The Vancouver Canucks have fired general manager Patrik Allvin after a dismal season and will look for a new face to lead the NHL team through its rebuild.
Vancouver's president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, announced the move on Friday, a day after ending their campaign with a 6-1 loss at Edmonton.
The move comes as the Canucks finished the season at the bottom of the league standings with a 25-49-8 record.
Hopes were once again high for Vancouver at the start of the season but the team sputtered and quickly slipped down the standings, seemingly unable to curtail its defensive woes amid a heavy dose of early injuries.
Management made a drastic move on Dec. 12, dealing captain and star defenceman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild for a trio of young players and a first-round pick the 2026 draft.
The Canucks had known for about a year that Hughes was unlikely to resign in Vancouver long term, Allvin said, and that forced the team's hand.
“Obviously, a deal like this doesn’t come through in just one day," the GM said at the time. "It’s been going on for a couple of weeks here where we felt this was, unfortunately, where we were heading with Quinn. And trying to maximize the return for Quinn Hughes.”
Allvin helped orchestrate an era that saw the Canucks go from playoff outsiders to Pacific Division winners and back again.
Hired in January 2022, he replaced Jim Benning and became the first Swedish GM in the NHL.
Allvin previously worked with Rutherford in Pittsburgh, serving as the team’s director of amateur scouting before he was promoted to assistant GM there in 2020.
"I’ve got to be honest — the reason I’m here is excitement to work with Jim Rutherford again," Allvin said when he got the job in Vancouver. "And I know how he emphasizes hiring good people. … I believe that Jim has done a good job building the staff and I look forward to meeting all of them here.”
Rutherford admitted in January 2023 that turning the Canucks around was a bigger job than he’d expected.
"When I came here, I knew it was going to be a big challenge. And I thought 'You know, we're going to have to do minor surgery,'" he said. "Have I changed my position? Well, yeah. We have to do major surgery."
Weeks later, Vancouver fired Bruce Boudreau as head coach in January 2023 and brought in Rick Tocchet, who guided the team to a Pacific Division title the following season.
After missing the playoffs in seven of eight seasons, the Canucks beat the Nashville Predators, then fell to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of a gritty second-round matchup to cap their 2023-24 campaign.
Allvin was named a finalist for that year’s Jim Gregory Award, given annually to the league’s top GM.
The Canucks couldn’t repeat the feat, though. The 2024-25 season was marred by injuries, infighting and underperforming stars.
Star goalie Thatcher Demko missed much of the year recovering from a knee ailment and star centre Elias Pettersson failed to live up to his new eight-year, US$92.8-million contract. A lingering feud between Pettersson and fellow centre J.T. Miller grew so problematic that the Canucks dealt Miller to the New York Rangers.
Vancouver struggled to a 38-30-14 record and missed the playoffs by six points before Tocchet parted ways with the team at the end of April.
The Canucks went on to promote Adam Foote to head coach. The former NHL defenceman had served as an assistant coach under Tocchet for more than two years.
Heading into training camp in September, Rutherford said he didn’t believe his players could be more prepared.
He noted that parity across the league makes it difficult for teams to dominate in the standings, but said he thought the Canucks had a chance at another post-season run.
“I do believe, if everything goes right, and as we go along, make an improvement here and there, that this team can be in the playoffs,” he said.
Everything did not go right.
Another wave of injuries swept through the roster and by the end of November, the likelihood of the team making the playoffs already appeared distant.
“It is what it is. And I think the players and the coaches have dealt with it," Allvin said on Jan. 19 after trading bruising winger Kiefer Sherwood to the San Jose Sharks.
At the time, the Canucks were mired in a 10-game losing skid (0-8-2) and had not won a game in 2026.
"I’m not happy standing here with the points we have," the GM said. "I believe when we were healthy early on, we were capable of better.'
