New Vancouver Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson has a lot on his plate.“It’s been an all-out sprint, and it’ll continue to be,” Johnson told The Athletic on Wednesday morning during a brief telephone call.“We’re trying to staff,” Johnson continued. “I’m trying to surround myself with the help that I think can make us the best organization we can be. I still have two coaching staffs to effectively hire in Vancouver and Abbotsford. Then there’s expiring contracts in different departments that I’ve had to be attentive to, all while trying to talk to 31 other teams and 50 or so agents.“I’m not going to lie to you and say it hasn’t been a sprint and a lot. It has been. I’m just focusing on making each day as productive as I can.”Johnson is approaching the end of his first month in the general manager’s chair. And as busy as he’s been, the pace of his responsibilities is only going to accelerate over the next three and a half weeks.By this time next month, the Canucks will have gone through free agency and navigated any number of different player contracts. They’ll have fleshed out and filled in the front office staff and the NHL and AHL coaching staffs. Hopefully, they’ll continue to dismantle their NHL roster, too.And most importantly, they’ll have made at least 10 picks at the 2026 NHL Draft — including a critical selection at No. 3, which is the most valuable draft pick the Canucks have owned in over 25 years.For the first time in a generation, the Canucks have entered an intentional rebuilding stage. Now this nascent, overdue rebuild is going to reach a critical phase over the next few weeks, and it’ll be Johnson at the controls guiding what comes next.With this in mind, we caught up with Johnson and asked him some big-picture rebuilding questions to try to get a sense of what to expect from the Canucks this summer. His message: above all else, expect the club to be extremely patient in determining where the next step falls.You’ve hired Daren Hermiston as a director to this point, and the widespread expectation in the market is that you’ll be further fleshing out your staff — and presumably Manny Malhotra’s coaching staff — in the weeks ahead.Are you close to hiring an assistant general manager, and what can you tell us generally about the state of that process?Yes, I’m getting there. I’ve got some good names and some good people.It’s a priority, Abbotsford has to be shaped, and I only have so many hours in the day while I’m focused on working on our team in Vancouver. I’m working to get it in place as soon as I can, but I’m trying not to rush anything, because I also want to make sure I’m doing it the right way.It’s important, though, there’s a lot to figure out with players and personnel down there. It’s all stuff that I’m trying to work through daily.What sort of profile of an executive do you think you need to identify as an assistant general manager to round out your staff?I’ve always been an advocate for not just going with the person who’s done it before. I’m not against trying to find the next really good person in the game, and I’ve given that a lot of thought.At the same time, there’s value in the experience aspect. Someone who knows the American League, knows the importance of development at that level and knows how to accomplish that. So that’s what I’m keeping in mind.At the end of the day, any of our hires will have to have a certain skill set and bring value. The top priority for me is that they’re good people. They have to check that box first.You were just in Buffalo at the NHL Draft Combine, and it’s obviously been well-reported that you had several live viewings personally of Caleb Malhotra during his OHL season and in the playoffs. What stands out to you about him as a player?There’s so much that he brings to the table. One of the most enticing aspects for me, and I think you can say the same thing about Chase Reid, is the level of improvement from viewing to viewing, or from month to month. It’s the way the momentum picked up in his game. Every time you saw the player, you could see that massive step forward.