The Vancouver Canucks’ rebuild will include a new person to do the rebuilding, as the team fired general manager Patrik Allvin on Friday.
Despite a myriad of reasons to keep Allvin, Vancouver’s 58 standings points (25-49-8) and last-in-the-league finish apparently spoke the loudest.
The team may look internally for Allvin’s replacement. Tyler Yaremchuk of DailyFaceoff.com speculated, “There’s been rumblings (about) 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.”
Jeff Marek added, “I don’t think there’s going to be the full 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.”
Allvin’s Rocky Tenure As Canucks GM
Another turbulent season at Rogers Arena included the trading of star defenceman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in December for a 2026 1st round pick and three young players.
Under Allvin’s watch, the Canucks awkwardly dismissed coach Bruce Boudreau and were unable to retain his replacement, Rick Tocchet. Warring by centres J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson forced the team to trade Miller to the New York Rangers early in 2025. Pettersson has largely underperformed the eight-year, $93 million contract Allvin signed him to months earlier.
TSN.ca points out that the questionable Pettersson extension is hardly an outlier. “Pettersson is one of seven members of the Canucks signed through at least the 2028-29 season, along with wingers Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk, defencemen Filip Hronek and Marcus Pettersson and goaltenders Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen. Both Boeser and Demko also inked their new deals on July 1, while Lankinen and Pettersson were extended last February.”
2023-24 Season Allvin’s High Point
Allvin became the first Swedish GM in the NHL in January, 2022, when he replaced Jim Benning. Rutherford had know him from their time together with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where Allvin spent many years as director of European scouting, director of amateur scouting and assistant GM.
The high point of Allvin’s Vancouver tenure came in the 2024 playoffs, when the Canucks reached Game 7 of the second round against the Edmonton Oilers. For Vancouver’s 50-win, 109-point regular season, Allvin was finalist for the Jim Gregory Award, presented to the league’s top general manager. But it would be the Canucks’ only postseason appearance in the last six years.
Who’s Really Pulling Canucks’ Strings?
Jason Brough of Sportsnet 590 radio in Vancouver believes the blame lies not as much with Allvin, as with the man who fired him. “I believe that (president of hockey operations) Jim Rutherford has been leading the ship. If I was Rutherford and I was spinning this, I would be like, ‘This is about moving forward.'”
Patrick Johnston of The Province also wonders whether the GM was always allowed to GM. “Rutherford took the lead in negotiations over a Hughes trade, a potential sign of a lack of trust in Allvin’s ability to make significant deals workout in Vancouver’s favour.
“But Allvin is understood to have remained the lead negotiator in other trades: he ended up moving out veterans David Kampf, Tyler Myers and Garland before the trade deadline, continuing efforts to reshape his squad in a post-Hughes, post-Miller era.”
The Seattle Kraken removed ambiguity in their front office last week, booting president of hockey operations Ron Francis to give their general manager, Jason Botterill, freer reign.
Jeff Paterson of CanucksArmy.com believes, “The downfall appeared to start (at) a disastrous 2025 trade deadline when the Canucks failed to part with pending unrestricted free agents Brock Boeser, Pius Suter, and Derek Forbort.
“Allvin fumbled and stumbled through an agonizing post-deadline media availability seemingly belittling Boeser by suggesting the loyal and long-serving Canuck had little or no trade value around the NHL.”
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks Jim Rutherford; The NHL’s Greatest Ventriloquist
