Was there ever any doubt? When you have a year filled with as much drama as the Vancouver Canucks did in 2025, of course the President of Hockey Operations confirming the rumoured rift between the team’s two star forwards is going to come in at number one!

Not only did Rutherford confirm the rumoured rift existed, he declared that it was so bad that there was just no possible way the Canucks could keep their core together. Here was some of what Rutherford said in the interview with The Globe and Mail’s Gary Mason.

“I felt like for a long time that there was a solution here because everybody has worked on it, including the parties involved,” Rutherford said. “But it only gets resolved for a short period of time and then it festers again and so it certainly appears like there’s not a good solution that would keep this group together.”

“When you don’t have chemistry, it’s hard to be that consistent team because there’s too much going on in the room for everybody to concentrate on what they’re supposed to do.”

As you read earlier in the list, the JT Miller trade itself was one of the biggest stories of the calendar year, so naturally, Rutherford confirming the rumoured rift between Pettersson and Miller was going to come in at number one.

Check out our other top 10 stories of 2026 so far!
#10 – Canucks sign Garland and Demko to contract extensions on day one of free agency
#9 – When Rutherford hinted at trading for Jack and Luke Hughes to keep Quinn in Vancouver
#8 – Canucks select Braeden Cootes with 15th overall pick of 2025 NHL Draft
#7 – Brock Boeser details Allvin’s last-minute phone call that kept him in Vancouver
#6 – When Rick Tocchet was brutally honest about JT Miller’s poor play
#5 – When Brian Burke offered his thoughts on Elias Pettersson and JT Miller
#4 – When Rick Tocchet announced he was leaving the Canucks
#3 – Canucks trade JT Miller to New York Rangers
#2 – Canucks trade Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild