Will Ryan Johnson become the Canucks’ next GM?

The news comes after the Canucks finished the 2025-26 season with a 25-49-8 record and 58 points, dead last in the NHL and going into the offseason with the best odds at the No. 1 overall pick.

Now the question becomes who his replacement will be. There have been rumors that assistant general manager Ryan Johnson is a leading candidate, a retired NHL center who spent three seasons in the Canucks’ organization as a player and more than a decade as an executive.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Jeff Marek discusses the Canucks’ decision to let go of Allvin and if the club will hire Johnson as his replacement.

Tyler Yaremchuk: There’s been rumblings that Ryan Johnson, who has been in the Canucks’ organization for more than a decade, is their assistant general manager and the GM of the Abbotsford Canucks. Around 10 days ago, there was word that the Canucks did not allow Johnson to interview for the Nashville Predators’ GM job.

I was chatting with our friend David Quadrelli from Canucks Army and he said some reports came out that said the Canucks did allow Johnson to interview. The word Quadrelli used was “semantics,” and I’m curious if Johnson is just right in line to slide into that GM chair.

Is this Johnson’s job to lose? Or do you think Rutherford’s going to do a full, proper search with a bunch of other candidates?

Jeff Marek: I don’t think there’s going to be the full “hire the search firm to canvas the NHL universe” search. Ryan Johnson was identified by the team as someone they want to invest in long term, someone who will be part of the organization long term. It does seem like it will be hand to glove. I don’t know if they will make any type of an annoucement, soon.

Having said that, watch out for 4:59 p.m. ET, we’ll get the press release from the Canucks. While they will interview other candidates, I’m still of the firm belief that this will be Ryan Johnson’s ship to steer.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…