It’s clear that Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Ops Jim Rutherford will get a second shot at finding the right general manager. And he needs someone very different from Patrik Allvin this time around.

In firing Allvin Friday morning, the Canucks are losing a general manager recognized largely for his scouting prowess and ability to turn a barren prospect cupboard into something less so. But the truth is, his power within the organization was a lot smaller than expected from a general manager, and one who’s taking the fall for organizational failure that extends beyond his reach and above his pay grade.

Whether or not Rutherford should make that decision is another story altogether. All that matters today is the next GM of the Canucks will be stepping into one of the toughest positions in professional sports, but they’ll also have the benefit that no recent Canucks hire has gotten: a truly clean slate.

Rutherford said as much during Friday’s press conference. “We’re going to look for a guy with good integrity that wants to buy into what the direction of the team is, which is a rebuild. That’s going to be very important,” Rutherford said before reemphasizing the expectation. “No shortcuts on the rebuild.”

With the highest odds at the first overall pick in May’s draft lottery and the guarantee of drafting in the top 3, the Canucks’ future GM will have the opportunity to reshape the entire roster around a potential franchise player and chart the course for long-term success, after Vancouver fell to last place.

If we look at the teams that have had the most success (including in the franchise’s past), it’s clear what kind of GM the Canucks need to build a winner. And these are the qualities that person absolutely needs to have.

Regardless of how you feel about Rutherford’s role as president, the reason he took over so many major team decisions was due to his confidence in having the last word. Allvin consistently felt like the public face for a front office he wasn’t truly in charge of, and that leaves a general manager in an impossible position where they aren’t making the decisions they should be day to day.

“We’re going to look for a guy with good integrity that wants to buy into what the direction of the team is, which is a rebuild. That’s going to be very important. No shortcuts on the rebuild.

The general manager SHOULD feel like the captain of the ship. There’s a reason other teams have found success with the POHO/GM tandem, and it’s because the President’s job is to focus on big picture issues beyond day-to-day and leave the GM to build out the NHL roster. Chris MacFarland has built the powerhouse Avs for the past five years, while Joe Sakic moved upstairs. The Maple Leafs were at their strongest when president Brendan Shanahan set the blueprint, but left Kyle Dubas alone to execute on it. The Golden Knights promoted inaugural GM George McPhee to the president’s role and handed the reins to Kelly McCrimmon, which led to their Stanley Cup title in 2023.

This GM can’t just toe the company line or take direct marching orders from the people higher up. They need to come in with their own game plan and act with confidence and assurance in their own choices. With a scouting staff who are going to each want to draft different prospects with the same draft pick, and assistant GMs going to bat for their own additions to the NHL roster, being the final decision maker takes a general manager who’ll take credit for the moves that work and real ownership of the ones that don’t.

One place where confidence will factor into most is being able to manage both the wishes of the staff and players, as well as the expectations of the bosses.

This part of the job is undoubtedly one of the most crucial when your owners are the Aquilini family. Their ultimate goal (making money now) are going to be at odds with what’s best for the club long term (winning championships), so selling them on a real vision for the next half decade will take a phenomenal salesman.

Rutherford should be there to promote that strategy as well (as long as he’s here, anyway). And while his input shouldn’t be ignored, the GM should be able to expect Rutherford to focus more on being a go-between for ownership and the front office role and less on roster construction. You don’t want a puppet just trying to keep their paycheques coming.

Then you have the locker room culture that needs a lot of fixing. That rebuild starts from the top and requires a firm hand from someone comfortable being a leader amongst NHL players. The franchise’s expectation of true greatness was seemingly lost when the Canucks let go of Mike Gillis in favour of Jim Benning back in 2014, and it has never fully recovered. And that goes beyond the results on the ice.

When Brian Burke was hired as GM in 1998, he put a big emphasis on getting players involved in the community and using the team’s resources to help BC for the better. That legacy survived decades from Burke to Dave Nonis to Gillis, but has seemingly been lost since the late 2010s/early 2020s. Very rarely do Canucks make the trip out to Canuck Place children’s hospice anymore, as opposed to the days when the Sedins, Markus Naslund and Roberto Luongo were frequent visitors.

If the next GM arrives with that strong mindset of flipping the culture on and off the ice, that will go a long way to bringing in more talented, good people and building a sustainable winning organization. It could also go a long way toward finally getting a practice facility built.

Finding someone who’s worked in a successful NHL front office seems like a given.

Experience can be more than just time spent working in an NHL front office. It can also be a player agent with firsthand knowledge of the league’s salary cap system who knows how to sell a vision to a potential free agent or a trade to another team. Several former agents have become successful managers in recent years; Gillis brought the Canucks to a Cup Final in 2011, Bill Zito turned the Florida Panthers into back-to-back champions, and Kent Hughes is currently leading a renaissance in Montreal with the Canadiens.

Some GMs got their starts through careers in business or law. Julien BriseBois went from getting his law degree at the University of Montreal to helping build a Tampa Bay Lightning roster that won two Cups.

Writing about the game has even provided some people with a public outlet for great team-building ideas. Eric Tulsky was once a scientist writing for the Flyers blog Broad Street Hockey; now he’s running the Carolina Hurricanes. Imagining a world where a CanucksArmy writer became a GM? You might not have to forever; CA alums like Ryan Biech, Cam Lawrence, and Josh Weissbock are all involved in NHL front offices today, with Biech already working for the Canucks.

The right person for the job also won’t come in trying to replicate another team’s formula (remember the Boston model?). The way champions are built beyond the star players that provide the foundation is by exploiting market inefficiencies, slowly building a roster that works as a cohesive unit with the right coach leading the charge, and plucking the right diamonds in the rough to fill out the organization’s depth.

All of that is easier said than done, of course. But that’s why finding a GM who has both a deep understanding of the league’s workings and fresh ideas to craft a winner is what separates the haves from the have-nots. You want someone young and driven to build something great, not a retread who won’t be open to new ideas and strategies.

It’s no secret that the Canucks have gone through a lot of coaches, players and personnel since the 2020s, and that’s undoubtedly made ownership cagey about writing another massive cheque for a new GM hire after burning money firing Allvin (and potentially coach Adam Foote if the new manager sees fit). But the truth is, the Canucks HAVE to be willing to spend on a quality hire.

That’s not to say that the most expensive candidate is the best one. Far from it. But what would happen if the Canucks opted to go for one of the cheapest options they interviewed? Odds are, they’re the candidates just happy to be hired at all, and won’t come in with any of the previous qualities we’ve gone over. That also makes them the ones you’re more likely to have to pay to replace sooner rather than later.

Finding a balance in both quality and cost will be key. You don’t need to completely tip the scales of GM pay around the league with your final choice. But if the Canucks find a clear frontrunner with all the attributes listed above, they need to be comfortable spending a little extra to bring that person on board. Because through years of Stanley Cup contention, they’ll make it all back and then some.

The person who checks all of these boxes is indeed out there. It’ll be up to Jim Rutherford to find them, and Canucks ownership to let him.