Report: Canucks fire assistant GM Chris Gear and analytics director Jonathan Wall

The Vancouver Canucks are not done making changes to their front office.

Less than a week after letting GM Jim Benning and assistant GM John Weisbrod go — and just one day after hiring new president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford — the Canucks have made further changes. 

As first reported by The Athletic’s Thomas Drance, the Canucks have “dismissed” assistant GM Chris Gear and executive director of hockey operations Jonathan Wall.

Gear had only just recently been promoted to assistant GM in 2020 after nine years of working as legal counsel for Canucks Sports and Entertainment. He was well-regarded for both his work on the legal side of things but also in hockey operations, as he structured contracts and managed the salary cap. 

Wall had been with the team for over 20 years, starting with tasks like watching video — literal video on VHS tapes — and manually tracking scoring chances. Over the course of two decades, his role grew until he was managing the Canucks’ analytics team as the director of hockey operations.

Beyond just analytics, Wall was heavily involved in many other areas of hockey operations, including working with Gear to keep the Canucks under the salary cap given the contracts signed by Benning. 

Both Gear and Wall had done yeoman’s work in recent years with a skeleton crew in hockey operations, filling in gaps beyond their stated responsibilities.

The two dismissals are surprising, particularly the timing. Gear and Wall had both worked under multiple management groups and could have been expected to continue under Rutherford. The team's analytics team, for instance, likely needs to be expanded to match other top teams in the NHL rather than contracted.

More intriguingly, Rutherford isn’t even in Vancouver yet. He isn’t expected to arrive until Sunday, so it’s surprising to see two significant changes made before he arrives and speaks to the existing management team and staff.

Of course, a new president of hockey operations could be expected to bring in his own people for two significant roles — capologist and director of analytics. Still, the Canucks just lost two of their most respected employees in hockey operations.