Canucks name Penguins assistant Allvin as GM
VANCOUVER Jim Rutherford says there are some big decisions looming for the Vancouver Canucks, but the president of hockey operations has crossed one large task off his to-do list: hiring a new general manager.
The Canucks on Wednesday named Pittsburgh Penguins assistant manager Patrik Allvin the 12th GM in franchise history.
“Obviously it’s a big honour for me, taking on this opportunity,” Allvin told reporters on a video call. “I’m extremely excited and honoured and proud to be part of the Vancouver Canucks going forward.”
The 47-year-old three-time Stanley Cup winner has been with the Penguins for the past 16 seasons and was the director of amateur scouting before he was promoted to assistant GM in November 2020. Allvin is the first Swedish general manager in the NHL.
The move to Vancouver reunites Allvin with Rutherford, who served as Pittsburgh’s general manager from 2014 to 2021 and led the team to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
“I’ve known Patrik for a long time and how he works and that he was a legitimate candidate,” said Rutherford, who was named the Canucks president of hockey operations in early December after the club fired head coach Travis Green, general manager Jim Benning and several other front-office staff following a dismal start to the season.
Rutherford spoke to a number of people about the GM vacancy and narrowed his list down to five candidates for in-person interviews. While all of the interviews went well, he said, Allvin stood out.
“He’s a very smart guy,” Rutherford said. “He knows players, he knows how to evaluate players, he knows how to find players, he’s well-connected in Europe where we’d like to get into that market a little bit more and try to get some more players out of there. He has a lot of good things going for him and we already have the working relationship, we know how that’s going to go.”
The history and current status of the Canucks were intriguing to Allvin, but it was something else that really drew him to the job.
“I’ve got to be honest — the reason I’m here is excitement to work with Jim Rutherford again,” he said.
Rutherford added to his staff Monday, hiring former player agent Émilie Castonguay to be the franchise’s first female assistant manager.
He previously tapped former scout Derek Clancey to fill another assistant GM role, named Canucks legend Stan Smyl vice president of hockey operations and announced that former Canucks stars Daniel and Henrik Sedin would continue in their roles as special advisers to the general manager.