Rutherford: Canucks not interested in extending Boudreau beyond final year of contract at this time

The Vancouver Canucks are not currently interested in signing head coach Bruce Boudreau to a contract extension, team president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Rutherford addressed reporters alongside Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin as part of the team’s year-end media availabilities. He addressed the topic of Boudreau’s future in Vancouver multiple times during the press conference.

“[Bruce] knows we want him back. He was told that before the season was over,” Rutherford said. “Like I said, he did a terrific job. But he didn’t coach a whole season here.”

When asked if the Canucks would consider extending Boudreau beyond his current contract, which covered the 2021–22 season and includes an option for 2022–23 that Boudreau will have to accept by June 1st, Rutherford was insistent that the Canucks would honour the deal they signed with the head coach last December.

“We would be willing to have him back under the contract he agreed to when he came here,” Rutherford said. “And that’s certainly not to say that at the end of next year, we wouldn’t want him back [if] he continues to do the job he’s doing.

“We have an exclusive time period to negotiate a new contract at the end of next season,” Rutherford continued. “I just feel that as good a job as he’s done, it wasn’t a full season. And I feel that giving him a chance to take the team from training camp all the way through next season, you know, I guess we could get to a point where, partway through the season, we may decide to talk about that.”

On Monday, Boudreau spoke to the media and addressed his potential future with the Canucks. The 67-year-old coach guided the team to a 32–15–10 record after replacing Travis Green during the season.

“I told Patrik [Allvin] and Jim [Rutherford] that I wanted to coach here next year,” Boudreau told reporters. “So I mean, we’re just talking right now. Hopefully, things get done. I think that they want me back and I know I want to be back. So I think it should work out.”

With the exception of the 2020–21 season, Boudreau has been a head coach in the National Hockey League every year since the 2007–08 campaign.

Boudreau won the Jack Adams Award in his first season behind the Washington Capitals’ bench and has compiled a 599–317–125 record in 1,041 regular-season games with the Capitals, Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, and Canucks.