It has been a busy time of late in Canuck land, with the firing of former general manager Patrik Allvin, the Canucks claiming the third overall pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, and incumbent Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford set to step down from his role after the draft.
As a result of this organizational reset, the team will now be lead by some familiar faces, in Canucks two legends Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and former player and general manager of the Abbotsford Canucks, Ryan Johnson.
Henrik and Daniel Sedin have been synonymous with the organization since they were selected second and third overall in the 1999 NHL Entry draft, as they are the franchise leaders in games played, goals (Daniel), assists (Henrik), points, plus minus, power play points, and even total time on ice.
In other words, they are the all-time faces of a franchise that is still starving for its first Stanley Cup victory, so naturally one could see their fit, passion and desire to lead the organization going forward, especially since they fell one game short in 2011.
The brothers retired from their legendary careers after the 2017-2018 season, but in 2021 rejoined the organization as special advisors to Jim Benning. From 2022 until now, they have been working in the player development department, which included an increase in responsibilities with respect to day-to-day coaching in both Vancouver and Abbotsford, which has allowed the twins to spend a lot of time in Abbotsford with new Canucks general manger and former teammate, Ryan Johnson.
Johnson played 120 games for the Canucks from 2008 to 2010 before joining the team as a development coach in 2013. During his 13 years in operations with the organization, Johnson has worked his way up, holding roles such as director of player development and general manager of the Utica Comets and Abbotsford Canucks, in which which he capped off with a Calder Cup victory last season.
It seems as though everything has indirectly culminated to this moment, with the Sedins and Johnson initially intersecting and establishing a relationship by way of player development within the organization, providing a track record of success winning at least 40 games from 2022 to 2025 in Abbotsford, including a Calder Cup, and after working alongside many of the Canucks current young players, are set to take the organization forward, starting with the third overall pick on June 26th.
There was no question that the Canucks could use fresh faces and a new direction for the organization, and while the Sedin twins and Ryan Johnson are not necessarily ‘fresh faces,’ they seem to want to establish a fresh culture and a new direction.
Of importance, Ryan Johnson was asked about what he foresees in terms of a rebuild timeline, to which he responded that they are going to be very strategic about everything they do, and that they were not going to race through it, as he stated his preference to stick to the long term vision of the team.
So far the right things are being said, and next month at the NHL Entry Draft will be the first glimpse of what could be going forward.
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