Canucks President Of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford Speaks On Elias Pettersson's Expectations, The Future Of Quinn Hughes, & More

There aren’t many people who have more insight into what’s going on with the Vancouver Canucks than Jim Rutherford. The President of Hockey Operations has been with the organization since 2021 and is currently under contract until the end of the 2026–27 season. During the first intermission of tonight’s game against the St. Louis Blues, Rutherford joined broadcasters James Cybulski and Mike Rupp to talk about what he has seen from the team so far. 

“We have a young team, we’ve got at least five first-year players in the lineup, we’re continuing to try and transition the team after the J.T. Miller trade, and we’re fortunate to have some young guys that are either ready to play, which we’re going to find out in the first 20 games, or are really close to playing,” Rutherford said on Vancouver’s first few games of the season. “I like the speed of our team, I like the system that Adam Foote’s got them playing, they bought into it, they worked hard, we had a good camp, they prepared hard this summer. I can’t ask any more than that, now we’ll find out if we have enough players to succeed.”

One player who will greatly impact Vancouver’s success this season is Elias Pettersson. Rutherford has been vocal about his thoughts on Pettersson in the past, making note of his off-season training and how the organization expects lots from him this year. Today, Rutherford fleshed out their expectations a little more. 

“He needs to be a good two-way player. He’s our number-one centre, he’s going to be matched up against the other teams’ best players all the time, and in the early going he’s done a good job on the defensive side of the puck. But I agree with what you’re saying, we feel the same way, coming off the year he had he’s not going to flip the switch and all of a sudden get 110 points again, although he’s capable, he has the skill level to do that. But we’ll really look at his two-way play and how the team ends up doing is going to be important as to the impact that he has, and it’s more about can he impact the games at the right time? It’s not about whether he gets 100 points, can he be a difference maker? We know he can, we’ll see if he can do that.” 

Something else that has resulted in Rutherford occasionally catching attention is how he has approached discussing Canucks captain Quinn Hughes’ contract negotiations. The defenceman’s current deal expires during the same off-season as Rutherford’s, with Hughes becoming a UFA if he’s not extended. 

“Of course everybody’s going to talk about Quinn. Quinn’s one of the best defencemen in the lague if not the best, he was two seasons ago. Everybody knows what the situation is, but all we can ask of him and it’s exactly what he’s doing now. He came into camp in a great mood, he’s worked hard, he leads the team, he’s a good player. Just focus on this season. We don’t have a deadline this season, and we know that people are going to talk about this over and over, it’s all part of sports, that’s ok, but at the same time he’s gotta stay focused with the team, lead the team, do what he’s capable of doing, and then we’ll see where it goes.” 

Vancouver is currently down 4–2 to St. Louis with one period remaining in the game. 

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