Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford announced on Thursday that he will step down from his day-to-day management responsibilities immediately following the 2026 NHL Draft.
Rutherford will stay on to oversee the hiring of Vancouver’s new general manager, as the team fired former GM Patrik Allvin in April, and then transition after the draft into a role as Alternate Governor and advisor.
Jim Rutherford says that he will transition to an advisor role with the #Canucks after the draft
— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) May 6, 2026
Rutherford, 77, has been with the Canucks organization since December 2021, when he was hired as the team’s president. He also acted as the team’s interim GM until the hiring of Patrik Allvin in January 2022.
The Canucks qualified for the playoffs just once in Rutherford's five years on the job. They’ve had three head coaches under Rutherford, including Rick Tocchet, who won the Jack Adams Award in 2024 after the Canucks had won the Pacific Division. The major decisions made under Rutherford include giving enormous contracts to center Elias Pettersson and winger Brock Boeser, and, most recently, trading star defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild for a package of picks and prospects.
Rutherford is one of the most successful NHL executives in recent memory. He was the president of the Hartford Whalers, which later became the Carolina Hurricanes, for nearly 20 years, winning the Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006. He was also the GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins for about six and a half years, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017.