Jim Rutherford To Step Away From Canucks' President Of Hockey Operations Role After The 2026 NHL Draft

Roles are changing within the Vancouver Canucks organization. With Vancouver on the hunt for a new General Manager, and the search seeming to near its end, President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford announced that he will be taking a step back from the organization's "day-to-day" activities once the 2026 NHL Draft concludes.

"I'm going to get away from the day-to-day operations. I'm going to stay with the team as an advisor and an alternate governor," he said in a media availability after the Canucks lost the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery. "As far as the day-to-day operations, we're going to put together a really good staff here going forward. This is something I've thought about anyways for a couple of years, but it's time for me to do that."

This doesn't mean that Rutherford will be stepping away from the organization full-time. In his advisor and alternate governor role, the 77-year-old noted that he will still help advise the main front-office staff.

"I'll help with the transition and with with the new person and new people in different positions and things like that, and but I'll still be part of the organization, and when somebody wants to bounce something off me, I'm happy to do it."

Whether the Canucks opt to hire a new President of Hockey Operations or not is still up in the air. The structure of Vancouver's new management group, according to Rutherford, will be clearer once a new General Manager has been selected.

"We're still working on that with the people that we have an idea that would be good at it, how, exactly, how that structure is, we'll be able to announce that when the when the GM is announced."

Rutherford has been the Canucks' President of Hockey Operations since the 2021-22 season.