Canucks GM Patrik Allvin’s Moves That Shaped a Winning Team

All GMs have their own style and visions of what constitutes success. How a team plays is, of course, in large part dictated by who is on the roster and who the head coach is, but the GM has a big say as well. When the shine of Boudreau’s first season with the Canucks wore off early in the 2022-2023 campaign, Allvin made his first big move in Jan. 2023.

He fired a coach fans loved. 

Boudreau was quickly replaced by Rick Tocchet and, to his credit, things have never been the same since. Canucks fans were disappointed that Boudreau was given his pink slip, but the reality is the team hasn’t been the same since. Tocchet had some coaching experience with the Arizona Coyotes and Tampa Bay Lightning, but now he was guiding a roster that had a strong foundation of talent. 

Defence Solidified with Captain Quinn and Company

As for the players on the ice, let’s look at how different the defence is these days compared to during 2022-23, both from a construction and performance standpoint. 

Believe it or not, but last season the Canucks were 26^th defensively in the NHL, coughing up 3.60 goals per match. They ranked 12^th in shots against, which is by no means a disaster, but to give up that many goals despite an okay ranking in shots against means the opposition was getting very juicy scoring opportunities. That or Thatcher Demko was simply a bad goalie, which isn’t true. His save percentage (SV%) was .901 but his goals against average (GAA) was 3.16. Spencer Martin, now with the Carolina Hurricanes, did struggle (3.99 GAA and .871 SV%).

Luke Schenn, Ethan Bear, and Oliver Ekman Larsson were some of the blueliners on the roster last season. Obviously, something wasn’t right. Larsson’s contract was bought out last summer (he’s now a Florida Panther), Ethan Bear is now a Washington Capital, and Luke Schenn is with the Nashville Predators. The Schenn decision seemed like the most important. He’s a veteran and a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but when something isn’t working, it isn’t working.

During the 2023 offseason, Vancouver made three moves of addition to spruce up the defence. First, they acquired Filip Hronek from the Detroit Red Wings. Second, they got Carson Soucy from the Seattle Kraken. Soucy has missed some time due to injuries but has been back since early March. Hronek is having a fabulous season with a plus-33 rating and 48 points (five goals, 43 assists). Lastly, Quinn Hughes was named captain, one of the best decisions the franchise could have made. The American-born d-manis a solid Norris Trophy hopeful, sporting incredible stats like a plus-39 rating and a whopping 91 points via 17 goals and 74 assists.

We wrote an entire article about how good the club has been defensively, and these Allvin decisions have a big role to play in that improvement. 

Offensive Fat Trimmed to Let Others Flourish

If the nomination of Hughes to team captain and the hiring of Tocchet as head coach were two of the biggest things the franchise could do, the other was in January, 2023 and concerned the offence.

Bo Horvat, the captain at the time, had been with the franchise for eight seasons. He was also having one of his best seasons despite that the team wasn’t winning very much (31 goals and 24 assists). But contract negotiations weren’t going as planned and free agency loomed. On Jan. 30, Horvat was traded to the New York Islanders for Anthony Beauvillier (already gone) and draft capital; a great player and team captain was suddenly gone. However, sometimes tough decisions have to made to ensure a roster produces to its full capabilities. 

Consider that barely a year later, Andrei Kuzmenko was dealt to the Calgary Flames for Elias Lindholm. Although he’s been a bit banged up since arriving, Lindholm brings playoff experience from a couple of good seasons in Calgary. 

J.T. Miller is playing the first year of a seven-season contract extension that Allvin proposed before the start of the 2022-23 campaign. He’s worth every penny, currently sitting with an incredible 102 points via 36 goals and 66 assists. Speaking of Allvin getting big extensions done with the players he deems critical to the franchise’s future, Elias Pettersson finally inked a deal this past March. Lo and behold, with all these changes being done, Brock Boeser is experiencing his best season ever with 40 goals and counting. 

It all makes for a remarkable turnaround. The current edition of the team – days away from puck drop in the playoffs – looks, plays, and is managed in a way that is unrecognizable from the one that was meandering in January, 2023. The coming weeks and maybe months will reveal if all these decisions from Allvin pay immediate dividends. Whatever happens in the first round of the playoffs this season, the Canucks look like a squad whose present success is built to last.