The 2024–25 season was a difficult one for the Vancouver Canucks. On and off-ice issues impacted the team’s performance, with injuries causing a skid in the team’s offensive production. Despite their season only ending around a month ago, the Canucks have already begun to make changes by naming Adam Foote the 22nd head coach in franchise history and signing prospect Tom Willander to an entry-level contract. On Thursday, the Canucks’ President of Hockey Operations, Jim Rutherford, joined “Sportsnet 650” for an interview. One of the key topics he discussed on the program was how the team will bounce back next season.
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“I believe we could have had more offence last year if we just shot the puck in a number of games where we actually had a scoring chance,” Rutherford said when asked about improving the team’s offence. “For some reason, the players wanted to pass the puck when the scoring chance was there.”
While this seems like a simple thing for Rutherford to point out, it’s still something that needs to be resolved. Last season, the Canucks were tied with the Montréal Canadiens for 30th in the NHL in shots-for with 2094. The only team that registered less than them was the Chicago Blackhawks, who ultimately finished the season 31st in the league in points. Any team that hopes to contend idealistically should not be in this position in terms of shots generated. With that being said, Rutherford believes that a solution to this issue can come from structuring team play a little more.
“I believe that offence can be generated by having a structure, and you can have your transition game come out of the defensive zone, and if you have a team that can do that, you’re going to be able to play the 200-foot game, still have as many scoring chances and maybe more considered to some teams or some players that want to cheat for their offensive chances, and then they get burnt on it.”
One key factor of the offence improving for 2025–26 will be Elias Pettersson getting back into his usual form. It’s no secret that 2024–25 was a down year for him, and Rutherford specified that this may have been due to a variety of reasons.
“With Petey, he didn’t have a good off-season. Now, he was dealing with a couple of physical things where he didn’t feel he couldn’t work as hard as he normally would, and he’s learned from that. It bit him this year, he had an off season, and he didn’t have the strength and the preparation,” Rutherford said of Pettersson. “He stayed in town a week to 10 days before he left town after our last game, and he was in here working out almost every day, so it was a very encouraging sign. I do feel his injuries are behind him, so that’s not going to be an excuse for the off-season. And if he has a good off-season, there’s no doubt that he’s going to bounce back to being the player that he’s capable of being.”
"He's Got A Lot To Motivate Him, And I Believe He'll Do It.": Canucks Jim Rutherford Discusses His Expectations For Elias Pettersson
The 2024-25 season was disappointing for center Elias Pettersson. He dealt with injuries throughout the year, while his rift with J.T. Miller reached a level that forced the organization to trade the 32-year-old to the New York Rangers. Overall, Pettersson recorded 45 points in 64 games, which was the second-lowest of his seven-year NHL career.
Physical injuries weren’t the only thing that took a toll on Pettersson this season, Rutherford noted. When asked about the impact of the rift between Pettersson and former Canuck J.T. Miller, he specified that it caused a mental strain on Pettersson.
“The year prior, these two guys played on the same team. They both had good years. We won our division, and we had hoped that would continue on, but it appears that it just wore him down, and he wasn’t able to be strong enough to get through it this past season.”
Because of the difficulties faced this season, many fans are worried about the future of their captain, Quinn Hughes, whose current contract expires at the end of the 2026–27 season. These concerns were perpetuated even more when Rutherford made comments during another podcast appearance with the 100% Millard & Shannon Podcast claiming that a Hughes trade may be needed.
“I’ll say the obvious. He’s a wonderful person and a great player, but we do control him for two more years. I think a better way of saying that is that we control him for a year and two-thirds, because if we get to that trade deadline two years from now, and it looks like he doesn’t want to stay then, then we would have to do something at that point. But we are hoping that he’s here to stay and he’s the leader of the team and the face of the franchise,” Rutherford had said at the time.
Canucks Jim Rutherford Suggests That A Future Quinn Hughes Trade May Become Necessary
The future of Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes has been a major talking point over the past few weeks. While Hughes is still signed for two more seasons, many, including President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford, have hinted that the Norris-winning defenceman could leave Vancouver once he becomes a free agent. One of the more likely destinations for Hughes would be the New Jersey Devils, where his brothers Jack and Luke currently play.
In his interview with 650, Rutherford emphasized that the organization will do as much as they can to keep Hughes in Vancouver. “We’ll see how the season goes. I’m sure he’s going to evaluate a situation year by year, and we have to give him all the reasons why he should stay in Vancouver. I know he likes it here. He’s been a Canuck since he turned pro, and he likes the coach. He likes a lot of things that go on here, so we’ve got lots of time to figure this out. It’s not like a decision has to happen here in the next month. I mean, this is two years away before a decision has to be made, so a lot of things happen in people’s lives, and a lot of things happen in the sports world between now and then.”
With the new head coach and Willander’s situation now taken care of, parts of the Canucks’ foreseeable future have been settled. Whether the team will put up a contending effort in 2025–26 is something yet to be determined.
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