The man that oversees the Vancouver Canucks is going to be around for a few more years.
On Friday, the team is set to sign Jim Rutherford to a contract extension as president of hockey operations.
Multiple reports are indicating that the 74-year-old will sign on for three more years.
Rutherford signed on as president of hockey ops with the team in the middle of the 2021-22 season, shortly after the Canucks cleaned house. He is the first person since Trevor Linden parted ways with the franchise in 2018 to hold the position. Rutherford also served as interim general manager before hiring Patrik Allvin in January 2022.
It was a rough start for Rutherford’s new team, as the Canucks has missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, including an 0-7 start to the tumultuous 2022-23 campaign.
Rutherford was under fire last season for publicly calling out former head coach Bruce Boudreau, before firing him in place of current coach Rick Tocchet in January of last year.
However, things have turned around in Vancouver, as the team is off to their best start in years. They currently hold the best record in the NHL (30-11-4) two points above the also-surprising Winnipeg Jets. The Canucks are on pace to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020, and just the third time since 2015.
Before coming to Vancouver, Rutherford had a successful tenure as GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins, guiding the team to two Stanley Cups, before stepping down in January 2021. He was also the GM of the Carolina Hurricanes, dating back to their days when they were known as the Hartford Whalers, for 20 years. He helped build a team that made it to the Finals twice, winning the franchise’s first, and so far only, Cup in 2006.
Rutherford was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 2019.
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