Key takeaways from Patrik Allvin’s first press conference as Canucks GM

Allvin on player development and the need for college and European free agents

The Canucks have been hurt by their lack of development of players from their AHL team over the past decade.

Thatcher Demko spent a few years with the Utica Comets before making the jump to the NHL. However, the Canucks haven’t had a skater who played on their farm team and became a regular NHLer in years. The last player to do that? Chris Tanev in 2011. It’s been a long time.

When Rutherford and Allvin were in Pittsburgh numerous players made the jump from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and became full-time NHL players. These include Jake Guentzel, Zach Aston-Reese, and Brian Dumoulin.

Allvin talked about the importance of developing players on the AHL team.

“I think that’s the key in today’s game,” he said. “I think that’s something we want to emphasize on moving forward here in order to be successful. I think (Abbotsford Canucks GM) Ryan Johnson has done a tremendous job and I’ve heard a lot of good things about him looking forward to get to know him and work with him even more. To establish a culture for the younger players down in Abbotsford, set the standard and have a lot of homegrown players, I think that’s what’s something that we’ve been successful within Pittsburgh. I think every player has their own path. There is not a sprint to get to the NHL, it’s a marathon. So you got to be patient with the players and you got to support them with the right.”

Rutherford and Allvin also spoke about the importance of signing European and College Free agents. The Canucks’ president talked about how good Allvin is at scouting European players.

“He’s a very smart guy,” said Rutherford on Allvin. “He knows players, he knows how to evaluate players, he knows how to find players. He’s well connected in Europe, where we’d like to get into that market a little bit more and try to get some players out of there. He has a lot of good things going for him and we already have the working relationship, we know how that’s going to go.”

” I think that it’s a very, very competitive league, and you need good depth,” said Allvin. ” So for us to become a consistent playoff team and a consistent contender we need to develop the depth of the organization, and that’s through the draft and signing of European and college free agents.”

Allvin on his scouting philosophy

The new Canucks GM was asked about his philosophy and what he learned from scouting in the NHL for the past 20 years.

“Well, I think first and foremost, I think you’ve got to be open-minded,” said Allvin. “I think players change and the game is changing consistently. You’ve got to look for talent, and you’ve got to trust your scouting staff and the people that work for you. We want to play a fast and skilled game. I think, in order to be successful, you got to be able to find players outside the first round in the NHL Entry Draft. ”

During Allvin’s time as a scout in Pittsburgh, several players drafted outside the first round were regular NHLers. These include Guentzel, Tristan Jarry, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Oskar Sundqvist and Olli Maatta.

Rutherford on the hiring process and what is next for the organization.

The GM hiring process almost took two months for Rutherford. It came down to five candidates including Allvin.

“Well, I said here, I’ve known Patrick for a long time, and I know how he works,” said Rutherford. “I knew that he was a legitimate candidate but I wanted to go through the process. I narrowed it down to five, but I talked to a lot of people, a lot of phone conversations with different people that were also good candidates. But then when we narrowed it down to five, we had the meetings in person and all the interviews were very good but Patrick did stand out.”

Rutherford also spoke about what his role is for the future and what is next for the organization, particularly off the ice.

“Well, I’m here to support the people that are working in the hockey operations,” said Rutherford. “Everybody has to do their own job regardless, what their titles are, where they sit in the organization, I’ve always let people do their own job. Patrick is going to be able to work the day to day stuff, as a general manager, when he needs some help or something or has questions, I’m going to be right there, to try to work with him just as I’ll be with the person that heads up pro scouting, your amateur scouting or whatnot. That’s what I’m here for. We have some things that we would like to do in the organization such as, possibly have a new practice facility at some point in time. What we’re doing with development camp, what we’re doing with a rookie tournament, what we’re potentially doing maybe with upgrading the Abbotsford facilities, the facilities here and Rogers Arena, there’s there’s a lot of things to be done.”

The Canucks originally planned to have a practice facility near Rogers Arena but the plans fell through two years ago according to Patrick Johnston of The Province and Vancouver Sun.

It will be interesting to see what Rutherford does with the facilities in Abbotsford and at Rogers Arena. Could this mean changing the Rogers Arena seat colours to blue and giving them cup holders? We shall see.

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