Canucks’ GM search has been a mess thus far

The idea of a fresh start is probably pretty attractive to Vancouver Canucks fans, after having watched a season in which their team traded away their best player and finished dead last in the NHL, 14 points below the second-to-last placed Chicago Blackhawks. While the recent firing of general manager Patrik Allvin seemed to signal a new direction in Vancouver, the transfer of power is looking a bit awkward.

Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford made it clear during his year-end press conference that he wants the new GM to be in charge of all hockey decisions, suggesting that Rutherford himself will be taking a step back in his responsibilities, if not soon retiring altogether. The fact there will likely be another disruption in management shortly after the arrival of the new GM is less than ideal for a rebuilding Canucks team.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by The Fourth Period‘s David Pagnotta to discuss where things stand with Vancouver’s search for a new GM.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s go out to the west coast and talk a little bit about the Vancouver Canucks. Everything they do seems to be messy, so it’s no surprise really that I’m sitting here and sifting through stuff and it’s like “Oh, this might be Rutherford’s last year. Oh, Rutherford will maybe just step aside when they hire someone new, or maybe Rutherford wants to stick around.” Is messy a good way to describe what’s happening in Vancouver?

David Pagnotta: Yes. Yes, it’s a very good way. Jim Rutherford’s got another year on his contract, I believe it’s just a year left with a very hefty price tag. I don’t think he’s just going to walk away from that. I think he’s going to collect, and then they can figure things out from there. Whoever does come in as GM is presumably going to be in control of the rest of this rebuild for the foreseeable future, and basically taking the reigns from Jim Rutherford, whether it’s next year or if he stays longer, whenever he does transition out. This individual is going to be coming in understanding that they’re maintaining this rebuild plan. They will have more moves to make in the offseason, but they’re going to be steering the ship moving forward.

A lot of these candidates that we’re starting to hear of, whether it’s (Tom) Fitzgerald or (Shane) Doan or (Kevyn) Adams or so on, they’re going to want to know what type of control they have. How much autonomy do they have? Do they have any? With respect to having that heirarchy in place right now, is Jim Rutherford calling all the shots, or am I going to be able to put my mark on this team? Patrik Allvin did not have much control despite what Jim Rutherford said in his press conference on Friday.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Thursday’s episode here…