The Vancouver Canucks have fired general manager Patrik Allvin after finishing the season last in the NHL with 14 fewer points than the 31st-place Chicago Blackhawks.
The move could be just the first of several changes of the Canucks this off-season, with the status of first-year head coach Adam Foote also unclear after the season ended with a 6-1 blowout loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
The Canucks posted a dismal 25-49-8 record this year, missing the playoffs for the second straight season after finishing first in the Pacific Division in 2023-24.
The Canucks reached the second round of the playoffs in 2024, which marks the team’s lone postseason appearance since Jim Rutherford was hired as president in 2021.
Allvin was hired by Rutherford in 2022 after spending 16 years in the Penguins organization, which included time as Rutherford’s assistant general manager.
Rutherford and Allvin have made major changes to Canucks roster over the past two seasons, headlined by shipping forward J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers last season and trading captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in December.
This season’s trade deadline brought more changes for the Canucks, with the team trading Conor Garland to the Columbus Blue Jackets before his six-year, $36 million contract extension signed on July 1 even kicked in. Vancouver also shipped out Tyler Myers, Kiefer Sherwood, David Kampf and Lukas Reichel in their sell-off ahead of the deadline.
Trading Miller last season ended an ongoing saga that stemmed from a rift between him and centre Elias Pettersson. The move, however, has failed to spark the 27-year-old Pettersson, who has fallen well below a point-per-game pace since inking an eight-year, $92.8 million deal in 2024. He had 15 goals and 51 points in 74 games this season, which is nearly equal to his 2024-25 production, after posting 34 goals and 89 points in 82 games in 2023-24 to top the 30-goal mark for the third straight time.
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.
Rutherford joined the Canucks in 2021 after previous stints as general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006 and built the back-to-back champion Penguins rosters in 2016 and 2017. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.
