[Report] Canucks name Jim Rutherford as president & interim GM

[IBatch]

On 1/2/2022 at 7:38 AM, McBackup said:

I listened to Rutherford on Halford and Brough and he made the comment that he's looking at hiring an entry level person for the position of GM. That's fine, but I really hope its a candidate who has been an AGM or at least has some significant experience in an NHL front office already. I understand Rutherford will be there for oversight, but he's 72 and I've had my fill of execs "learning on the job" for some time. 

Rutherford is like Lou .... just a massive brain.    Reading that he had 50ish candidates for the job and broke them down into different catagories is a Lou move.   Takes his time, does his due diligence, and is looking to pass on that massive brain to others in the organization.   He's doing it the right way.   Tons of support and at the top for three years hopefully (that's his contract) we've got one of the best hockey minds in the business.   Not that worried at all.  Rutherford will be present in all the moves the Canucks do.   Even after the GM is named.  

[Gawdzukes]

5 hours ago, N4ZZY said:

What bothers me is why didn’t Benning build out his front office and surround himself with more support? 

 

It’s not like Francesco would have said no, since it’s obvious that he’s on board because Rutherford is building his front office out with more support. Something just wasn’t right with Benning and his team. 

 

He also just continually bled people out as well. Feels and sound suspect to me.

 

I'm guessing it was just inexperience. He didn't think he needed it. I suppose that's why you hire a President of Hockey Ops I guess though. I confess I never really wondered what they did but it's basically an Operations Manager that does have some authority over the GM. It's a watchdog for the owner to make sure the ship is pointed in the right direction. Left brain right brain if you will.

 

I hate assigning blame on this site it seems like it's all anyone wants to do and it's stupid anyway but in this case I think if anyone Aquilini dropped the ball. He should have hired another one when Trevor quit.

Edited January 3, 2022 by Gawdzukes

[JM_]

15 hours ago, BlastPast said:

This guy is going to make one or two small/medium deals and then be given all the credit for any success the team has ; if they don't have success it will still be Benning's fault. Count on it. Some people need a better understanding of what lag is.

wait, when did it stop being Gillis fault? 

[IBatch]

9 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

I'm guessing it was just inexperience. He didn't think he needed it. I suppose that's why you hire a President of Hockey Ops I guess though. I confess I never really wondered what they did but it's basically an Operations Manager that does have some authority over the GM. It's a watchdog for the owner to make sure the ship is pointed in the right direction. Left brain right brain if you will.

 

I hate assigning blame on this site it seems like it's all anyone wants to do and it's stupid anyway but in this case I think if anyone Aquilini dropped the ball. He should have hired another one when Trevor quit.

On an Org board he'd be the guy directly below the owner/ownership group, appointed by the owner(s) to be the watchdog as you pointed out and to hire/fire the CEO which in this case is the GM.    That's why it's called the President, like the board of directors he's got special powers over the executives that run the business.   

 

In hockey i feel it's pretty important to have a barrier between the ownership group and the GM - so day to day stuff doesn't get interfered with.   Glad the Aquas woke up to this.  In a way they were the acting President after, why else would they be in constant communication with Benning?   Things have changed since the "Three Hat Pat" days (Quin).   The league is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise, franchised out with a group of 32 billionaire's.   It's a massive thing that needs a proper proven corporate structure.   

 

Personally i love the fact the next GM will have three direct support staff in the AGMs, and a bit fat hockey brain as acting President in Rutherford.   Those five people, plus their divisions, should boost the odds of not making mistakes.  The only downside is a more democratic view doesn't always work either - slows the process of quick decision making.   But the upside is worth it.   These guys working together, should add a lot of polish to what JB and co managed.   And possibly the next core too. 

[Gawdzukes]

5 minutes ago, IBatch said:

On an Org board he'd be the guy directly below the owner/ownership group, appointed by the owner(s) to be the watchdog as you pointed out and to hire/fire the CEO which in this case is the GM.    That's why it's called the President, like the board of directors he's got special powers over the executives that run the business.   

 

In hockey i feel it's pretty important to have a barrier between the ownership group and the GM - so day to day stuff doesn't get interfered with.   Glad the Aquas woke up to this.  In a way they were the acting President after, why else would they be in constant communication with Benning?   Things have changed since the "Three Hat Pat" days (Quin).   The league is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise, franchised out with a group of 32 billionaire's.   It's a massive thing that needs a proper proven corporate structure.   

 

Personally i love the fact the next GM will have three direct support staff in the AGMs, and a bit fat hockey brain as acting President in Rutherford.   Those five people, plus their divisions, should boost the odds of not making mistakes.  The only downside is a more democratic view doesn't always work either - slows the process of quick decision making.   But the upside is worth it.   These guys working together, should add a lot of polish to what JB and co managed.   And possibly the next core too. 

Yeah it makes sense and I'm happy it looks like we're building a big collaborative brain. I never believed Trevor was there as a puppet or familiar face, on his part anyway (he's too serious minded), but someone with experience should be have been hired in one of those two positions. It also should have been a red flag to AQ that there was a disturbance in the force when TL split. Ironically I don't really think it set us back that much as we basically just accrued talent during this time, as was the plan. Even the high picks we gave away are still extremely valuable. Miller is worth as much or more and OEL/Garland speaks for itself. Unlike the States it's not conceivable to scorch earth tank in Canada like some newbies proclaim.

 

Anyways for the most part after twenty years of (very) successful hockey cumulating in a SCF 7th game and two President's trophies, one of the most dominant teams in history, 2 HOF players ending their careers, Gillis leaving the cupboards bare, sacrificing 1sts, and locking everyone in to NTC's, and zero flexibility I for one haven't batted an eye like some during this rebuild. I guess I'm old enough to understand 8 years of less than stellar results is not much considering what came before it, and regardless of how or what structure was lacking JB left us a pretty good group of players in order to move on to the next phase. A lot of impatient people screaming for compete 3-4 years ago were completely unrealistic.

 

As a side note I worked a number of years in several of the biggest Oil & Gas companies in the world while living in (spit) Calgary.  While I wasn't that high up I worked with the CEO directly at times and appreciate the necessary structure in a Billion dollar operation. What always struck me was how important and how much of the actual work was done by the Executive Secretaries. I don't know if that's a fair comparison to the AGM's but they were basically acting as pseudo CEO's, Directors, etc., for the day to day operations. And trust me their bark was as bad as their bite.  

[MattJVD]

55 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

Yeah it makes sense and I'm happy it looks like we're building a big collaborative brain. I never believed Trevor was there as a puppet or familiar face, on his part anyway (he's too serious minded), but someone with experience should be have been hired in one of those two positions. It also should have been a red flag to AQ that there was a disturbance in the force when TL split. Ironically I don't really think it set us back that much as we basically just accrued talent during this time, as was the plan. Even the high picks we gave away are still extremely valuable. Miller is worth as much or more and OEL/Garland speaks for itself. Unlike the States it's not conceivable to scorch earth tank in Canada like some newbies proclaim.

 

Anyways for the most part after twenty years of (very) successful hockey cumulating in a SCF 7th game and two President's trophies, one of the most dominant teams in history, 2 HOF players ending their careers, Gillis leaving the cupboards bare, sacrificing 1sts, and locking everyone in to NTC's, and zero flexibility I for one haven't batted an eye like some during this rebuild. I guess I'm old enough to understand 8 years of less than stellar results is not much considering what came before it, and regardless of how or what structure was lacking JB left us a pretty good group of players in order to move on to the next phase. A lot of impatient people screaming for compete 3-4 years ago were completely unrealistic.

 

As a side note I worked a number of years in several of the biggest Oil & Gas companies in the world while living in (spit) Calgary.  While I wasn't that high up I worked with the CEO directly at times and appreciate the necessary structure in a Billion dollar operation. What always struck me was how important and how much of the actual work was done by the Executive Secretaries. I don't know if that's a fair comparison to the AGM's but they were basically acting as pseudo CEO's, Directors, etc., for the day to day operations. And trust me their bark was as bad as their bite.  

Yeah, day-to-day management isn't for the CEO (or GM in case of an NHL team). You're right the EA's do a lot of the organizing. The CEO needs to make really high impact, big picture decisions and get them right.

 

I think the AGMs would be a comparable to the rest of the C-suite rather than he EAs, as I'm sure NHL teams have EAs too.

Edited January 3, 2022 by MattJVD

[BlastPast]

2 hours ago, JM_ said:

wait, when did it stop being Gillis fault? 

Now that you mention it, the biggest cap inefficiency on the books right  now is still attributable to Gillis. Erikkson's contract was not good but at least the team isn't going to be dealing with a significant cap hit seven years from now as a result of it. 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[shiznak]

On 12/24/2021 at 12:08 AM, DeNiro said:

Carolina has 10 prospects playing in the world juniors despite being a top team and picking later. Canucks have 1…Let that sink in.

 

We need to be poaching Carolina for managers.

That means absolutely nothing. Quality over quantity.

 

We could literally draft all the prospects from the entire Swiss team, but that doesn’t mean they make a good prospects pool.

 

I’d wager to bet, only one or two of them actually make it into the NHL.

[Goal:thecup]

On 12/31/2021 at 12:22 PM, Shayster007 said:

Yeah I haven't heard anyone acting like a NHL insider around these parts, but if they are they are full of it. 

Got WallStreet on ignore then?

[KyGuy123]

17 minutes ago, shiznak said:

That means absolutely nothing. Quality over quantity.

 

We could literally draft all the prospects from the entire Swiss team, but that doesn’t mean they make a good prospects pool.

 

I’d wager to bet, only one or two of them actually make it into the NHL.

You go with those odds every time. Carolina is the team I’d be looking at. Hearing they have 10 guys playing in the World Juniors means they have excellent Amateur and Pro scouts.

[DeNiro]

3 hours ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

 

I feel like Rutherford had his mind made up on Allvin all along.

 

I find it hard to believe the best guy for the job just happens to be someone he’s worked with.

 

And why does Mellanby keep coming up? What has he done to consider recognition?

[DefCon1]

3 hours ago, DeNiro said:

I feel like Rutherford had his mind made up on Allvin all along.

 

I find it hard to believe the best guy for the job just happens to be someone he’s worked with.

 

And why does Mellanby keep coming up? What has he done to consider recognition?

I hope its not true and McFarland gets the job. I mean if it was Alvin all along  would he not have been hired couple of weeks ago?

[KyGuy123]

40 minutes ago, DefCon1 said:

I hope its not true and McFarland gets the job. I mean if it was Alvin all along  would he not have been hired couple of weeks ago?

It’s the franchise pulling the wool over our eyes. Rutherford is in charge now and before he retires he needs to try and setup his boys it sounds like. 

[DefCon1]

21 minutes ago, KyGuy123 said:

It’s the franchise pulling the wool over our eyes. Rutherford is in charge now and before he retires he needs to try and setup his boys it sounds like. 

I dont like the sound of that. So Rutherford was BSing about this whole process of having a 100 GMs as a candidate on a list and narrowing them to a group of 5 GMs when he knew it will be Alvin all the way? lmao and I hear he will hire another pittsburgh staff for the other AGM position. Definitely is feeling like Pittsburgh west if true. 

[KyGuy123]

1 hour ago, DefCon1 said:

I dont like the sound of that. So Rutherford was BSing about this whole process of having a 100 GMs as a candidate on a list and narrowing them to a group of 5 GMs when he knew it will be Alvin all the way? lmao and I hear he will hire another pittsburgh staff for the other AGM position. Definitely is feeling like Pittsburgh west if true. 

Burke even quoted when JR was hired right away, that a few other people will be making the switch to Vancouver. Everyone speculated it was player personnel, but that makes no sense due to their needs/wants. Burke was hinting at a bunch of executives and that makes this whole situation staged from the very beginning. If Allvin ends up being the guy and one more AGM gets a role here, we didn’t interview very many people. 

Edited January 5, 2022 by KyGuy123

[Goal:thecup]

1 hour ago, KyGuy123 said:

Burke even quoted when JR was hired right away, that a few other people will be making the switch to Vancouver. Everyone speculated it was player personnel, but that makes no sense due to their needs/wants. Burke was hinting at a bunch of executives and that makes this whole situation staged from the very beginning. If Allvin ends up being the guy and one more AGM gets a role here, we didn’t interview very many people. 

Everyone knows:

You don't tug on Superman's cape

You don't piss in the wind

You don't pull the mask off the Ol' Lone Ranger

And you don't mess around with Jim

Keep it on the down low Ky Guy

- Saul Goodman

[DeltaSwede]

I enjoy rumors as much as anyone else, but if you were a journalist and looking for answers where there may not be many given, who and from where would you guess would be included in the Canucks management core.

 

Rutherford worked for the pens, Allvin linked with a bunch of GM positions recently, and there we have it. Something to get site views. 

[shiznak]

8 hours ago, KyGuy123 said:

You go with those odds every time. Carolina is the team I’d be looking at. Hearing they have 10 guys playing in the World Juniors means they have excellent Amateur and Pro scouts.

Last year Carolina had 5 representatives, while we had 4.

 

In 2019, they only had 2 (one which was a loan), while we again had 4. 
 

Again, these rosters don’t dictate how well your team’s scouting is.
 

 

Edited January 5, 2022 by shiznak

[KyGuy123]

27 minutes ago, shiznak said:

Last year Carolina had 5 representatives, while we had 4.

 

In 2019, they only had 2 (one which was a loan), while we again had 4. 
 

Again, these rosters don’t dictate how well your team’s scouting is.
 

 

It’s usually a sign of progress as it is mostly a 20 year old tournament. Not only drafting was good, developmentally they were improving. Vancouver has been a bottom 5 team the last 8 years and Carolina have been one of the better teams. It would make sense for bottom 5 teams to have more players at the tournament.