After the franchise-altering Quinn Hughes trade, there may be an answer to the direction of the Vancouver Canucks moving forward from ownership.

In an inclusive interview with PostMedia’s Patrick Johnston, Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford shared that after years of wanting to avoid a rebuild, ownership realizes it might be time.

“He understands where we’re at and of the circumstances,” Rutherford said. “The conversations I’ve had, he understands.”

That direction has not been something Canucks fans have heard in this market for some time. But after having no choice but to trade their captain and best defenceman in franchise history on Friday, Quinn Hughes, the vision of how the team will move forward is becoming clearer. It’s about becoming a younger team, moving off some of their veterans and older assets for prospects/draft picks. But probably most important of all, they must hit on those draft picks to eventually get out of the rebuilding stage.

“I was stressed we wouldn’t get a return we were after,” he said. “We would be painted into a corner. We do now need some success in this draft. If we were to do that we’ll avoid a four or five year rebuild.”

In the Hughes trade, the Canucks took a step in that direction, acquiring a 24-year-old centreman (Marco Rossi), a 21-year-old winger (Liam Öhgren), a 20-year-old defenceman (Zeev Buium) and a 2026 first-round pick.

And there is still room to add youth/futures from there. They have veteran pending unrestricted free agents in Kiefer Sherwood (30) and Evander Kane (34), who’ve already been made available. Teddy Blueger (31) and Derek Forbort (33) would also fall in that list, but would need to return from injury before they draw consideration from other teams around the league.

This ownership group has yet to undergo a full teardown-rebuild since purchasing the team in 2004. Since their Stanley Cup run in 2011, Presidents’ Trophy in 2012, and a top finish in the Western Conference in 2013, the Canucks have just three playoff appearances in the last 12 seasons. Had a rebuild begun when that 2011 Stanley Cup window was closing, the Canucks could be contending at this point.

While we can complain about past poor decisions and how they’ve led to where the Canucks are today, the fact that ownership understands that this might be the best course of action for this team moving forward is a step in the right direction. We’ll see how committed the organization is to the rebuild with the moves to come.