What Was the Canucks' Biggest Rebuild Move?

There is something refreshing about what the Vancouver Canucks are doing right now. It isn't that the team is suddenly good. It isn't that Ryan Johnson has already proved he will be a great general manager. And it certainly isn't that the Sedins have somehow figured out the secret formula for rebuilding an NHL team. It is much simpler than that.

The Canucks finally seem to have admitted that the old way wasn't working.

For years, Vancouver kept looking for the next move that would fix everything. Add a player here. Make a trade there. Find a way to stay competitive while also somehow rebuilding. It was the kind of approach that sounded reasonable until you looked up a few years later and realized the team hadn't really gone anywhere.

That is what makes this rebuild feel different.

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Sometimes the First Step Is Admitting You Have a Problem.

The Canucks aren't trying to convince anyone that they are one or two pieces away anymore. They appear to have accepted that the roster needs significant work, and that means giving the new hockey department the opportunity to build something rather than constantly trying to preserve what was already there.

That doesn't mean Ryan Johnson is going to get everything right. He won't. Nobody does.

And we don't yet know whether Johnson and the Sedins will build a team that eventually becomes a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. There are too many questions still to answer. The young players have to develop. The draft picks have to turn into NHL players. The trades and contracts have to make sense. Eventually, the team has to win hockey games.

But at least there is something to evaluate now. Finally, the Canucks seem to have a plan.

That may not sound like much, especially when a team is coming off a disappointing season. But for Canucks fans, it might be more important than it sounds. A rebuild doesn't begin when the prospects arrive. It begins when an organization finally stops looking for shortcuts.

The Biggest Question May Not Be Ryan Johnson.

There is still one giant concern hanging over all of this. Will ownership actually let the hockey people do their jobs?

That is the part Canucks fans have every right to worry about. A rebuild takes patience. It requires difficult decisions. Sometimes the right move isn't the popular move, and sometimes a young player needs time to develop rather than being rushed because the fan base wants something to cheer about. Johnson and the Sedins need room to build.

So maybe the first victory for the Canucks won’t show up in the standings. Maybe it is simply that, for the first time in a long time, the organization appears willing to accept where it is and build from there.

That's not proof the rebuild will work. But it is finally a reason to believe that it might.

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