{"id":403341,"date":"2026-01-11T21:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403341\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T21:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:40:20","slug":"in-throes-of-hybrid-rebuild-canucks-keeping-all-options-on-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403341\/","title":{"rendered":"In throes of ‘hybrid rebuild,’ Canucks keeping all options on the table"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last-place team\u2019s 5-0 defeat Saturday to the Toronto Maple Leafs and six-game losing streak is the level of ineptitude that many fans and reporters have been calling for in Canucks Nation, although that does make some of that constituency’s outrage over recent results somewhat perplexing.<\/p>\n

With 38 games to go, the Canucks have plummeted safely into the Gavin McKenna draft-lottery sweepstakes, 11 points out of a playoff spot and at least five points adrift of 30 of the 31 teams above them in the standings.<\/p>\n

After being outscored 15-4 through the first half of their current six-game funeral procession \u2014 and still looking for their first lead of 2026 \u2014 the Canucks face difficult back-to-back games against the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators starting on Monday.<\/p>\n

The Canucks\u2019 young players are making mistakes and some of their experienced ones haven\u2019t looked particularly engaged or, at least, sharp. No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko is hurt again, and the only cavalry coming is winger Conor Garland, whose return from injury is imminent.<\/p>\n

So, the odds don\u2019t favour things suddenly getting better for them \u2014 or worse, depending on your fan tribe.<\/p>\n

But the \u201chybrid rebuild\u201d may get more combustive.<\/p>\n

Canucks president Jim Rutherford said Sunday that although plans for the hybrid haven\u2019t changed, as the organization tries to support and guide its developing prospects by retaining key veterans, everything is on the trade table for the NHL team.<\/p>\n

After notifying other teams in November that Vancouver was taking offers on its free-agency-eligible players, Rutherford told Sportsnet that general manager Patrik Allvin has been getting calls of interest on Canucks other than just their impending UFAs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would suggest that we listen to teams when they call \u2014 about anybody,\u201d Rutherford said. \u201cBut that would be the same whether we\u2019re winning or losing. When someone talks about a hybrid rebuild, it means the team is not shopping every player.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut prior to this, we already made the decision that we were going to go with younger players. Over the past few years, our staff has done a good job and we have a number of good young players, whether they\u2019re in our lineup now or close to getting in our lineup. And those players are going to get a chance to play. Based on the circumstances with this team, this is the year to do it. The fact of the matter is we\u2019re in a rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nine of 12 Canucks older than 25 and on multiple-year contracts have some form of trade protection. According to Rutherford, none has approached management to say they don\u2019t want to endure the pain of the organization\u2019s pivot towards youth, which became more sharply defined with last month\u2019s trade of captain and superstar Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will go through their times of struggling with what\u2019s going on, and times they won\u2019t,\u201d Rutherford said when asked about the uneven performance of Canuck veterans. \u201cNobody wants to be a part of losing, and certainly, losing streaks. But it\u2019s in everybody\u2019s best interest to play within the system, try to play the right way, and win some games. For anybody that totally drops off from that, it\u2019s only going to hurt the individual more so than it will hurt the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a number of first-year players in our lineup, which is what we want. It\u2019s the direction we want to go. We have to realize we\u2019re in a process now, OK? We have to learn to play the game the right way and learn when and when not to try to do things. And we\u2019re seeing (those mistakes) very clearly this week that we can make better choices to prevent goals. And that\u2019s what we want to see from this group. We have to learn from our mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the proceeds of the Hughes trade, Rutherford said at the time the Canucks could \u201cturn things around within a couple of seasons.\u201d That belief was predicated on the idea that a full rebuild could be avoided by retaining some key veterans still young enough to be contributing once the new wave of prospects mature as NHL players.<\/p>\n

Allvin later termed it a \u201chybrid rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe process of a rebuild would take two or three times longer if you just go with young players,\u201d Rutherford said Sunday. \u201cYou have to have the right veteran players to mentor these up-and-coming players. If you do that, the (rebuilding) process doesn\u2019t have to be nearly as long. And we happen to have some very good veteran players that can and, I believe, are willing to play in a situation like this and be good mentors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after Rutherford\u2019s interview, the Canucks announced that one of their three 21-and-under defencemen, Elias Pettersson, was being sent to the American Hockey League for development, replaced on the NHL roster by 23-year-old call-up Victor Mancini.<\/p>\n

Goalie Nikita Tolopilo was also promoted from the Abbotsford Canucks to fill in for Demko, who was placed on injured reserve after sustaining another setback while allowing three goals on six shots in the first period on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Canucks did not practise Sunday in Montreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll options will be open as far as development,\u201d Rutherford said. \u201cOur plan this year, before we added Zeev Buium (from Minnesota), is that our young defencemen would go up and down to the minors and get different reps in the American Hockey League and be able to play not under the same pressure you get at the NHL level. Some of the mistakes I\u2019m seeing are very correctible. But all of those options are open.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the same applies to the trade market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you win 10 in a row or lose 10 in a row, those options should always be there,\u201d Rutherford said. \u201cAnd even more so now with where this team is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last-place team\u2019s 5-0 defeat Saturday to the Toronto Maple Leafs and six-game losing streak is the level…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-403341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}