“We may end up saying no to offers, certainly, but we’re not going to say no to having conversations about any player. This is about improving this team without taking shortcuts,” Rutherford went on.“That’s trying to do it too quickly. We’ve got to have the patience of living through where we are presently,” he explained. “Being cautious in what is being moved and what is the return. Continue to stick to either getting young players, 25 or younger, or getting draft picks.”
In November, when Rutherford sent out the memo to the rest of the league informing them that their pending unrestricted free agents were available, Rutherford put the focus on getting younger. Since then, the only trade they’ve made was the trade of their franchise-calibre defenceman Quinn Hughes. In that move, they fulfilled Rutherford’s desire to get younger, acquiring 24-year-old centre, Marco Rossi, 21-year-old winger Liam Öhgren, 20-year-old defenceman Zeev Buium and a first-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft.
With those additions, as well as the rest of the prospects they have in the organization – Braeden Cootes, Tom Willander, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Elias Pettersson, and Aleksei Medvedev – Rutherford believes that this could be a two-to-three-year rebuild, rather than taking six-to-10 years to complete.
“If we can just keep adding to young assets, hopefully we can do this in two or three years. It’s not an easy process, we have to be very methodical,” he said. “You can’t lose patience because you’re losing some games.”
The Vancouver market has suffered years of shortcuts by the previous regime, which handcuffed the organization into building a serious contender and ultimately was a determining factor in the Canucks losing their captain, Quinn Hughes.
Rutherford’s approach appears to differ from that of the previous regimes in this messaging, as the Canucks dive headfirst into their rebuild.
Read Johnston’s full interview with Rutherford here!