- Bruce Boudreau says the Sedins and Ryan Johnson are “so much better” than the old Canucks brass
- The former Vancouver coach told Fellowship of the Rink that Patrik Allvin just “did whatever Jim wanted”
- Read below for the full video and what Boudreau said about working with the Sedins
Bruce Boudreau still hasn’t let it go.
The former Vancouver Canucks head coach hopped on the Fellowship of the Rink podcast last week and took another shot at Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin while raving about the trio replacing them. Boudreau worked with Ryan Johnson down in Abbotsford and with Daniel and Henrik Sedin around the big club, and he’s sold on the upgrade.
“I think those three guys are going to be so much better than to have Jim there, and then Patrik Allvin, who did whatever Jim wanted anyway, so it didn’t really matter if Patrik was there or not,” Boudreau said.
Watch the full sit-down:
Boudreau started with Johnson, the GM who ran the AHL Abbotsford Canucks while Boudreau was in Vancouver.
“Ryan Johnson was the GM of Abbotsford when I was there, and he was the only one that was easy to talk to,” Boudreau said. “The only one that would have a conversation worried about ‘what do I have to say now’ to make sure it doesn’t get back to anybody.”
That last line read like a swipe at Rutherford, who spent the back half of Boudreau’s tenure publicly criticizing his coach before firing him in January 2023.
The Sedins got their own review. Boudreau credited the twins for putting in actual development-coach work in Abbotsford and Vancouver before climbing up the org chart.
“The players in both Abbotsford and Vancouver felt comfortable to talk to them, because they weren’t judging you outwardly,” Boudreau said. “They weren’t sitting there and making public statements about you that didn’t need to be made.”
If that sounded like another shot at Rutherford, that’s because it was.
Vancouver gutted the front office this spring after finishing with the worst record in the NHL. The team fired Allvin on April 17, named Johnson GM and the Sedins co-presidents in early May, then hired Manny Malhotra as head coach last week.
Boudreau gave the city the seven-game winning streak after taking over midway through 2021-22, plus the “Bruce, there it is!” chants at Rogers Arena. The way it ended hasn’t softened on him three years later, and the latest podcast appearance made that pretty clear.
