Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford told reporters on Friday that the status of Canucks head coach Adam Foote will be decided primarily by the team’s next general manager.
Speaking at a press conference following the team’s decision to fire general manager Patrik Allvin on Friday, Rutherford told reporters that the next general manager will have a lot of sway in the organization when it comes to major decision making.
“It’ll be the decision of the new GM, as to what happens with the coaching staff, what happens with most things going forward,” Rutherford said.
“You’re going to hear the same answer over and over - the new GM is going to have a lot of responsibility and a lot of say and make those decisions, and that’s the way the future’s going to be here.”
When asked about whether it would make more sense to fire Foote now and give the next general manager a clean slate to work with, Rutherford said the new GM “may like the current coach,” and that the team should respectfully give Foote the chance to earn the respect of the next choice for the GM position.
Questions over the status of Foote, who coached the team to a league-worst 25-49-8 record this year - his first at the position - arose immediately after Allvin was fired. Rutherford spoke on Friday about the organization’s need for a rebuild, which was kickstarted earlier this year when the team decided to trade superstar defenceman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in December.
With young players expected to play prominent roles in the coming seasons, a new management team may opt to go with a different choice at head coach after Foote’s struggles leading the team. Possible options include current Abbotsford Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra, who TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger identified on Insider Trading earlier in April as NHL-ready.
Rutherford also spoke about the Hughes trade, stating that “some people think that Quinn left here because the team wasn’t any good ... he was leaving anyways.”
Rutherford indicated that the trade was an effort to recoup value on a player who was more interested in playing in his home country of the United States than continuing to play in Canada, which Rutherford compared to the eventual outcome with Matthew Tkachuk and the Calgary Flames.
Following a season in which the Canucks’ 58 points tied a franchise-worst mark for a single 82-game season, Rutherford took time to offer an apology to fans of the team.
“We just came to the end of a year that was really bad. Frustrating, at times. Hard to watch for the fans, and so it’s important for me to acknowledge the fans first, and a special thank you to them.”
