Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford penned a letter that went out to the club’s season ticket holders today.
In the letter, which in years’ past has been written by owner Francesco Aquilini, this is what Rutherford had to say to Canucks fans:
On behalf of Canucks Sports & Entertainment’s ownership, our hockey operations team and our players, I want to thank our Season Ticket Members and all of our fans for your continued support. We know how much this team means to you.
The passion from the Canucks fan base is simply incredible and something we will never take for granted. This season has been difficult for all of us, but especially for you, our fans. We had expectations going into this season that were not met. All of us share in your frustration. This team needs to get better, and we will get better.
I came to Vancouver 15 months ago with a plan to build this team into a legitimate contender, one that can ultimately compete for the Stanley Cup Even though this season did not go as we hoped, our vision for this team has not changed.
We are currently the 5th youngest team in the league, and we believe in our core of elite players. Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller and Thatcher Demko are exceptional players who continue to elevate their game. We are equally excited about the emerging new players on our roster which includes Andrei Kuzmenko, Ilya Mikheyev, Ethan Bear and the recently acquired Filip Hronek. This is a terrific base to build upon. There is still much work to do to upgrade areas of our team. This includes being active in the college and European free agent markets along with managing our cap space by using all options available to us.
A big part of the development of this group will be the work of new Head Coach Rick Tocchet and his staff. We are already seeing improvements under Rick’s leadership. He is implementing the style of hockey we want to see this group play and holding the players accountable. We have a unified vision that runs from Abbotsford in the AHL to the Canucks in the NHL. Coach Jeremy Colliton is doing exceptional work in Abbotsford and is in regular communication with Rick on the development of our players. Our hockey development staff has also been highly strengthened by the addition of Henrik and Daniel Sedin. We are lucky to have two Hall of Famers working with our players in both Abbotsford and Vancouver.
Overall, I am proud of the hockey operations team we have put in place here. We have added bright and diverse minds to our management group over the past year in Patrik Allvin, Cammi Granato, Emilie Castonguay, Derek Clancey along with Ryan Johnson and Stan Smyl. We have exceptional people working in our pro and amateur scouting departments. I’m confident in this group as we embark on upgrading our roster and selecting a top pick in this year’s NHL Draft.
We are excited for what we are building and always appreciate your support. Your passion and commitment are what drives this franchise. Together we can show the rest of the league why Vancouver is the best place to play, and more importantly, the best place to win.
The Canucks came into this season with it being widely known that anything short of a playoff berth would be a “disaster”, and currently sit eight spots out of last place in the NHL with eight games remaining.
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