Canucks Coffee: Was Patrik Allvin too busy for the biggest trade in team history?

So we now know of two oddities last week from the end of Quinn Hughes’ time with the Canucks.

First, there was the one that was talked about for a few days earlier this week: why was Patrik Allvin too busy to take the lead on the Hughes trade discussion?

The second: did you notice who wasn’t at Hughes’ send off dinner?

On the first, that is indeed very odd. Bill Guerin even acknowledged the situation, saying he had called Allvin to talk trade — because why wouldn’t you call the GM — but was told to call president Jim Rutherford.

It was such a massive trade, such a nerve-racking situation, that obviously Rutherford couldn’t let this slide, even though he’s been trying since the start of his tenure to present himself as more of a mentor to this front office, less of the day-to-day operator he’s been in the past.

The day-to-day operator did help win three Stanley Cups. He knows how to negotiate, how to get what he wants and believes his team needs.

Also it’s not hard to ignore that just as Allvin deserved lots of credit for building up the squad that looked on the verge of something in 2024, he’s also in the end overseen the demise of that same squad to one that Hughes had no interest in hanging around in.

What’s his future here? Many people around the league have predicted over the past few months that Allvin wouldn’t make it past Christmas. Well, here we are. The team is still one of the worst in the league.

But while he didn’t take the lead on the Hughes trade, he was certainly helping Rutherford underneath.

There’s little doubt that if things go sideways, if this attempt to make a quick rebuild by trading a few more pending free agents like Kiefer Sherwood and Evander Kane and bringing in young players in exchange doesn’t work, that will surely be the end.

There will not be a repeat of the endless Benning era, where the GM did his best to accede to ownership’s wishes.

Where was Petey?

That’s the second question here: as revealed by Mike Russo and Joe Smith in The Athletic, Hughes had a small sendoff dinner in New York before he flew to Minnesota to join his new team last weekend. Notably Elias Pettersson and Thatcher Demko weren’t reported to be part of the party. In attendance were his closest Canucks friends: Brock Boeser, Tyler Myers, Conor Garland and Filip Hronek.

Certainly for a long time the two were close. Two young guys coming up in a new city together, the anointed ones, the ones who were going to restore hope and pride and winning to a moribund franchise.

Sources who know them say Hughes played a big role in supporting Pettersson last season when things were well and truly falling apart between the centre and J.T. Miller.

As happens, the two have drifted apart. Pettersson, of course, got married. He and his wife Katelyn suffered the tragedy of a recent miscarriage. As any of us who have suffered through this kind of loss, that changes you forever.

But beyond that, sources have said Hughes and Pettersson have generally just drifted apart. As important Hughes was in supporting his teammate last season, he still had grown frustrated with Pettersson’s work ethic.

Pettersson being poor in his off-season preparation has been a frustration for teammates of his before, a player whose off-season efforts don’t truly match the high quality his natural talents bring. Too quick to rest on his talents, not a guy who worked hard enough to raise his game through physical preparation.

That said, he really did bear down in his off-season training this past summer. He wanted to be the player he knows he can be and that we’ve all seen before. His teammates will have noticed this.

Pettersson, everyone seems to agree, is a nice guy. He’s a little different in how he approaches the world, but then again aren’t we all? What is normal?

This question aside, he too often failed to recognize what his teammates looked to him to do, to show up in a way that equated with everyone’s expectations. When you are a leader on the team, there’s an expectation of effort, a basic standard to be filled.

Hughes, it would seem, was struggling to see a way forward here. Even after Pettersson did dial it up. Too little, too late it would seem.

Liquidity

The newest ownership whisper is the Canucks are set to switch banking sponsors next season to RBC. Along with the sponsorship, a source suggests, the Aquilinis have secured preferred lending rates and access to all of the Aquilini Group’s business.

If true: hello cash flow.

pjohnston@postmedia.com