NHL insiders: Rutherford thinks Canucks room is a ‘country club’

If you believe in the NHL Insider, there will be a big change in Vancouver Canucks.

Some Canax fans may see how the team concludes the 2021-22 season under Bruce Boudreau and believe that the team can afford to putt for the next season. not. After the coaching change in December, Canax is now 32-15-10. This is a 106-point pace for the entire schedule of 82 games.

Obviously, Jim Rutherford, president of hockey management Kanax, feels very different.

According to Nick Cypreos and John Shannon. Appeared on Bob McCaun’s podcastTwo NHL insiders hinted that Rutherford has a strong opinion on the current state of Canax.

“It’s broken,” said Cypreos. “He knows it’s broken … he doesn’t like the room, everyone. I think it’s a country club there. He’s going to change it.”

As far as hockey culture is concerned, the criticism of the “country club” atmosphere in the changing rooms is serious. This means that the player is too comfortable to look like a business. In other words, it’s okay to lose instead of being there to work.

If your team gets too accustomed to losing, big changes can be needed. The December coaching and management changes seemed to rock Kanax in a variety of ways. It was clear that the defeat would have consequences after the team missed the playoffs in five of the previous six seasons.

But if the team you built is still fundamentally broken, you need to make further changes.

Cypreos said Rutherford “will make a splash,” Shannon agreed.

“I talked about the word rebuild there, but nothing surprised me at Jim Rutherford in Vancouver,” Shannon said. “Two important dates are what he can do on the draft floor. [July] 7th place with a couple of his star players, and what he wants to do as a free agent [on July 13].. “

In other words, Shannon believes that Canax can make some major deals with star players in the draft. According to Shannon, Canucks’ unmanageable cores are Elias Petteson, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, and Bo Horvat. Everything else is on the table.

The list does not include two big stars, JT Miller and Brock Boeser. Trading one or both of those players is certainly the splash mentioned by Kypreos, but it also wins big pieces in key areas of defense needs, regains draft topics and prospects, and has a prospect pool. It’s one of the only ways to rebuild. future.

“He’s going to change that,” Kypreos said. “What does that mean for Miller? What does it mean for Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, isn’t he willing to pay? It will look different from this team within six months.”

There are some points to point out here. One is that Rutherford is not the general manager of Canax. It’s Patrick Allbin, but Rutherford clearly has a great influence on hockey decisions as president of hockey operations.

Rutherford has not hesitated to trigger a blockbuster deal in the past. He traded off celebrities such as Chris Pronger, Brendan Shanahan, Ron Francis and James Neil. He made a major deal to buy Paul Coffey, Phil Kessel, Doug Waite, Mark Recchi and others. Assuming some of that boldness influenced his disciple Allvin, it’s not surprising that there will be some big deals in the coming months.

That said, Rutherford is also on record as follows: Canucks do not require a complete rebuild..

“We certainly don’t start from scratch. There are a lot of great players out there,” Rutherford said. Also on Bob McCaun’s podcast.. “Looking at the completely rebuilt teams, it’s nice to see them doing well now, but everyone forgets the four or five years they struggled to get there … we. Players, this team can be remodeled. “

Rutherford also says Canax tries to re-sign the mirror However, setting a goal and achieving that goal are two separate things.

Perhaps the retool is the one described by Kypreos and Shannon. Hanging in a core group of four, making major changes around them to create Stanley Cup candidates. Alternatively, the changes Rutherford and Allbin made to Canax this offseason may not be so dramatic.