The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Jeff Paterson on the Canucks Firing Allvin, Rutherford's Blunt Comments, and more

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Jeff Paterson joins to dive into a turbulent moment for the Vancouver Canucks, including the firing of Patrik Allvin, Jim Rutherford’s candid remarks on Quinn Hughes, and what’s next for the franchise. Don’t miss this comprehensive NHL playoff recap, analysis, and insider discussion packed with key storylines, standout performances, and must-hear insights.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, one of the things, by the way, and we're going to open up with our next guest here, Jeff Patterson, and ask him this question. And there's been a lot of answers. I mean, like, there's been a lot of Henrik Lindquist and a lot of Jerome McGinless. Some of our older fans have mentioned, you know, Daryl Sittler and Patrick Marlowe. And the QOD essentially, because there's a really wonderful piece at Daily Faceoff right now about which NHL veterans are most deserving of their first Stanley Cup. And spoiler, sorry, Scott Maxwell. He has Brent Burns as number one. Eric Carlson is number three.

Klojuru of the Ottawa Senators in at number two. Let's bring aboard Jeff Patterson, the host of Rinkwhite Vancouver, and ask him that question before we get into and try to unravel the Gordian knot that is the Vancouver Canucks. And Jim Rutherford, Jeff Patterson joins us now, which is, you know, I don't want to bias a jury here, but I don't think I saw one Luongo in there, although he does have a cup as an executive with the Florida Panthers. Do you have a person in mind when I say your favorite player or maybe

be the best player to never win the Stanley Cup. To me, it's either Boria Salming or Marcel Dion, but I'm an old. What about you, J. Pat? Who are you going with here? My glib answer would be anybody that has worn a Vancouver Connected Jersey. But that's still a work in progress, as is the current state of this hockey club that will get to. I mean, Daniel and Henrik, obviously, just having my career has sort of mirrored their time

in the organization. So watch them grow up and reach the heights they did. obviously get to a game seven and not quite get it right. But I was glad to hear, and I'm not surprised, that others have said Jerome McGinla, as you know, an affinity for the time I spent calling his games in Kamloops way back when. And so watched him ascend through the ranks as well and get close, but not close enough, ultimately. So I put Daniel and Henrik at the top of the list, followed very closely by Jerome.

Trevor Linden in that conversation, I would probably throw into that. in that mix as well. Anyway, Jay Pack, great to see again, my friend. I hope that things are going well. There's never a dull day in Vancouver and things got extra spicy again on Friday as we were treated to yet another newsy Jim Rutherford press conference. But before we get there, it did seem like Friday was, at least felt like the end of something, the end of a very specific era. I know that nothing's clean in black and white. It's all areas of gray. But it felt like that was sort of the signaling of the end of the Rutherford era here, as he won't, you know, commit much past like a few more months with this organization. Anytime I've ever

done an improv class, I don't know if you've ever done an improv class. They'll always tell you, when you're telling a story, start in the middle. It always makes it more compelling. And I go back to, like I'm an English major, University of Guelph, you know, something of the most interesting fiction always starts in the middle. That's how you capture attention. When you look at this, whatever, this thing that just happened with Vancouver over the past few years, is there one moment that maybe for you represents the middle where, you know, there's two different directions.

This thing can go in. It can go to the left or to the right. Like, was there, was there, we always focus, okay, what's the beginning of this? What's the end of this? To me, I'm interested, what's the middle? What was the middle of this Vancouver Canucks saga? Was it Quinn? Was it J.T. Miller or was it Borgavat?

Like, what was it? What was the middle of this? Yeah, I mean, my initial answer would probably be the day that they peddled J.T. Miller. They came to the conclusion that they just couldn't move forward as individuals or as a collective and they had to trade a guy that had been a hundred point player and looked to be the heart and soul of this hockey club. And they decided that J.T. was the one to go and that they, would hang on to Elias Pedersen, who they had committed to. And we know how that story has played out here over the last couple of seasons

since he signed the contract. So you're right. There's a bunch of sort of stop and drop off points along the way. The trade of Quinn Hughes, I think a lot of people would look at that and think, okay, well, that was it. Like when they came to the realization that this guy wanted out and there was no path forward, but I would back it up because I do think that the trade of JT signaled to Quinn that maybe there wasn't a future.

for him here and that this team was in deeper than we all thought. And you know what, Jeff, I might even back it up a few weeks before the trade of J.T. Miller to that explosive Gary Mason article in the Globe and Mail where Jim Rutherford essentially aired all of the dirty laundry. Because to that point, to that point, the fan base was divided. Like there were a lot of people that believe the smoke signals that were coming out of the locker room, but there were just as many that said media fabrication, you guys just looking to pile on this hockey club and oh, you're looking for a story, then the president of the hockey

ups opens up and just basically lays it bare that these two guys cannot move forward together for whatever reason that they have tried. And it's just, it's untenable. And so, yeah, I would say that is sort of the middle of the story. Obviously, the start was Rutherford being brought in to repair the damage and have been done by the previous regime. Patrick Elven was his hand-picked guy. And now you look. I mean, Rick, was their handpicked coach. He walked out the door last summer. Now they have had to push Patrick Helvin out the door. Derek Clancy left. He was the first Jim Rutherford hire. And so Jim was brought in, given this opportunity to build up the front office and handpick his coach. And he's basically

here by himself. I mean, Cammy Grinato and Emily Castingay are still here in the front office. But lots of people have seen greener grass elsewhere and chased after it. And, you know, this wasn't Patrick Alvin's doing, obviously, leaving, but he's no longer the man in charge. And I think a lot of us wondered if he was ever, really, the man in charge because it was such an interesting dynamic with a president of hockey operations who clearly had the final say on all the big hockey decisions. Call me cynical.

And I'm happy to invite that. But it seemed like Alvin got fired for decisions that he did not make. Ultimately, he was responsible for them. And, you know, going into that press conference, I'm like, okay, so Rutherford is going to present publicly the case why Patrick Alvin is no longer the general manager. I didn't hear a compelling case why Patrick Alvin shouldn't be, shouldn't still be the general manager, other than perhaps we just look at it and say, the Vancouver Canucks are prepared to turn the page, not just on Patrick Alvin, but Rutherford's seems to be at least strongly considering piecing out in this whole thing.

Like, did you hear a case for firing Patrick Alvin on Friday? Because if I, if there was one, I missed it. Well, I think one look at the standings. Somebody's head had to roll and we'll see if there is, you know, future fallout here, if Adam Foote ultimately is dismissed by whoever comes in and takes over as general manager. But I think there's a prevailing thought out here. And you kind of have to have the full feeling of this marketplace.

But when you see Ryan Smith of the Utah mammoth high-fiving with fans, outside of T-Mobile on the evening. The first ever playoff game. I am trying to, like, just trying to imagine a world in which Francesco Aquilini could approach a group of Canucks fans on the plaza outside the rink and, you know, mingle. And just so. No. My sense is here that, well, a lot of people think that it should have been a package deal

on Friday and that maybe Jim is past his best before date, I think this is all orchestrated that if Jim Rutherford goes, Francesco, Aqualini's going to have to sit at that dais and face the questions that he doesn't want to face and meet the media that he disdains. And so Jim remains in his job because he is a shield. He's a buffer between the media and by extension the fan base and the owner. And so, you know, if Jim's fingerprints are all over this and if every hockey decision ultimately stopped with him, I mean, he tried to distance himself a little bit and said,

I can't make decisions for other people. But we always wondered, like, how much autonomy did Patrick Geline truly have? Did he just make the phone calls? And Jim made the decisions. And I think there was some element of that. But then in the same breath on Friday, Jim Rutherford said the next person in charge is going to have complete and auto autonomy over hockey decisions. And of course, then he also talked about how, hey, his focus is on the hire and the draft. And at that point, he's going to reconsider everything.

And so he may be preparing his exit as soon as this offseason. We just don't know. He's 77. He still seems awfully sharp. I think he doesn't want this to be his last act in what has been an incredible career in the game and in the sport. And so I think some of Jim's personal pride is on the line here to stick around until this team has a little bit of traction and is starting to move back in the right direction. But my goodness, after what we just witnessed this season, I think we should all be settling in for a few more years of pain

before the Canucks find their way out of the wilderness. You know, I'm not the first to make this point, but I'll make it here with you because I'm curious your thoughts on it specifically. A couple of weird sentences placed beside each other at that press conference, and the one that stands out was when Rutherford talked about how he knew that Quinn Hughes wasn't going to come back to Vancouver, that he wasn't staying for the long haul, that he was gone, and that that was the reason he went out,

and along with Patrick, who was technically the general manager, and spent a million dollars on Brock Bester and Thatcher Demko and Connor Garland. That's pretty expensive for a, maybe we'll see if it's enough to lure Quinn Hughes back to the Vancouver mix. How did you greet that or those two statements beside each other? Yeah, I mean,

that sounded like an act of absolutely, desperation on the part of the hockey club. And even at the time out here, like, we all knew that they weren't going to do a whole lot in free agency. And it really felt like movements on the part of the hockey club to placate the fan base that, you know, okay, we're not going to jump into free agency. But here, here's a couple of shiny objects. There are objects you already know, and many of you like?

But, you know, are they in the best interest of the hockey club? Six by six for Connor Garland, you let Brock Besser walk to free agency. You'd kind of dogged them on the way out the door. and then just a sec, we want you back here and there's a contract that you're going to find attractive. And then, of course, I think the one that really at the time, and even again, it was brought up on Friday, there were so many questions around the health and well-being of Thatcher DEMCO

that it felt you're responsible in that moment to commit to him, even if it was just three years. Like, why not take the first 20 or 25 games of the new hockey season to see if this guy could possibly stay healthy? And sure enough, by that point, you would have an answer that, you know, committing to him at any term and any dollar amount may not be the right call, especially after you had locked up Kevin Lankin and the way you did a few months earlier. So, yeah, I mean, it just wreaked a desperation.

And Jim basically said as much it was done as a last gas effort, even though he said he knew Quinn was already out the door. So how can that possibly be, you know, the best practices of running a modern hockey franchise when really all you're doing is trying to, you know, throw the fields at your captain in this last gasp effort to get him to reconsider, even though the team was headed to the bottom of the standings. Rutherford seemed quite certain that this situation could turn itself around quickly as early as next season because the culture is right now.

And to use a Brian Brooke expression, in Rutherford's mind, they've shoveled out the barn so now it's time to show the horse. Do you share Rutherford's public enthusiasm and belief that this can turn around quickly. No, and I think that was one of the comments that really got lost in this avalanche of every other comment that he said was, I mean, people here have been screaming for a proper rebuild to do it right for 15 years, essentially since they lost game seven of the 2011 final and, I mean, they were good the next year and won the president's trophy, but flamed out in the

first round in each of the next two years. And then, really, we've been living in a dark decade out here on this idea that a fan base in Vancouver can't stomach a rebuild when they have been force-fed bad hockey for more than 10 years now. So, yeah, you've got this fan base that finally got management and ownership on board to rebuild this thing and do it properly. And then the president steps to the microphone and says, oh, we had three young players, we had two veterans, a healthy Thatcher Demko, and I believe that we could be a whole lot better next year. That raised a lot of red flags in this market. Now, I think the two statements can

kind of be true. Like, they can be better. They better not be a 58 point team again next season. So there should be improvement from within, but I still think that even like the way Jim stated it, he's expecting whoever they get with their first overall or the first round pick, yeah, to step in. Yeah, it could be first overall. But he mentioned a name Jack, Braden Coots, their first rounder from last year, who played three games for them at the start of this season and is still going strong in Prince Albert. And he mentioned Jonathan Leckermackie, who is coming off shoulder surgery and still hasn't come anywhere close to proving himself as a full-time national hockey leaguer. So there's a lot of ifs there. I still wonder about their ability to attract free agents this offseason.

Like, why would somebody choose to come to the Vancouver Canucks at this low M? And you can say, well, they'll get paid. they're going to get paid. If they're an unrestricted free agent, a pretty good chance that they're going to find their money wherever they go and that they should have some options at the very least. The conducts don't have a lot to sell free agents on right now. Like the idea of two years ago, they attracted Jake DeBrusc and I think part of the pitch was you get, hey, you can play with Elias Pedersen.

Well, that's not much of a pitch these days. In fact, guys might ask not to play with Elias Pedersen these days. So, you know, the idea of two veteran free agents, agents, I have to believe it until I see it. And then he also mentioned a healthy Thatcher Demko. And that's just such an if right now. There's just no way of knowing, even though Demko, it was good to see him. And he sat all the right things on Friday.

And you want to give him a chance to prove himself. But he's over 30 now. And he's got this long list of injuries that we all know about. And so I think at this stage of his career, those sorts of problems compound. And hip surgery is no laughing matter. So, you know, we have to see what he's. looks like, but there were just a ton of ifs there in Jim's statement about them being better. I think they can be better, but I still think they're going to be in the discussion for

top lottery odds again next year. Landon DuPont. History doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes. Close on this one. Your thoughts on who takes over then for Alvin. There have been a number of names that have already been spit out there. It seems as if, you know, Ryan Johnson was the preferred candidate for Jim Motherfell? referred here. I can understand. And I don't want to position this like it's some, that it's frivolous or it's just like a show pony. But they do need to, I think, internally show that they are going through a process.

So they're at least giving the impression. And they may just end up going right back to RJ at the end of all of this. But I don't know if it's a, you want to say it's a public relations exercise, but they are going to go through an interview process here with a number of different candidates. does it end up with the general manager at Abbotsford? I will preface that by saying if it does, I'll be delighted for Ryan Johnson, a guy that's paid his dues. I think he's a sharp guy.

He's got great people skills. Those have been in short supply in the Canucks organization for too long now. He's got the championship pedigree of building the Abbotsford Canucks into the Caldly Cup winners a year ago. So there's lots of reasons to like Ryan Johnson. He's a hockey guy. You know, he's not a big brain data scientist.

But again, we're seeing all different types, some with backgrounds in data science, some with legal backgrounds, agents. It's impossible to know how a guy is going to fare until he gets the opportunity. But I will say this, that I think the Vancouver Canucks absolutely, forget the PR side of the exercise job. They have to pick the brains of other good hockey people out there that are interested in this job. Like, there was a ton of heavy lifting. When you're dead last and you don't have a lot in the stable in terms of prospects, Yeah. There's a lot of work to be done out here.

I would be fascinated because I think for far too long, the conducts of even as they floundered near the bottom of the standings, have had this sort of attitude of, we got this, we know best, you can't tell us. Well, how's that worked for you? Not very well. I would open this thing up. I would want people to come in and present to me ways that you think that you can

turn this around. And whether there's a candidate that does enough to earn the job, I don't know. but at least you would get some institutional knowledge from outside of your own institution that I think you could probably be a pretty good learning for this organization. I hope that this season has sort of brought them to their knees a little bit

and humbled them because, again, I think the way that they've conducted themselves, the way that they have treated the fan base for the most part, treated the media, it hasn't been good. It's not a good scene out here on the West Coast, and so there's just a whole lot of growing up that has to be done. And obviously they've got to find the right person that can help this team get back

to its destination. I say get back to its destination, never won the Stanley Cup. And I think that's been part of the problem too is they've chased that mushy middle. It's always been about getting into the playoffs. Forget that. Like, they have to find somebody that can lay out a plan here that can ultimately turn them into contenders.

And at that point, there are no guarantees, but take your best kick at it, you know, a bunch of seasons in a row with a team that truly has the ability to compete for the Stanley Cup. Well, other than the drive, Mrs. Kennedy, how'd you enjoy Dallas? It'll end on that.

It's been a year. It's taken a couple of years off my life. Trust me. It's been a dark season out here. Bless you. Bless you, Jay Pat. I feel for the guys like you that are on the beat every single day, it's, there's a special place in heaven. I swear there's a special place in heaven. You be well.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I appreciate it. Yeah, you bet. Thanks, Jeff. That's not every.