<p>Every year for the past nine years, <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5672796/2024/08/06/nhl-front-office-confidence-rankings-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Athletic</a> asks 10,000 fans and 250 neutral observers to rank each team’s front office based on confidence level.</p>
<p>Last year, the Canucks ranked 30th, but after the season they just put up, the confidence ranking among the 10,000 Canucks fans and 250 neutral fans surveyed shot the Canucks all the way up to fifth in the NHL.</p>
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<p>Here&#8217;s a snippet of what The Athletic&#8217;s Dom Luszczyszyn wrote about the ranking:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;What a glow-up. From 30th to top five, Canucks fans finally have a front office they can get behind.</p>
<p>It’s been a long time coming to get to this moment as Vancouver was a frequent bottom feeder on this list during the Jim Benning era. The Jim Rutherford era started kind of rocky, too.</p>
<p>But over the last year, everything changed as the entire vision came together. The core reached their potential, some veterans bounced back, and some astute depth adds proved to be the missing touch needed to make the Canucks an elite team&#8230;it all worked out and helped serve as a lesson that this regime really was different — this one actually knows what they’re doing. Confidence means trust and the current front office has earned it.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>The Canucks&#8217; front office under Jim Rutherford has been near-perfect from a pro scouting perspective, an area that ultimately seemed to be the Achilles heel of the Benning era. For years, the Canucks overpaid and missed the mark on the additions around their core players, and for years, the outcome was the same: not being good enough to make the playoffs, but not being bad enough to consistently earn high draft picks. Not to mention that the team was constantly moving out draft picks during this era as well, despite not having any substantial on-ice success.</p>
<p>That seems to have all changed under Rutherford, and Canucks fans are grateful for it. The only area the front office didn&#8217;t get an &#8220;A&#8221; from the 10,000 fans surveyed was in their ability to draft and develop, which fans gave a C+. While the regime seems to have taken great strides with their &#8220;overseasoning&#8221; philosophy with players like Nils Höglander, the book is still out on what the organization can turn top prospects Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Tom Willander into.</p>
<p>Maybe if both of those players take great strides this year, the Canucks&#8217; front office will rank even higher in The Athletic&#8217;s ranking next year.</p>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong></p>
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Every year for the past nine years, <a class="text-accent" href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5672796/2024/08/06/nhl-front-office-confidence-rankings-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Athletic</a> asks 10,000 fans and 250 neutral observers to rank each team’s front office based on confidence level.

Last year, the Canucks ranked 30th, but after the season they just put up, the confidence ranking among the 10,000 Canucks fans and 250 neutral fans surveyed shot the Canucks all the way up to fifth in the NHL.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2111" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="329"></div>
&nbsp;

Here's a snippet of what The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn wrote about the ranking:
<blockquote>"What a glow-up. From 30th to top five, Canucks fans finally have a front office they can get behind.

It’s been a long time coming to get to this moment as Vancouver was a frequent bottom feeder on this list during the Jim Benning era. The Jim Rutherford era started kind of rocky, too.

But over the last year, everything changed as the entire vision came together. The core reached their potential, some veterans bounced back, and some astute depth adds proved to be the missing touch needed to make the Canucks an elite team...it all worked out and helped serve as a lesson that this regime really was different — this one actually knows what they’re doing. Confidence means trust and the current front office has earned it."</blockquote>
The Canucks' front office under Jim Rutherford has been near-perfect from a pro scouting perspective, an area that ultimately seemed to be the Achilles heel of the Benning era. For years, the Canucks overpaid and missed the mark on the additions around their core players, and for years, the outcome was the same: not being good enough to make the playoffs, but not being bad enough to consistently earn high draft picks. Not to mention that the team was constantly moving out draft picks during this era as well, despite not having any substantial on-ice success.

That seems to have all changed under Rutherford, and Canucks fans are grateful for it. The only area the front office didn't get an "A" from the 10,000 fans surveyed was in their ability to draft and develop, which fans gave a C+. While the regime seems to have taken great strides with their "overseasoning" philosophy with players like Nils Höglander, the book is still out on what the organization can turn top prospects Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Tom Willander into.

Maybe if both of those players take great strides this year, the Canucks' front office will rank even higher in The Athletic's ranking next year.

<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
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Vancouver Canucks rank 5th on The Athletic’s front office confidence survey

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