was asked about the future of the organization. The first question Rutherford was asked was about the issues that have come up over the past few seasons, and how the club is preparing for next year and beyond. 

"There's nothing we can do about yesterday," said Rutherford. "What are we going to do about tomorrow? Are we on the upswing? I don't know if upswing would be the right word. I think we're on the right track to do what we need to do to get this team in a position in the next few years to start to be very competitive and start to get in a position to contend because I like our young players, and I like their attitudes. I like their work ethic. I like where they're at in their game. Just look at our defence. When you've got the three guys under 21 years old playing regular on your defence, that's pretty damn good. And these guys are getting better all the time, or they make a mistake, but so do veteran guys, but they're learning from them and love their attitudes. We got (Braeden) Cootes coming here, that's going to help us at center. We've got other guys in the organization to develop them quite nicely. So I like where we're at. How soon is that upswing? I don't know. I'd like to think it's the start of next year when we can flush everything out. The things are behind us, the Miller, the Hughes trade, we know where that sits now. The young guys know they're going to be on the team as long as they're progressing, and we'll just continue to add to that. And I do believe that we will be more competitive next year." 

Rutherford was then asked about a potential timeline for when the Canucks can become competitive again. Rebuilds can take years to complete and involve buy-in from not just those within the organization but also the fan base. In his answer, Rutherford mentioned that it could take a few years before Vancouver is once again at the top of the standings. 

"Yeah, we do," said Rutherford. "But I think here we all live in a fantasy world when you start trying to project that because, you know, we're projecting people's performance. It's not like we're projecting a product that you make. And when you're projecting players' performances, some will advance quicker than we expect. Some will stand still and not progress at all for a couple of years, so that's very hard. I mean, I would like to think within the next two or three years, the team's in a real strong position again. I can't say for sure that's going to happen. I do believe right now, we're just getting reps, and players are playing as hard as they can. Of course, they're trying to win games. It's not the most important thing to us right now, because we know we're going to finish last, but it is important to prepare for the part for the start of next season, and put guys in a position where they can succeed, and this team can get back to competing. I don't know if we can advance enough that we can compete for a playoff spot, but that should be our goal coming out of training camp next September."

Ultimately, there are still plenty of questions surrounding the Canucks future. The organization appears to be committed to a rebuild, but now has to demonstrate that they are ready to endure a few years of losing. In the end, focusing on the long-term future is the best plan, as Vancouver is currently in no position to compete for a playoff spot. 

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