VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks have filled their vacant general manager position, hiring Pittsburgh Penguins assistant manger Patrik Allvin.
He becomes the 12th general manager in the franchise’s history.
Allvin, 47, has been with the Penguins for 17 seasons and was the director of amateur scouting before he was promoted to assistant GM in November 2020.
Allvin, from Falun, Sweden, a former defenceman, spent nine years playing professional hockey in North America and Europe before breaking into scouting with the Montreal Canadiens in 2002.
The move to Vancouver will reunite Allvin with Jim Rutherford, who served as Pittsburgh’s GM from 2014 to 2021 and led the team to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and ’17.
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Rutherford was named the Canucks president of hockey operations and interim GM in early December after the club fired head coach Travis Green, general manager Jim Benning and several other front-office staff.
Rutherford added to his staff Monday, hiring former player agent Emilie 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.
“I am grateful and humbled for this opportunity and want to thank Jim and the Aquilini family for their belief in me,” Allvin said via a team statement. “Leading an NHL team in Canada is an honour and building a championship team in Vancouver is our goal. Jim has assembled a diverse and talented hockey operations group in Vancouver, and I look forward to working closely with all of them as we build a team that fans will be proud of and will ultimately compete again for a Stanley Cup.”
Over his playing career, his first seasons in North America were from 1995-97, when he played for the Atlanta Knights and Quebec Rafales of the IHL, and for the Nashville Knights and Pensacola Ice Pilots of the ECHL. While in Europe, Allvin played for Arvika HC (1993-94), IK Vita Hasten (1994-95), Bodens IK (1997-98), Mora IK (1998-99, 2000-02), Leksands IF (1999-2000) and Sparta Sarpsborg (2000-01).
–with files from Sportsnet staff
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