Despite an against-all-odds win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks are still in dire straits.<\/p>\n
So, here\u2019s some premium-grade, uncut copium for you: what if none of this was by accident?<\/p>\n
What if all of this is a masterful strategem by a veteran hockey man, Jim Rutherford, and his aide-de-camp, Patrik Allvin, to sneak a rebuild past an owner who has steadfastly refused to rebuild in the past?<\/p>\n
Stick with me, here.<\/p>\n
Canucks ownership has resisted rebuilding at every turn<\/p>\n
The simple truth is that Canucks ownership has no stomach for a rebuild, even if the Canucks\u2019 refusal to rebuild has led to missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs as much, if not more, than if they had committed to a rebuild years ago.<\/p>\n
Anyone who argues for a rebuild doesn\u2019t last long in the Canucks\u2019 organization.<\/p>\n
Mike Gillis argued for a rebuild back in 2013, but was told by ownership that it wasn\u2019t going to happen. He and his scouting staff made plans for a rebuild anyway, with the Cory Schneider trade and drafting of Bo Horvat intended to be the first step<\/a>.Gillis then argued more firmly for a rebuild<\/a> after a disastrous 2013-14 season, with plans to trade Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows to the Philadelphia Flyers in a pair of deals that would have netted the Canucks three first-round picks.<\/p>\n Gillis was subsequently fired.<\/p>\n When the Canucks were undergoing their quasi-but-not-really-rebuild under general manager Jim Benning, president of hockey operations Trevor Linden made a case for a slower, steadier rebuild<\/a>. Benning argued that the team could turn things around more quickly.<\/p>\n So, let\u2019s say that Rutherford and Allvin took a cold, hard look at their team and came to a difficult conclusion: they need to rebuild. How do you express that to your boss, the owner of the team, without also getting fired?<\/p>\n Well, maybe you don\u2019t tell him; you show him.<\/p>\n The Canucks\u2019 offseason was not the offseason of a contending team<\/p>\n Rutherford and Allvin certainly spoke in public like the management of a team with playoff aspirations, but let\u2019s ignore what they\u2019ve said in favour of what they actually did.<\/p>\n They talked about the need to acquire a top-six centre, but then they let Pius Suter walk and didn\u2019t acquire a top-six centre.<\/p>\n The Canucks chose to instead go into the season counting on Filip Chytil to stay healthy, a longshot bet that, unfortunately for Chytil and the Canucks, didn\u2019t pay off. Even if it did, Chytil has yet to prove he can actually be a second-line centre even when he is healthy.<\/p>\n