VANCOUVER -- Jim Rutherford plans to step down as the Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations after the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft, but will help hire the next general manager first.
Rutherford made the announcement after the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday, when the Canucks fell to the No. 3 pick despite finishing last in the League this season. The 77-year-old said he will remain with the team as an adviser and alternate governor.
“I'm going to get away from the day-to-day operations,” Rutherford said. “This is something I've thought about anyways for a couple of years, but it's time for me to do that. I feel bad that I have to do it at such a young age, but I decided to do it anyways.”
Rutherford said it had not been determined whether a new president of hockey operations would be hired to replace him. He was the first in the role for the Canucks since former team captain Trevor Linden left the job in 2018.
"That has not been decided yet. We're going to have to see how that plays out,” Rutherford said. “We're still working on (the structure) with the people that we have an idea that would be good at it. How, exactly that structure is, we'll be able to announce that when the GM is announced.”
A three-time Stanley Cup champion, one as president and GM of the Carolina Hurricanes (2006) and two as GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins (2016, 2017), Rutherford was hired in a dual role as president of hockey operations and general manager on Dec. 9, 2021, four days after the team fired general manager Jim Benning and coach Travis Green, replacing the latter with Bruce Boudreau.
Rutherford hired Patrik Allvin as general manager on Jan. 26, 2022, and Vancouver made the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024 before losing to the Edmonton Oilers in seven games. But the Canucks missed the playoffs the following season and this year plummeted to the bottom of the standings after trading captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 13.
Rutherford fired Allvin on April 17, but said Tuesday that the Canucks are close to hiring a replacement after narrowing a list of “17 or 18” candidates down to a final five.
“We interviewed a lot of people, a good cross-section of people in the hockey world, and we get that the list is narrowed down now and just digging deeper and deeper and deeper into people and what they've done in the game, and hopefully get to a decision here by next week,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford, who played 457 NHL games as a goalie, came to Vancouver less than a year after resigning as GM of the Penguins for personal reasons after spending seven seasons there from 2014-21. He previously served as president and GM of the Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes from 1994 to 2014 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 2019.
"I'll help with the transition and with the new person and new people in different positions and things like that, and I'll still be part of the organization, and when somebody wants to bounce something off me, I'm happy to do it,” Rutherford said.
