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Jim Rutherford

West Notes: Canucks, Forsberg, Oilers

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While there has been plenty of trade speculation surrounding several of their veterans, Canucks president Jim Rutherford told NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger that their immediate goal is to get to the playoffs this season.  Center J.T. Miller, winger Conor Garland, and goaltender Jaroslav Halak have all been mentioned as candidates to be moved but it would stand to reason that Rutherford’s preference is to give his current group more time together if he wants to see Vancouver get back into the postseason picture.  The Canucks currently are seventh in the Pacific Division and are nine points out of the last divisional seed and six points behind Calgary for the final Wild Card seed although the Flames have four games in hand.

Elsewhere out West:

  • The Predators plan to escalate talks on a possible contract extension for pending UFA winger Filip Forsberg, GM David Poile indicated in an appearance on ESPN 102.5 (audio link). The alternate captain is having the best season of his career with 38 points (including 24 goals) in 33 games and while he was speculated as a possible trade candidate earlier in the year, the fact that Nashville is soundly in a playoff spot (second in the Central) likely takes that option off the table.  Forsberg has a $6MM salary and AAV and will be looking to beat that on the open market this summer.
  • Postmedia’s Robert Tychkowski examines some of the storylines for the Oilers for the second half of the season and naturally, goaltending is among them. While he notes that Mike Smith will be able to return – a welcome addition – even that may not be enough to sustain their goaltending situation.  Edmonton has 40 games remaining due to a lot of COVID-related postponements so they will need to rely on two goalies consistently, especially with Smith being 39 and just coming back from injury.  With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see GM Ken Holland try to shore up the backup goalie position over the next few weeks though they will need to offload Mikko Koskinen’s contract to be able to afford any newcomers.

Trade Rumors: Canucks, Tippett, Mrazek, Ducks

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek didn’t hold back on their reporting late this evening on “Hockey Night in Canada”. The duo behind “32 Thoughts” had plenty to contribute, starting with Friedman’s report on the Vancouver Canucks. With the Vancouver front office finally coming together, with Patrik Allvin being named GM of Jim Rutherford’s new-look front office, the Canucks are starting to get busy in trade talks. Although the .500 club is still in the Western Conference wild card race, the reality is that any true playoff success for Vancouver lies in the future. It should come as no surprise then that the Canucks are listening to trade offers – and not just for talked-about target J.T. Miller. Friedman reports that nearly any Vancouver forward could be had for the right price outside of captain Bo Horvat and young star Elias Pettersson. That includes Conor Garland, who the team just acquired themselves this past summer and signed to a reasonable five-year, $24.75MM deal. It is believed that the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, and New York Rangers are in pursuit of Garland, though there is likely no shortage of interest in the skilled forward, who has 102 points in 155 games dating back to the start of the 2019-20 season.

  • The Florida Panthers are one of the biggest surprises of the season, currently leading the top-heavy Atlantic Division with a .744 points percentage that is also third-best in the NHL. The Panthers are expected to go all-in on a Stanley Cup run this season and specifically are hoping to land a legitimate top-four defenseman. As they go about working the phones, Marek reports that one major name they are dangling is Owen Tippett. The 2017 first-rounder still has yet to make his mark in the NHL, struggling to find enough consistency at the top level to stick in the Florida lineup. However, he is only 22 and still a well-regarded as well as well-liked prospect. Tippett will likely end up as the centerpiece to any big trade the Panthers make this season.
  • With Jack Campbell playing at an elite level this season while Petr Mrazek has struggled with injuries and inconsistency, the latter has proven to be little more than a pricey backup for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season while the former will be the team’s offseason priority as an impending free agent. As a result, teams have begun to inquire about Mrazek’s availability. If Campbell does stay in Toronto, the team will have a proven starter and have some promising young options like Joseph Woll and Ian Scott behind him. Marek also adds that the Maple Leafs are in hot pursuit of undrafted OHL standout Mack Guzda, who would further boost the depth chart if Toronto can win a heated race for his services. This hypothetically makes Mrazek and his $3.8MM cap hit expendable, even though he just signed with Toronto this past summer. However, for now the Leafs are maintaining that Mrazek remains a part of their plans. Marek was not so sure about that, but does report that any decision on a Mrazek trade will have to wait for the offseason.
  • Among the other suitors for Guzda are the Ducks, Hurricanes, Islanders, Rangers, Penguins, and Predators. (Notably, Guzda is a Tennessee native.) One of those teams is about to get much more serious in their pursuit, as well as in the trade market. Friedman notes that Anaheim is closing in on naming a general manager. While there are still several names in contention, he believes that Pat Verbeek is the odds-on favorite. Once a permanent GM is named, the Ducks will become a fascinating team to watch; they are both well within the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, yet also possess numerous high-value rentals.

More On J.T. Miller Trade Speculation

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The Vancouver Canucks now have a brand new front office leadership group, with president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, general manager Patrik Allvin, and assistant general manager Emilie Castonguay. Quite the trio in terms of varied experience and expertise to take over a floundering franchise.

Allvin, introduced just this week, now has plenty of work to do in order to get up to speed before the March 21 trade deadline. When asked about whether he’ll be taking the lead on some of those decisions while his new general manager gets comfortable with the organization, Rutherford explained that he hired Allvin to make those calls but he could still be involved:

No, no. Patrik is going to do that work. It’ll be involving everyone in the organization, everyone’s going to have their input. But Patrik has to gather all of that information and make his decision. He certainly doesn’t have to come to me every time he’s making a decision, but when we get into some of the bigger decisions, I’ll be a little bit more involved, but it’s Patrik’s job. He’s the general manager, he has to work hard and make those decisions. 

One of those big decisions that Rutherford could potentially be involved in is the future of J.T. Miller, since what the Canucks do with their leading scorer could point to what direction the franchise will take in the near future. Miller is having an outstanding offensive campaign with 44 points in 41 games and is signed through next season at a very reasonable $5.25MM cap hit. The Canucks are certainly not in a desperate position to cash in with a deadline trade, and could even decide to hold onto Miller longer than his current deal if an extension could be worked out down the road.

That might be why twice in the past 24 hours Pierre LeBrun has referenced a potential asking price on Miller and suggested that the Canucks may be letting teams know that they better get in their best offer well ahead of the trade deadline. On TSN’s Insider Trading and in his latest column for The Athletic, LeBrun notes that to start a serious conversation about Miller, a team would have to be willing to part with three or four assets. The fact that he’s signed for another year allows the Canucks to be “picky,” as LeBrun puts it.

Recently, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that the New York Rangers were the team that was showing the most interest in Miller, with the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, and Minnesota Wild also all linked to the Canucks forward.

Jakob Chychrun, one of the other big names being tossed around in relation to the trade deadline, has also drawn speculation about a three-asset asking price. Jeff Marek of Sportsnet has reported several times that the Arizona Coyotes have already been offered a first-round pick, and two players selected in the first round. Chychrun has three more years on his current contract after 2021-22 but is also at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to performance this year, as he’s mired in a brutal campaign amid the tanking Coyotes.

If the Canucks decide they want to go through a bit of a rebuild, trading Miller would certainly help. Vancouver’s prospect pipeline is rather bare, with Scott Wheeler of The Athletic recently ranking them 28th in the league and listing Jack Rathbone, a 22-year-old fourth-round pick with 35 games of professional experience as their top name. The team is already without their second and third-round picks for the upcoming draft (though they have Winnipeg’s third from the Nate Schmidt deal), and desperately needs to inject the system with some talent even if it’s not a full tear down.

All of that said, there’s no guarantee that the best offer for Miller comes at this deadline. Perhaps an even better deal could be worked out by Allvin and the Canucks in the offseason when every team is still theoretically a contender. The 28-year-old does not hold any trade protection in his deal–the Canucks voided that clause when he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019–meaning he could be a draft day prize for a team on the upswing.

Vancouver Canucks To Focus On European, College Free Agents

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When Jim Rutherford was in charge of the Pittsburgh Penguins, he traded away his first-round pick six times. The Penguins were perpetually in a win-now mode because of the presence of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, so Rutherford did everything he could to surround them with established NHL stars. Because of that, the Penguins couldn’t sit back and wait for their own draft picks to develop, they needed to go out and find players through other means to supplement the high-end talent.

One of the biggest sources of depth for the Penguins was the NCAA, where they routinely added undrafted players that had polished their game at the college level. Players like Conor Sheary and Zach Aston-Reese were acquired for nothing more than an entry-level contract and went on to help the Penguins fill out their lineup with effective, NHL talent.

It appears as though Patrik Allvin, the new general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, learned how valuable those acquisitions are during his time in Pittsburgh. During his introductory press conference today, Allvin explained just how important it is to add players to the organization from avenues outside of the first round.

I think first and foremost you have to be open-minded. This is a humble game, I think the players change and the game is changing consistently. You have to be open-minded and you look for talent. You have to trust your scouting staff and the people that work for you. Obviously we want to play a fast and skilled game, and I think in order to be successful you have to be able to find players outside the first round. You need to complement the organization with college and European free agents. That’s something that I’m looking forward to. 

Rutherford noted Allvin’s connections in Europe especially as a valuable asset for the Canucks as they move forward. The new GM is the first-ever from Sweden and just the second European currently in charge of an NHL franchise.

If you look at the regulars for Vancouver, none of them were really acquired in the late rounds or through entry-level free agency. Even a player like Matthew Highmore, who was an undrafted college signing, came to Vancouver through a trade, several years after making his NHL debut. Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Nils Hoglander, Quinn Hughes, Bo Horvat, Vasily Podkolzin, and Thatcher Demko, the only real homegrown talent, were all picked in the top 40 selections in their respective drafts.

While it’s easy to say that a team should find top-end players in the late rounds, it’s extremely difficult to do. What Allvin means by his comments today is that the depth options, those that surround the stars and fill out the depth chart, need to be sourced directly by the Canucks through their amateur scouting staff. That’s a huge philosophical change from recent years, where bottom-six options were routinely signed well into their careers after they’d already reached unrestricted free agency. Tucker Poolman, Jay Beagle, Micheal Ferland, Antoine Roussel, Derek Dorsett, Erik Gudbranson, and others were given multi-year contracts by former GM Jim Benning, despite not really being at the point in their careers where they could fill out the top of a lineup. Whether Allvin’s strategy here will be successful is still yet to be seen, but Pittsburgh is a shining example of how–with the help of the right development staff–valuable assets can be acquired from many different places.

Patrik Allvin Named GM Of Vancouver Canucks

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The decision has been made and Patrik Allvin is the 12th general manager in Vancouver Canucks history. Canucks’ president Jim Rutherford announced the hiring today, explaining exactly why he chose his former Pittsburgh protege:

I am pleased to welcome Patrik and his family to Vancouver. Patrik and I worked together for seven years, and I believe he will be an excellent General Manager. He has won three Stanley Cups and has experience at all levels of hockey operations. He is intelligent, works hard, makes strong decisions and I believe he will help us build a winning team in Vancouver.

Allvin, 47, was actually the man who took over as interim GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins when Rutherford resigned suddenly last year, but eventually ceded the position when Ron Hextall was hired. His name was linked to the Vancouver job from the moment Rutherford was hired by the Canucks, as the senior executive was clear that the team would bring in someone who had little or no experience in the top job.

That’s Allvin, who was interim GM of the Penguins for less than a month but has plenty of experience in NHL front offices. He first joined the Montreal Canadiens in 2002 as a European scout and eventually worked his way to the Penguins as director of European scouting in 2012.

Born in Sweden, Allvin joins Jarmo Kekalainen as the only general managers in the league from outside of North America. He joins a front office that has recently made several other hires, including Emilie Castonguey and Rachel Doerrie. It’s also one that is expected to lean much more heavily into analytics, and one that will have the help of Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin after they took positions as special assistants.

It’s a big job ahead of this group, as the Canucks have cap issues without being considered a real contender. With Allvin now in place, a trade deadline strategy can now be put together, with J.T. Miller leading the way as one of the most talked-about players in recent weeks.

Latest On Vancouver GM Search

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7:10 PM: Allvin appears to be the frontrunner for the job at the moment, tweets TSN’s Darren Dreger.  No deal is in place yet but it appears progress is being made on one.

4:16 PM: The Vancouver Canucks are expected to hire their next general manager in the coming days after conducting a search that included interviews with several candidates. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the final five candidates include Mathieu Darche, Patrik Allvin, Scott Mellanby, and Sean Burke–plus another name that has yet to be reported.

Darche, director of hockey operations for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and was recently linked to the GM search in Montreal before that job ultimately went to superagent Kent Hughes. The 45-year-old executive played 250 games in the NHL, ending his on-ice career in 2012 before being part of the NHLPA’s bargaining committee during the 2012-13 lockout.

Allvin, considered the frontrunner by many, was actually the one who took over as interim GM for the Pittsburgh Penguins when Jim Rutherford resigned last year. With Rutherford now in charge of the Canucks, Allvin’s candidacy certainly makes a lot of sense.

No matter who takes over, the Vancouver front office appears to be one that will have many new voices. Outside of the new GM and Rutherford, there’s also recently hired assistant GM Emilie Castonguay, who will be involved in all aspects of hockey operations and analytics hire Rachel Doerrie. As Rutherford explained when Doerrie was hired, there are “a lot of holes to fill” in the organization, not just at the senior executive level.

Canucks Notes: Miller, Halak, GM

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The Vancouver Canucks outshot the St. Louis Blues 39-17 last night but still managed to lose 3-1 because of a strong performance from Ville Husso. Even with that loss, the Canucks are still in better shape than they were a month ago, sitting just four points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference. With that in mind, the question of the trade deadline continues to come up, particularly with regards to J.T. Miller. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV spoke with Canucks president Jim Rutherford, who called Miller the team’s best forward and explained that more management pieces need to be in place before putting together a deadline strategy.

Miller, 28, is having an outstanding season, with 39 points in 39 games while averaging more than 21 minutes a night for the Canucks. He’s really been the only forward the team can rely on every night and would be a big chip at the deadline if they decided to sell. With one more year left on his deal after this season and a reasonable $5.25MM cap hit, there’s at least some reason to believe that the Canucks could hold onto him through the end of the year even if they fall out of the playoff race.

  • Another piece that has been speculated on quite thoroughly is Jaroslav Halak, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Part of the discourse has been about Halak’s $1.25MM performance bonus for playing in 10 games, something that will come into effect should he appear in two more matches. Rutherford told Dhaliwal that the bonus isn’t an issue for them and that Halak helps them win games. Dhaliwal even went so far as to suggest the decision has already been made to not move Halak.
  • After hiring Emilie Castonguay as an assistant GM earlier today, Rutherford is nearing a decision on the next general manager of the team. Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet tweets that in-person interviews with five finalists have been completed, with a hire potentially coming this week. It’s that GM, along with Rutherford, Castonguay and the rest of the front office, who will need to form a deadline strategy in the coming weeks.

Why The 2022 Trade Deadline Could Be A Seller’s Market

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The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is not exactly imminent. The delayed March 21 date this season is 11 weeks away and a lot can change in that amount of time. However, the end of the holiday trade freeze is the unofficial start to trade season leading up to the deadline. In the first few months of the season there have been ten trades completed, but outside of the Jack Eichel deal there have been very few moves of any substance. That may not change any time soon either.

An active trade deadline requires there to be identifiable buyers and sellers and they must be willing and able to deal. Buyers should not be an issue this season; the eight teams currently in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference may be locked in, as nearly 100 percentage points separate the eighth and ninth team in the conference standings, while the Western Conference includes 13 teams with .500+ records. Therein begins the sellers problem though. Only three teams out west look like potential sellers right now, while there could be more teams willing to sell in the east but many are in a rebuild and don’t have much to offer, while others are merely lacking impact rentals. There are also a number of fringe teams that probably should be sellers, but are close enough to a playoff berth that would mean so much to their players and fan base that they may hold out.

The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek notes another wrinkle that could limit sellers: five teams are currently operating with an interim GM. The Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks have hired new heads of their respective front offices in Jeff Gorton and Jim Rutherford, but neither has in turn hired his GM yet and seem unlikely to make major moves independently. This could take Gorton’s Canadiens, one of the most obvious sellers on paper, off the market. Rutherford’s Canucks hope to be in the playoff race, but he has already vowed that the team will either sell or stand pat this season and the longer it takes to hire a GM, the more likely it will be the latter. The Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks are all operating with temporary GMs, all of whom have limited experience. Chicago and Anaheim fired their most recent GMs and have internal replacements for the time being, while San Jose GM Doug Wilson is currently away from the team for medical reasons. As Duhatschek points out, the likes of Kyle Davidson, Jeff Solomon, and Joe Will are not only new to the GM position, but lack the relationships around the league to make impact moves. So while the Blackhawks look like bona fide sellers and the Sharks and possibly the Ducks could get to that point, will they actually be willing to make trades?

The Seattle Kraken also fall into a category all their own. The NHL’s newest team was just put together in its entirety this off-season. Although they struggled mightily all season and do possess a number of expiring contracts, it remains to be seen if GM Ron Francis is ready to blow it up.

On top of all of this, the rental market among potential sellers is not strong. Of the top 20 impending UFA’s in per-game scoring this season, zero are on teams with sub-.500 records and just three are on teams not currently in a playoff spot. Expand that to the top 50, and only ten players are on sub-.500 teams: Phil Kessel, Travis Boyd, and Johan Larsson for Arizona, Vinnie Hinostroza for Buffalo, Chris Wideman for Montreal, P.K. Subban for New Jersey, Tyler Ennis for Ottawa, and Calle Jarnkrok, Colin Blackwell, and Mark Giordano for Seattle. Even if valuable defensemen like Ben Chiarot and Colin Miller or even a future Hall of Fame goaltender like Marc-Andre Fleury are considered, it’s not exactly an inspiring list for teams adding at the deadline. More importantly, it’s a short list for a potentially large group of buyers.

For those teams looking to make a meaningful trade this season, the conundrum is when to make a move. On one hand, with a small group of exciting targets it may be beneficial to make a trade early and possibly avoid the high prices of deadline bidding wars. On the other hand, the pool of sellers could also expand closer to the deadline and prices could drop if there is a flood of supply to meet the demand. Until that happens though – if it even does – there will be few moves to make early on and quite possibly right up to the deadline. Serious contenders should be prepared to pay up or sit tight this season.

Snapshots: Canucks, Ruff, Canadiens, Robinson

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While Jim Rutherford has a tendency to swing big in trades, it doesn’t appear he’ll do that with the Canucks.  In an appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link), the team president acknowledged that any trades they make will be for draft picks and younger players, suggesting he won’t try to add some veterans in an effort to aid Vancouver’s push to get back into the playoff picture (they sit three points out of the last Wild Card spot).  Rutherford also mentioned that their new GM will likely be a first-timer in the role.  There’s no timeline for when they want to get that spot filled.

More from around the hockey world:

  • The Devils announced (Twitter link) that head coach Lindy Ruff has been placed in COVID protocol. Assistant coach Alain Nasreddine will take over as interim bench boss until Ruff is able to return.  It won’t be the first time that Nasreddine has been in charge of the bench for New Jersey as he served as interim head coach for them for 43 games back in 2019-20.
  • Canadiens prospect Jacob Olofsson has signed a contract through the 2022-23 season with IF Bjorkloven, the Allsvenskan team announced. The 21-year-old was a second-round pick of Montreal back in 2018 (56th overall) and must sign with them by June to retain his NHL rights.  This contract, along with a tough showing in 25 SHL games this season, suggests that’s unlikely to happen.
  • Still with Montreal, the Canadiens announced that winger Brandon Baddock has been placed in COVID protocol. The 26-year-old made his NHL debut last night in Carolina due to Montreal’s long list of injuries and COVID protocol, playing a little over eight minutes and recording six hits.
  • Blue Jackets winger Eric Robinson has cleared COVID protocol, relays Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has a dozen points in 28 games this season while averaging a career-high 14:04 per game.

Snapshots: Canucks, AHL, Svejkovsky

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When Jim Rutherford took over the front office in Vancouver, he vowed that he would take his time to evaluate his new team and to choose from a multitude of potential GM candidates – and he is sticking to it. In an interview with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, Rutherford details his plans for the hockey operations hierarchy, including hiring two additional assistant GMs in addition to the GM, but shares that he is still evaluating a number of options for the top job. Rutherford is exploring some female options, as he tells MacIntyre that he appreciates the diversity within the Canucks organization and would not mind furthering those efforts. However, he has also been impressed with internal candidates as well, such as player development director Ryan Johnson and analytics lead Aiden Fox. Rutherford hopes to begin in-person interviews next month, but a hiring announcement could still be a ways away and to this point Rutherford has stuck with his plan not to make any major moves before bringing in another mind to share in the decision.

  • The NHL is not alone in dealing with the current COVID surge. The AHL has announced the postponement of three upcoming games, with the Stockton Heat and San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday and the San Diego Gulls and Tucson Roadrunners on Thursday and Sunday being moved to a later date. The league states that California clubs San Jose and San Diego are both in COVID-19 Protocols and unable to compete. Unlike the NHL, if rescheduling these games within the reasonable confines of the teams’ schedules, they could very well become cancellations rather than postponements.
  • Down another level, a Pittsburgh Penguins prospect has been moved in the WHL – and for a decent price. 2020 fourth-rounder Lukas Svejkovsky was traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds by the Medicine Hat Tigers in exchange for a 2022 first-round pick, a conditional 2023 second-round pick, and a conditional 2025 third-round pick. Though of Czech descent, Svejkovsky was in fact born in Florida and is an American citizen and even attended USA Hockey’s junior selection camp. While he did not make the WJC roster, Svejkovsky is still having a banner year. The small, but skilled forward recorded 30 points in 24 games with the Tigers before the move and now heads to a Seattle club that touts the fifth-best record in the WHL.

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