Now, over a week removed from Patrik Allvin’s departure as Vancouver Canucks general manager, we began to reminisce about some of the moves – good and bad – made over the previous four years in Vancouver.

At the start, the entire fan base was excited for change. It had been far too long seeing Jim Benning make all these questionable moves that set the franchise back even further from their goal. So when new President of Hockey Operations and Hockey Hall of Famer Jim Rutherford appointed Allvin as the next Canucks GM, there was hope.

After the Canucks took their turn toward competitiveness in 2023-24 and Allvin made some trades to bolster the group, fans were shouting his praise. Fast forward just two seasons later, and now the Canucks are searching for his replacement. So, how did we get here? Let’s revisit some of the worst moves Allvin made during his tenure and let you guys decide which of these moves were the worst.

The worst moves

*These are all in chronological order.

Jul 13/22 – Ilya Mikheyev signing and then subsequent cap dump trade

Heading into his first free agency, Allvin’s biggest financial free agent add was Mikheyev. They signed the Russian winger to a four-year, $4.75 million deal. Safe to say that bet did not work out.

To be fair to him, Mikheyev played through most of his first season in Vancouver with a torn ACL. Despite that, he still managed to score 13 goals and 15 assists for 28 points in 46 games. And he was fairly durable the next season, playing 78 games, but his production dipped to just 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points.

Aside from his offensive production, Mikheyev was known for his penalty-killing prowess and elite speed. The year before signing in Vancouver, he ranked in the 95th percentile in max skating speed according to NHL Edge. That speed declined to the 73rd percentile in both of his years with the Canucks. Again, his ACL injury certainly factored into that dip, but that is what we saw on the ice.

Maybe he was thrust into too big a role in Vancouver. In 2023-24, the Canucks had to play him on the top line with Elias Pettersson because they couldn’t disrupt the Pius Suter-JT Miller-Brock Boeser line, or the Dakota Joshua-Teddy Blueger-Conor Garland line. So maybe he wasn’t put in a position to succeed.

Regardless, the organization grew frustrated with his lack of production, so they not only had to retain on his contract but attach additional assets in order to get out of the final two years of his $4.75 million contract. That summer, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, along with an expiring Sam Lafferty and a 2027 second-round pick – that now looks to be an elite piece – in exchange for a measly 2027 fourth-round pick.

Not great asset management.

Jan 30/23 – Trading Bo Horvat to NYI for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty and a 2023 1st round pick (traded to DET, Axel Sandin-Pellikka)

Not only has the trade not worked out the way the Canucks had hoped, but looking back now, some believe that this trade was the beginning of the end for that core of the Canucks.

We’ll start with the trade itself. The trade was presented to fans as one in which the Canucks acquired three first-round talents. Allvin said as much in his official statement: “You can look at it that we got three first-rounders back here,” Allvin said.

But let’s be real. Beauvillier was 25 years old at the time of the trade and had no higher than a 39-point season under his belt. Coming into his draft year, Räty was projected to be a top-three pick in 2021. However, he fell all the way to the middle of the second round when the Islanders selected him at 52nd overall. That’s closer to a third-round pick than it is a first. The first-round pick they received was used to acquire Filip Hronek, which was the best part of the deal.

Beauvillier went on to play just 55 games for the Canucks before he was dealt for a fifth-round pick. Räty struggled to get consistent minutes this season on the 32nd-place team. That’s not great production.

Then comes in the losing Horvat side of it all. Horvat was the team’s captain and had to be traded when this management group chose JT Miller over him. Once Horvat left, the locker room shattered, creating a rift between two star players, one of whom was the guy they chose over Horvat.

One wonders where the Canucks would be right now had they kept Horvat.

Aug 18/24 – Shipping Vasily Podkolzin to EDM for a 2025 4th rd pick / trading that pick back to EDM for Evander Kane

After giving Podkolzin a true chance in his rookie year, playing him 79 games while averaging nearly 13 minutes per game, the Canucks decided to ship him to Abbotsford so he could further develop. And once he looked ready to make the jump to an NHL regular, the Canucks went out and signed Daniel Sprong in late July, leaving Podkolzin on the outside looking in yet again.

So, they traded him for a fourth-round pick to their rival, the Edmonton Oilers. The following summer, the Canucks traded that fourth-round pick back to the Oilers for Evander Kane. And, well, the Kane experience in Vancouver did not work out as planned.

In his homecoming season, Kane scored 13 goals and 18 assists for 31 points in 71 games. His lack of offensive and physical production, along with his lackadaisical defensive habits, left fans displeased with the Vancouver native.

On the other hand, Podkolzin went on to score a career high in goals (19), assists (18), points (37), plus-minus (plus-16), and time on ice (15:23) this year with the Oilers. Now, Podkolzin (24) is thriving in the playoffs, while Kane (34) is set to walk in free agency for nothing after he had no interest on the trade market around the league at the past deadline.

Jan 31/25 – Acquiring Drew O’Connor and Marcus Pettersson from PIT for Danton Heinen, Vincent Desharnais, Melvin Fernström and a 2025 1st rd pick (traded to PHI, Jack Nesbitt)

It was a chaotic day on January 31 2025. First, the Miller trade to the New York Rangers signalled a change in organizational direction. But instead of seeing the writing on the wall that the team was in a downward spiral and should have probably kept that first-round pick they acquired mere hours ago, Allvin traded it, along with their top 2024 draft pick Fernström (third-round) and two cap dumps, for two expiring players.

Credit to Allvin for not letting them be just rentals and for extending both O’Connor and Pettersson. And the O’Connor contract has paid off. But it was a tough year from Pettersson, who is still on the books for another five more years at $5.5 million per season with a full no-movement clause for the next two years and a modified no-trade for the final three.

They were able to move out some bad money on the books in this deal. But they gave out that bad money just over six months before they had to trade them. Had they not signed those contracts, that hefty first-round price tag likely wouldn’t be a part of this deal. And boy, could the organization use another first-round pick in the system now.

Jul 1/25 – Conor Garland and Thatcher Demko extensions

Honestly, it could have been the entire 2025 offseason. Not only these extensions, but also the lack of moves they made to truly improve the team if they wanted to “Win for Quinn”. When they realized they couldn’t do that through free agency or the trade market, they smashed the “extend Hughes’ friends in hopes that convinces him to stay” button. That clearly didn’t work.

The Garland extension wasn’t the worst. A six-year, $6 million-per-year contract seemed like market value with a rising cap. However, had Garland been a rental, that price tag at the NHL Trade Deadline would have been higher than the second- and third-round picks they acquired for him.

On the other hand, they paid probably a bit above market price for Demko, who, when playing at the top of his game, is worth the $8.5 million cap hit. But that’s the problem. Demko is rarely healthy. And now, they’re stuck with the question mark that surrounds his health for three more seasons.

Demko’s extension also forced the organization to part ways with fan-favourite goaltender Arturs Silovs in exchange for Chase Stillman and a fourth-round pick.

All of this guaranteed money and trade protection, handed out as a last-ditch effort to keep a player who had already informed the organization of his desire to leave, is something the next regime is going to have trouble dealing with as they try to navigate out of the mess they’re walking into.

We will be doing part two of this series, with the five best moves made by Allvin, shortly!

What do you think, Canucks fans? How would you rank these five moves? Is there one move we missed that you would rank in the top five of worst moves made by Patrik Allvin? Let us know in the comments below!

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