What I'm hearing about Canucks' plans as dismal season nears conclusion

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Certainly, when Jim Rutherford and Canucks management made the Quinn Hughes trade in mid-December, the plan was very much to allow the bus to crash. The question now falls to Rutherford, who seems likely to continue as president of hockey operations beyond this season, to determine whether or not the crash was so significant and spectacular that it dictates that changes are necessary to the composition of Vancouver’s leadership triumvirate — including, perhaps, general manager Patrik Allvin and head coach Adam Foote. On Wednesday morning, Gary Mason of “The Globe and Mail” dropped an article floating the possibility of changes in Vancouver’s management suite. Mason’s guess is that the future of the Canucks front office may not be settled precisely at the end of the season, when Rutherford meets with the media to debrief on a season that has been nothing short of a debacle. Mason’s guess matches what I’m hearing on this file. My overall sense of where the Canucks sit and what the club is weighing, both behind the bench and in the general manager’s chair, is that it’s still unsettled. Rutherford seems likely to continue as the head of hockey operations, although I’d note as a qualifier that ownership has changed course capriciously in the past, but beyond that, I’m hearing that the club is still considering its options. Foote, in particular, is the one to monitor with greater urgency than Allvin. The first-year bench boss is still thought of as a smart coach internally, but it’s clear that his team has been discombobulated and disorganized too frequently this season. Even if the club’s poor record isn’t entirely a reflection of Foote’s work — given the injuries, the drama and the poor quality of this roster — the team’s defensive habits, the lack of development from young players, the lack of flexibility in tailoring a system to the strengths and weakness of the lineup and the inconsistency with which the Canucks have brought a focused effort this season is a real cause for internal concern. It’s one thing for an organization to allow the bus to crash, after all, but you’re still expecting the players and coaches on board to do their best to behave like Keanu Reeves in “Speed” and put forth the improbable effort required to prevent it. There is a feeling that even with everything that has gone wrong against Vancouver this season, the club probably should’ve done better than picking up 27 points in 46 games since the Hughes trade. The sense I’ve got in asking around with team and league sources is that the club is weighing Foote’s future deliberately as the season winds down. Canucks leadership is sensitive to the high rate of change behind the bench over the past three and a half years, but also aware of the fact that they haven’t really fired a coach that they selected to this point (Travis Green was fired before the Rutherford hire, Bruce Boudreau was hired directly by Canucks ownership and Rick Tocchet left of his own accord). Any decision on Foote’s future, and the potential timing of it, hasn’t been made yet, according to a team source. It’s a decision, however, that could come separately and potentially well before a decision on the general manager. The situation with Allvin, and the potential timeline for it, is somewhat different. Allvin’s eye for talent is highly regarded internally, and he has spent months travelling in North America and Europe putting in the legwork required to guide Vancouver’s draft process. Vancouver is guaranteed to have a top-three pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, an additional first-round pick and the 33rd pick when the draft takes place in late June. While there have been reports, matching some of what The Athletic has heard about the matter, of Allvin preparing to be dismissed and even feathering his nest for his departure as Vancouver’s general manager, the club’s high regard for him as a talent evaluator is a wrinkle to monitor and be aware of as Rutherford and Canucks ownership navigate some difficult end-of-season choices. Is there a scenario where Allvin could be reassigned? Kept until after the conclusion of the NHL Draft to oversee that process? Kept in place outright, with the club only making a change behind the bench? My understanding is that just about everything is on the table. One critical item here to keep in mind is that a team source insisted to The Athletic that whatever choice the organization decides to make in terms of the composition of club leadership beyond this season, the money committed to the people involved — Foote and Allvin both have two years remaining on their contracts — won’t dictate Vancouver’s decision-making process. If Vancouver does move on from one or both of Allvin and Foote, a couple of internal options will be on a very short list of names that Rutherford and ownership would strongly consider as replacements: Abbotsford Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson and head coach Manny Malhotra. This scenario, which Mason touched on at length in his column on Wednesday and which The Athletic brought up last week and dubbed “The Abbotsford succession plan,” is certainly one to monitor. There seems to be some backstage industry momentum that Johnson is the heir apparent in Vancouver. Rick Dhaliwal reported Wednesday that Johnson was denied permission to interview for the Nashville Predators’ GM position. Malhotra, meanwhile, is likely to have some options after his Calder Cup win in 2025. Even though Abbotsford has struggled this season, Malhotra is widely regarded as one of the top head coaching prospects outside the NHL in this hiring cycle. The Frozen Four begins Thursday in Las Vegas, with a quartet of Division I powerhouses — Denver University, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan — set to contest the national championship on the biggest stage in college hockey. There are a handful of intriguing undrafted NCAA free agents who will sign with NHL teams following the conclusion of the tournament, but based on what The Athletic is hearing, the Canucks will not be the landing spot for T.J. Hughes or any of the other bigger names in that marketplace. Vancouver attempted to be involved and made some intriguing bets at the AHL level — bringing in Arizona State power-play ace Bennett Schimek, for example, who has seven points in his first nine AHL games — but the sense is that the Canucks will otherwise largely end up on the outside looking in during this college free agent signing cycle. There’s a sense of fatalism among Canucks fans when it comes to the NHL Draft Lottery, which is understandable given the sordid luck that this franchise has endured at the hands of the draft lottery balls (or at the hands of the draft lottery wheel, dating back to 1970). The lottery, however, is an airtight and fair process. The results are not pre-selected by some conspiracy, nor are they fated. Take it from somebody who has been in the room when the balls are drawn, this is a legitimate process, and it’s down purely to luck, free of the influence of larger or sinister forces. From a Canucks perspective, of course, the stakes of the draft lottery are significant. Winning the first pick, which the Canucks have the highest probability of doing, although it’s still just a one-in-four shot, would immediately send a lightning bolt of excitement into this franchise and the market. Even winning the second selection would put Vancouver in a place where the team would overwhelmingly likely be able to add an NHL-ready player with star potential into the lineup — while securing a new face of the franchise — as soon as next season. It gets a bit more interesting at third, of course, and that is Vancouver’s most likely draft slot, probabilistically speaking. The general sense in the industry, and it’s completely fair, is that anyone selected with the third pick (and lower) isn’t quite as likely to be an NHL contributor next season as the two names at the top of the draft order. There is still a lot of work for the Canucks to do in drilling down and finalizing their draft list, of course, and the year-end amateur meetings won’t take place until May. One draft-eligible player that I’m increasingly hearing Vancouver is potentially excited about, however, is Soo Greyhounds defender Chase Reid. Even if the Canucks sink down the draft order on lottery day and pick third, it sounds to me like the club is confident that it’ll be adding a player with franchise-altering potential and the ability to contribute at the NHL level next season. There’s been some chatter about the logic of signing extension-eligible young players like Zeev Buium and Liam Öhgren to long-term extensions this summer, before the rules on contract variability and term limits tighten in the next collective bargaining agreement, which will come into force in full on Sept. 15, 2026. I’ve been asking around about this, and based on what I’m hearing, the Canucks won’t be pushing with any urgency to do these sorts of deals this summer. The club, it seems, will be open to considering its options and having conversations with various representatives, but I sense that Canucks leadership doesn’t view the potential value of taking advantage of the contract rules as they stand today as justifying the sort of risk that the club would take on by proactively committing long-term to unproven young players. Vancouver is on its way to building up the sort of draft capital surplus that I’ve been calling for as essential over the years. Given the club’s trajectory and short-term outlook, that process of accumulating picks is likely to continue over the next few years. There is a distinct possibility, however, that the Canucks will explore their options on the trade market this summer and will be open to utilizing their various extra second-round and third-round picks in trades that return younger players with the ability to contribute at the NHL level on a more expedited timeline. Obviously, there’s a heavy negative connotation in the Vancouver market, and quite rightly, about the notion of “age-gap trades.” Ultimately, however, whether it’s the deal the Washington Capitals completed with the Florida Panthers for Justin Sourdif last summer, the deal the Philadelphia Flyers executed with the Anaheim Ducks for Trevor Zegras, or the deal that brought Egor Chinakov to the Pittsburgh Penguins in-season, this variety of trade is becoming very commonplace around the NHL. The Canucks plan to ice a very young team next season — the player selected no lower than No. 3, Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Braeden Cootes are all going to be given every opportunity to make this team out of training camp next fall — but it does sound like Vancouver will be among those teams looking to actively buy in this sort of younger reclamation project marketplace this summer. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Thomas Drance covers the Vancouver Canucks as a senior writer for The Athletic. He is also the co-host of the Canucks Hour on Sportsnet 650. His career in hockey media — as a journalist, editor and author — has included stops at Canucks Army, The Score, Triumph Publishing, the Nation Network and Sportsnet. Previously, he was vice president, public relations and communications, for the Florida Panthers for three seasons. Follow Thomas on Twitter @ThomasDrance