Jim Rutherford Hints At Future Canucks Fire Sale
It’s only a matter of time before the Canucks make drastic changes to their roster and coaching staff. We know Rick Tocchet is likely going to become the next head coach. We also know Bo Horvat is going to get traded at some point. The changes don’t stop there. President of Hockey Jim Rutherford is looking to do open heart surgery on Canucks. Major surgery is needed in order to rebuild the Canucks. His words, not mine, although I tend to agree personally.
“When I came here, I knew it was going to be a big challenge,” Rutherford said Monday during a wide-ranging press conference, according to Sportsnet. “And I thought, ‘We’re going to have to do minor surgery.’ … Have I changed my position? Yeah, we have to do major surgery.”
“When I first came here, I talked about getting control of the cap … getting rid of some contracts, and we haven’t been able to do that,” he said. “Now, the opportunity hasn’t been there, but it’s still my job to get it done. Until we do that, we’re not gonna be able to make the kind of changes that we need to make. … It could end up being core players.”
He added: “Between now and the start of next season, we’re gonna have to make some changes. Some won’t be very popular, some will be popular. But we’re gonna have to really do some things that I didn’t think we would normally have to do when I first got here.”
Elias Pettersson appears to be untouchable. Outside of that, anything and everything appears to be on the table for the Canucks. It’s going to be a fascinating trade deadline for Vancouver. Are they finally about to tank their way into the Connor Bedard sweepstakes to land the hometown kid?
