The Vancouver Canucks have been in the same cycle of trying to make the playoffs every two years since the Sedin Twins, Henrik and Daniel, retired. This cycle is not paying off for them in the long run. The team and ownership need to embrace a full-scale rebuild rather than these quick fixes.
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That is what the Canucks are doing right now with this so-called ‘hybrid retool’ as General Patrik Allvin called it during an interview on Monday Night Hockey on Prime. But as Rick Dhaliwal of the Donnie and Dahli Show stated before the Holiday break, this is just a fancy term for trying to turn this around as quickly as possible.
“This hybrid is a fancy word. It’s a fancy word for what this really is. We will try and turn this around as fast as possible,” Dhaliwal said. “Donnie. Forget the rebuild. What they should come out and be honest. We’re trying to turn this around as fast as possible. That’s what hybrid means. That’s all it means.”
And here lies the problem with the Canucks. While Vancouver has a President of Hockey Operations with Jim Rutherford and a General Manager in Patrik Allvin, everyone knows that Rutherford is running the show. Rutherford is getting up there in age and will try to fix this mess in a year and a half. It is the same plan that Jim Benning followed for years, “I will try to fix it in two years,” as Dhaliwal stated.
The Canucks need to embrace the rebuild. And you heard Rutherford say the word rebuild in interviews following the trade of Quinn Hughes from Vancouver to the Minnesota Wild for Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and a 2026 first-round pick.
We also heard at the beginning of the season that the Canucks were open for business, and that it extended beyond their unrestricted free agents. There is talk of Kiefer Sherwood, Derek Forbort, Evander Kane, Teddy Blueger, and David Kampf. The others, such as Jake DeBrusk, Tyler Myers, Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek, Brock Boeser, and others, will be difficult to move due to their trade protection.
And let’s be honest, the guys that just signed extensions aren’t going anywhere. But the Rutherford has to decide who will be part of this core moving forward and who will be the general manager of the club if it isn’t Allvin. But the Canucks need to embrace a rebuild, as do many other teams.
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While some rebuilds may take longer than others when a team tears it down to start over, it is better to pursue sustained success than to ride a rocky roller coaster. Just look at what is happening in Montreal with the Canadiens. In one of the toughest hockey markets to accept a rebuild, fans embraced the plan proposed by Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton and General Manager Kent Hughes.
It took a couple of years of losing, but now look at where the Canadiens are. Similar to the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and maybe even the Buffalo Sabres. But the fear among these owners is that the Buffalo Sabres will miss the playoffs for 14 years. If they are done right, a team misses for three or four years, not 14 years.
The challenge is overcoming the belief that fans won’t accept a rebuild. The fans would rather have a top-five pick in the 2026 NHL Draft than remain in the murky middle. While playoff revenue is essential, the Canucks aren’t close to being a playoff team. Though 18 months removed from Game 7 in Round 2 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers, this team is nowhere close to what that team was.
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There has been no plan or goal for the Canucks in Vancouver for many years. They have traded away good players like Bo Horvat, Roberto Luongo, Cory Schneider, J.T. Miller, and now Quinn Hughes in hopes of quickly turning this around and getting back to the playoffs. But the only way to build sustained success is to draft high and develop.
There are still too many holes in this roster for management to consider this a playoff team. Not to mention the constant distractions the Canucks create for themselves every year, trying to turn over the roster after making offseason mistakes.
The Vancouver Canucks will remain in this state of mediocrity until they embrace a rebuild and present a plan to the players and fans.
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