Today Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford spoke to the media and explained the events that led Nikita Zadorov to leave the team in free agency. Within the last week <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl-team/vancouver-canucks/canucks-reporter-bashes-the-team-for-allowing-one-key-player-to-walk-away-in-free-agency' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Canucks analyst Rick Dhaliwal criticized the team for not re-signing Nikita Zadorov this past offseason.</a> Without Zadorov the Canucks have a clear need for a physical presence in their lineup and have not been able to protect their star players like Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson as well as they have in other years. This has led to criticism of Rutherford, GM Patrik Allvin, and head coach Rick Tocchet who have all been accused of not doing enough to keep Zadorov around. Today, in a new press conference, Rutherford responded to criticisms from the fans and the media, particularly regarding Zadorov's situation. <h3>Jim Rutherford Finally Explains Why The Canucks Did Not Re-Sign Nikita Zadorov</h3> According to the new interview with Rutherford, there was no keeping Zadorov happy in contract negotiations. Zadorov would set contract demands and the Canucks would meet those demands only for Zadorov and his team to ask for more and more. At the end, Zadorov was talking close with Tocchet while Patrik [Allvin] was talking to his agent, Rutherford said. Tocchet would ask him 'what's it going to take to keep you here.' And Zadorov said he had to get his contract to US$ 5 million [annually] and then he'd be set. So we got him to US$ 5 million. But then there was still no deal. Despite the Canucks giving him what he wanted Rutherford says that Zadorov just continued to push the envelope all the way up until the start of free agency where he ultimately left and signed with the Boston Bruins. So, Rick said to him 'what's going on?' And then he said: 'Well, if I can get to six years then I'll stay.' Same process. We said okay. So twice in that process he said give me that one more thing and I'll stay and then we give it to him and then he goes to Boston, These quotes from Rutherford go directly against what Zadorov himself said about the process when he claimed he wanted to stay in Vancouver but was never given an offer. Before the last season started, I made it clear to the management that I want to stay. But in the end, all the other players received offers except me. After the season's bumpy start, we realized waiting until the trade deadline was pointless. We had to act quickly. The truth in this situation likely ends somewhere between Rutherford and Zadorov's responses. Regardless the Canucks find themselves without a true physical force on the back end and with many fans who wish the Canucks would have just done anything to keep Zadorov around.