The panel of decision makers involved in the search for the next general manager of the Vancouver Canucks spent this weekend conducting in-person interviews with several candidates for the job.

This has certainly been the most wide-ranging and thorough search for hockey operations leadership that the club has conducted during the Aquilini family’s ownership tenure. Even at early stages of the interview process, the Canucks had multiple representatives from ownership, executive leadership on the business side and the team’s president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford taking part in video calls and meeting with candidates.

Now Canucks ownership and executive leadership have taken the time over the weekend to meet in-person with their preferred candidates, going in-depth on rebuilding plans and evaluating candidates more personally, building up the rapport and familiarity that’s going to be essential if this franchise is going to steer itself out of the ditch that it finds itself in.

The list of specific candidates who have made it to the final stages of this process is still being closely guarded by the team. The Athletic has been unable to confirm who exactly is on the Canucks’ short list.

What we are hearing, however, is that while the search for a GM is reaching an advanced stage, the Canucks aren’t rapidly nearing a decision on who will replace Patrik Allvin.

Canucks decision makers are proceeding patiently, a source close to the process told The Athletic. The organization intends to be considered in evaluating its options with a decision of this magnitude. To that end, it is not expected that an announcement will be made in the early part of the week or in advance of the NHL Draft Lottery.

Sedin twins to represent Canucks at draft lottery

Henrik and Daniel Sedin will represent the Canucks during the NHL Draft Lottery broadcast on Tuesday, a detail first reported by Postmedia News that The Athletic confirmed on Sunday morning.

The Sedins were selected with the second and third picks at the 1999 NHL Draft in Boston, after then-Vancouver general manager Brian Burke made a handshake agreement with the Thrashers, who selected Patrik Stefan at No. 1, to select the twins in a single trip up to the podium.

There’s obviously a nice bit of symmetry then with Henrik and Daniel being tasked with representing a franchise that has never enjoyed an ounce of luck during any sort of random draw in its history.

At least part of the organization’s thinking here, however, goes beyond symbolism. This decision is also based on that most powerful and rarely mentioned force in NHL decision-making: superstition.

Last year, when the New York Islanders jumped up the draft order from the 10th spot in the draft lottery, with just 3.5 percent odds of earning the first selection, they were represented by Ken Morrow.

Morrow has served as the Islanders’ director of professional scouting since the early 1990s, but he was a defenseman for the team in the early 1980s. Among his career highlights is a magical 1979-80 season, during which Morrow was both part of the gold medal-winning Miracle on Ice team at the Lake Placid Olympics, then turned pro and went on to win the Stanley Cup with the Islanders later that year.

In choosing the Sedin twins to represent the franchise at the draft lottery, the Canucks figured they might tap into the good fortune enjoyed by the Islanders one year ago in landing Matthew Schaefer. So the club selected a pair of former players still actively working in a hockey operations capacity for the organization to represent them via teleconference during the broadcast.

The Canucks, by virtue of their 32nd-place finish, own the best odds of any NHL team to earn the first selection at Tuesday’s draft lottery.

Vancouver has been granted 185 out of the 1,000 possible number combinations in the draft lottery, which will give the Canucks a 25.5 percent chance of winning the No. 1 selection. Five teams in the draft lottery cannot move up to select first, so Vancouver’s total chances of selecting first are also influenced by the 70 possible combinations owned by those teams.

The Canucks also have an 18.8 percent chance of winning the second selection, leaving No. 3 as their most likely draft slot at 55.7 percent.

Draft preparation ongoing during GM search

The Canucks are still without a general manager, but preparations for the most important draft in franchise history are ongoing.

Before he was fired as GM, Allvin had taken the lead on evaluating players at the apex of the 2026 NHL Draft class and had put in the travel to see players in the CHL, Europe and the NCAA throughout the season. Allvin’s skills as a talent evaluator — his background in hockey operations is as an amateur scout with the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins — are still highly thought of internally, which is why the club made him an offer to remain with the organization in a scouting-focused capacity following his dismissal in mid-April.

A Canucks source told The Athletic that, to this point, Allvin hasn’t communicated a decision one way or another to the team.

In addition to their top pick, which is guaranteed to fall in the top three depending on the outcome of the draft lottery, the Canucks own the Minnesota Wild’s first-round pick, which will likely fall in the mid-to-late 20s, plus the 33rd and 41st selections in the second round.

Vancouver had representatives from its amateur scouting staff at the U18 tournament in Slovakia, and director of amateur scouting Todd Harvey will be among a contingent of Canucks scouts attending the World Championship in Switzerland in May.

The worlds could take on an additional layer of importance in evaluating the top of the draft class, given that the top two prospects — Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg — are expected to compete for Canada and Sweden, respectively, at the tournament.