For better or worse, Ryan Johnson’s standing with Canucks likely changing

VANCOUVER — Ryan Johnson’s unmistakable aura is decency.

Nobody who speaks to him for 15 minutes about anything leaves the conversation without a sense of the 49-year-old’s thoughtful earnestness and underlying goodness.

Only here, in this tumultuous and tribal, long-suffering National Hockey League market, could Johnson’s decency possibly be used against him as the Canucks search for a general manager to guide a team being rebuilt around young players and a fresh culture.

An assistant general manager who thrived with the Canucks despite previous regime change, Johnson has been touted by current president Jim Rutherford as the internal candidate to replace Patrik Allvin, who was fired last Thursday at the end of one of the worst and most disappointing seasons in franchise history.

Rutherford and managing owner Francesco Aquilini are expected to interview as many as 15 candidates for the job, several of them with NHL GM experience. Former GMs Kevyn Adams, Marc Bergevin, Brad Treliving and Rob Blake could all be candidates. And Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Wednesday that the Canucks have asked the Toronto Maple Leafs for permission to speak to special advisor Shane Doan, which is interesting because Rutherford has made it clear he could return to retirement soon after hiring a GM.

It is in the air around Vancouver — and on the airwaves — that ownership may doubt Johnson is ruthless enough to be an NHL general manager. So, does he even stand a chance?

It’s impossible at this stage to know if Johnson is a favourite or long shot, but Rutherford insisted after his year-end press conference on Friday that the former player, a 13-year Canucks employee who was promoted to assistant GM under Allvin and Rutherford, is a legitimate candidate.

“I’ve never even heard that before,” Linden said when asked if Johnson is too nice to be a GM. “I disagree with that. I mean, Pat Quinn was a good human who cared about his players and I think he was a pretty good general manager. So I see Ryan as someone who’s a good human and a hard-working guy and cares about people. But that doesn’t mean he can’t make hard decisions. Ryan’s been making hard decisions for a long time already. I’ve got all the time in the world for Ryan Johnson and his hockey acumen.”

Linden became Canucks president in 2014, after the Aquilinis fired Mike Gillis, and elevated Johnson to director of player development and minor-league general manager. Linden left in 2018 after losing a power struggle with former GM Jim Benning, but Johnson survived another regime change in 2021 when Rutherford replaced Benning at the top of hockey operations.

A key member of the Rutherford roundtable, Johnson became an assistant to the general manager and then assistant GM. Just as the Thunder Bay, Ont., native was a character “glue guy” as a player during a 701-game NHL career that included two seasons with the Canucks under Gillis, he has been a key, inclusive member of the Rutherford-Allvin management team, praised not only for his sharp hockey knowledge but also for his direct, respectful communication and professionalism.

Johnson’s player-development work was reflected by the Abbotsford Canucks’ first Calder Cup championship last June under Johnson and his hand-picked coach, Manny Malhotra, who will be a leading candidate to coach in Vancouver if the NHL team’s next GM chooses not to keep Adam Foote.

Ten rookies logged NHL games for the Canucks this season, and 15 players who spent time in Abbotsford this season or last (or both) played games in Vancouver.

“It’s building something,” Johnson, who was not contacted for this story, told Sportsnet last spring after winning the Calder Cup. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to develop players to win a Stanley Cup. But you have to win at a certain level first for those guys to develop the way you want. You develop to win, but you’ve got to win to develop.

“I think we focused on two things, which is professionalism — how you practise as much as how you play — and then the second part of that is the quality of the teammate we could be. That doesn’t mean buying lunch or beers after practice; that’s how hard you push each and the decisions you make every day … that allows you to have success and win something. That’s what I want every single one of these guys and staff to take with them. This is incredibly important.”

It still is. More so than ever for the Canucks as they load their roster with early-20s players and try to build a better culture than the toxic atmosphere that contributed to dysfunction and failure the last two seasons.

Rutherford thought highly enough of his AGM that he negotiated into Johnson’s last contract an exclusivity window for the Canucks, which is part of the reason the architect of the organization’s first American Hockey League championship has not interviewed with other NHL teams.

Rutherford’s choice of general manager, obviously, will have far-reaching ramifications on hockey operations. The status of incumbent assistant GMs Emilie Castonguay and Cammi Granato needs clarity, as does the future of scouting director Todd Harvey and his staff. Even player-development coaches Henrik and Daniel Sedin, so influential in the recent advancement of players to the NHL from the AHL, will have to share the next GM’s vision for the rebuild.

There is also the uncertainty about Rutherford’s future beyond this hiring. The 77-year-old Hall of Famer has hinted that the GM search could be his final project for the Canucks, noting that he told Aquilini, who coaxed him out of retirement in 2021, that he would devote “a couple of years” to Vancouver and has been here for 4½. 

If the team hires Johnson or another in the organization’s long string of first-time GMs, like Buffalo Sabres analytics guru Sam Ventura, maybe Rutherford stays another season. If they hire an Adams or Bergevin, it’s possible Rutherford could leave as president as soon as the draft in June. Which is where someone like Doan could come in.

For better or worse, it feels like Johnson’s standing with the Canucks will be changing.

“I care so much about these guys,” Johnson said in a March 2020 interview, the day he had to inform his minor-league players that the AHL was terminating its season due to the oncoming coronavirus. “From the moment we leave Vancouver (after NHL training camp), I let these players know 100 per cent that this is where I’m supposed to be, giving them the opportunity to grow as players and people and trying to help them any way we can. I’m not there to try to get myself another title or a promotion; I want them to use me to get there.”