HOPE, B.C. - Ryan Johnson is trying to run the Canucks a little differently.
That much was obvious on Wednesday, a day before his first NHL training camp as a general manager was set to begin. The rookie GM doesn’t talk much about “culture,” at least not in the way the word usually gets tossed around in sports. Instead, he keeps coming back to something he calls an environment.
“Culture to me is one of the most overused words in sport and business and I don’t feel a lot of people really know what it means,” Johnson told reporters. “But we’ve talked about an environment that we want to build here.”
For Johnson, that starts with being present. NHL general managers are usually kept at arm’s length from the players, partly because the job eventually requires judgment, cuts and trades. Johnson has gone the other way, showing up around the group far more than most of his predecessors.
“I think it allows me to build a relationship,” he said. “It allows me to build a connection … a place between two people where you can have an honest, transparent relationship that allows for some really good conversations and some really tough ones.”
That approach fits neatly with the way he and head coach Manny Malhotra want to operate: personable, kind and direct. Johnson even framed that kindness as a competitive advantage.
“I think a lot of times kindness or thoughtfulness is viewed as weak,” he said. “I think in the environment that I want to create, the ability to connect and establish that we can be really honest with each other, and it can be uncomfortable at times, and it can be really good, but I think at the end of the day, there’s a reason that you want to fight for each other. When you feel like somebody genuinely has your back, genuinely wants you to have success, you usually can get the best out of them.”
Players who’ve worked with him seem to feel that firsthand, especially those from the AHL. Arshdeep Bains, a major piece of the Johnson-led 2025 Calder Cup champion Abbotsford Canucks, said Johnson’s attention to the person matters just as much as the player.
“He learned how we were as people outside the rink and then made sure that we have the right environment,” the fifth-year pro said. “He’s a guy that makes sure that the environment and the team and the camaraderie and everyone … has the same goal and the same focus.
And he just wants hard-working guys. He was able to establish that, he built a good team for us down there (in Abbotsford), and then we all, you know, we thrived.”
Johnson’s presence around the players has become part of the story already, and his former AHL group is making clear they noticed. For him, that closeness isn’t a quirk. It’s the point.
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