How much pressure should general manager Patrik Allvin be under as new Canucks season begins?

When Patrik Allvin was installed as General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks in January 2022, he inherited a team with elite depth at centre and a defence corps that was in shambles. Through a series of high-profile in-season trades, Allvin’s front office has reallocated resources significantly to build out a roster with the best defensive depth the franchise has had in more than a decade, but one that now features significant question marks down the middle.

Under Allvin’s watch, the Canucks have posted a 50-win/109-point season and were a victory away from a spot in the 2024 Western Conference Final. And the organization’s American Hockey League affiliate hoisted the Calder Cup last spring for the first time in franchise history.

So without question, there have been memorable moments. But in terms of the ultimate goal of contending for – and winning – the Stanley Cup, it’s fair to ask how much further along the Canucks truly are three and a half years into the Allvin era.

While the turnover rate for general managers lags far behind that of NHL coaches, in Allvin’s 44 months on the job, he has already risen to 15th in tenure among his colleagues, meaning 17 of the league’s 32 teams have hired a GM since the Canucks brought Allvin into the fold.

It’s likely safe to say he still has time on his side to continue the project he’s started. However, it’s also reasonable to suggest that Allvin needs to start moving this organization forward this season. 

He’s now on to a second head coach, and not every general manager is afforded that luxury. And Allvin required a backup plan behind the bench in April after his initial handpicked choice to lead the hockey club out of the wilderness rejected a substantial offer to remain on the job and bolted for an opportunity elsewhere.

So the Canucks are now once again trying to gain traction after a disastrous season on and off the ice and a remarkably inactive summer in terms of any kind of needed roster boost. It feels like the Canucks are leaning heavily into better vibes in the locker room and hoping good health can help them over the hump.

They’ll head into the new season with a roster stocked with strong goaltending and a solid top four on defence. Through drafts, trades, and development, Allvin and his management group have a stable of legitimate prospects on defence, but the same cannot be said about the Canucks’ forward group. 

Questions remain about Elias Pettersson, Filip Chytil, Nils Höglander, and the jury remains out on how much of an impact player top forward prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki will be at the NHL level. Beyond those players, the Canucks forward ranks are full of established veterans like Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Conor Garland, Kiefer Sherwood and newly acquired Evander Kane. All can play and contribute, but none are the types of players that opponents lose sleep game-planning to face. After that, the depth pieces seem interchangeable, with many still trying to prove they belong in the NHL.

Allvin needs to find a way to advance the program. It can’t be done overnight, and so expectations should be kept in check for the hockey club this season. Two seasons ago, Allvin’s boss Jim Rutherford stated all had to go right for the Canucks to merely make the playoffs and it feels like the team is right back in that position again. And that’s with the benefit of having the best defenceman in franchise history and one of the best players currently in the NHL leading the way. Of course, it’s Quinn Hughes’ future with the organization that may ultimately define the success of the Rutherford/Allvin time at the helm here.

Sure, making the playoffs would be great for the Canucks this season. The playoffs are exciting, as fans discovered in the spring of 2024. But this fan base deserves so much more. It deserves a lengthy run of seasons where the playoffs are a given and the designs of the hockey club are so much greater than sneaking into the postseason as a Wild Card team and then banking on hope from there.

Fans here see it happen all over the league, but they haven’t experienced for themselves since the glory days of 2009-2013. It’s been far too long. Patrik Allvin isn’t responsible for what came before him, but he did inherit the frustration of a fan base that has endured a wasted decade and 55 years now without a Stanley Cup.

So, yes, the seat under Allvin should be heating up. It comes with the territory in professional sports. The first three and a half years have provided a few memories, but ultimately the record shows just one playoff series victory, too much turmoil and not nearly enough forward momentum for the organization as a whole.

While the focus in the market is on the new season ahead and the many questions that come with it, it’s important to remember this management group was brought in to win a championship. And that’s how this front office should be judged.

It’s safe to say there is plenty of work still to be done and that the general manager needs a big season every bit as much as his hockey club does.