Canucks president Jim Rutherford explains why he’s stepping down now

Press briefings for a lot of Vancouver Canucks senior managers over the years have been must-see theatre.

Imposing and authoritative, Pat Quinn once flicked his stick to knock a microphone out of a reporter’s hand, sending it skittering metallically across a concrete floor amid stunned silence. You didn’t dare miss a Mike Keenan press conference lest, as in NASCAR, you miss a fiery pileup.

The Brian Burke Show was endlessly quotable and often funny, and Rick Tocchet was always refreshingly direct and honest, even if he sometimes lapsed into a Rocky Balboa-like delivery that a former player described as “Tocky.”

But for sheer volume of news bombs dropped by simply telling us what he thought, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford should be on the reporters’ Wall of Honour — if we had one. (We’d settle for a working press room at Rogers Arena).

His casual declaration at the end of Tuesday’s post-draft-lottery press conference that he’d be retreating to an advisory role after the entry draft in June — and after he hires a new general manager — was an explosion instantly heard around the National Hockey League.

“It’s time,” Rutherford told us Wednesday before resuming the final phase of his GM search. “I have taken some time with this (decision), probably at least a year, not knowing exactly when I was going to make it. But you know, once you start thinking about it, then it’s time.”

In an interview with Sportsnet, Rutherford said he knew this would be his final season involved in key hockey operations decisions. He has a grown daughter in Raleigh, N.C., which has long been Rutherford’s home, and a son going into his senior year of high school at Shattuck-St. Mary’s Academy in Minnesota.

Rutherford wants to be nearer to them, which is why he will be based in North Carolina while he counsels Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini and the soon-to-be-named general manager. He will also be involved with the NHL as the Canucks’ alternate governor

“It has nothing to do with my age because, quite frankly, I feel better, now that I’ve lost a lot of weight, than I did 20 or 25 years ago,” the 77-year-old said. “I still have a lot of gas in the tank if I want to work. But it’s time.

“It was time for me before the season even started; I was trending in that direction. But I think we can put something together here in our hockey department that I can feel good about when I step down.”

Rutherford declined to reveal anything about the final stage of his GM search, which he said Tuesday was down to five candidates, or whether there will be one new hire or two — another president to oversee the new manager.

Known GM candidates include Canucks assistant manager Ryan Johnson, and his counterparts Evan Gold (Boston Bruins) and Ryan Bowness (New York Islanders), as well as former Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion.

But given the volcanic reaction in the fan base Tuesday to news of Dorion’s candidacy — apart from the meltdown on social media, the Canucks were flooded with complaints — it’s impossible to see Aquilini hiring him.

There is, of course, an obvious question about why Rutherford is even involved in a hiring critical to a rebuild if he is soon leaving.

“Well, ownership wanted me to stay, and I’m still part of the organization,” he said. “I think if I was totally leaving the organization, that would be a fair point. But I’m an advisor to ownership and to hockey ops. I think when it all plays out, people will understand.”

Despite the Canucks’ last-place finish and worst season this century, there doesn’t seem to be the same level of vitriol in the fan base towards Rutherford that there was towards Jim Benning and even Mike Gillis at the end of those preceding managerial regimes in Vancouver.

Still, Rutherford is stepping down from a 32nd-place team after inheriting one in December, 2021 that included a young core of centres J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Bo Horvat, defenceman Quinn Hughes and goalie Thatcher Demko.

His greatest failing was probably underestimating and mishandling the Canucks’ internal dysfunction, friction between Miller and Pettersson and others, which became worse after Horvat was traded and the other two were re-signed. The dressing-room culture turned out to be toxic.

“As I’ve said before, personally, I wish I’d have done a better job,” Rutherford said. “But with that being said, we were trending in the right direction two years ago and then we had to deal with these circumstances that we weren’t expecting.

“Once J.T. was moved, we knew the team was going to take a step back. And I had known for quite some time that Quinn probably wasn’t coming back, so that was the next thing to deal with (when he was traded in December). And then once those two guys were gone, it was an easy decision to go to a rebuild.

“You always have challenges, but these challenges have been extra tough to deal with. I mean, in a four-year period, I’ve never seen the kind of challenges in my career like I’ve had here in Vancouver.”

“You know, hindsight is a great thing,” he said. “It’s very easy (to second-guess). But J.T. Miller was the driving force for this team as the forward, Quinn was on defence and we had Thatcher Demko in goal. I would make the same decisions that were made at the time.

“It didn’t work out, although we were a game away from going to the conference finals (two years ago). If the glue had stayed on here and it all didn’t fall apart that following year… that team could have even been better. And so, like I said, it’s easy in hindsight.”

As he said at the end of the season, and again on Tuesday, Rutherford is optimistic about the Canucks’ future because of the team’s young players (and others who will be added at the draft) and a dressing-room culture he believes has been fixed.

“I know a lot of people will think that this sounds stupid,” he said, “and I know it doesn’t feel this way coming off such a disappointing season, but from the time I got here to where we are today, I think this is the best position the team could be in to build a winner. Because now it can be built with the foundation of these young guys. We have good veterans now that have accepted the young guys and the rebuild. They can mentor and play the game. But we have a very good group of young players and this draft can be a game-changer for the Canucks.

“There’s going to be some bumpy roads here for the next year, maybe two. But I do think that the team hit rock bottom this year, and it will be a team that will be more competitive (next season) and people can be excited about watching the young players grow. It will be fun to watch.”

But Rutherford will be doing that from home in Raleigh rather than the management suite at Rogers Arena.

“I made a commitment to the Canucks team here, and I will continue that commitment,” he said. “And even if there’s not a lot of calls from hockey ops, having somebody like me as an advisor to the owner makes sense. I still have things to offer, and if people want to use that, that’s fine. And if they don’t want to use it, that’s fine, too.

“I know things didn’t go as well on the ice as we all would have hoped, but our hockey operations group was aligned, worked hard and (former GM) Patrik Allvin did a lot of good things. I’m thankful to all those people for the working relationship. I’m thankful to the players that we have. And I’m really thankful to the fan base. Despite the fact it didn’t go as well as I would have liked, I’m glad that I’ve experienced this… being in a great Canadian market with such a passionate fan base.

“I hope the rebuild moves along quicker than some might think. You can’t put a timeline on it. But it’s got a good foundation and is going in the right direction.”