Jim Rutherford gives his first impressions on Canucks' offseason trade acquisition Evander Kane

Evander Kane was traded to the Vancouver Canucks from the Edmonton Oilers in June as part of an offseason trade in exchange for a fourth-round pick. The forward is expected to help the team with his physicality, ensuring increase in puck possession.

Canucks President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford made an appearance on the "100 Percent Hockey" podcast on Tuesday. He spoke about Evander Kane among other things.

"I have pretty high expectations of him because I think he's a phenomenal player when he's playing his game," Rutherford said. (21:30) "And my and our organization's expectations, I would say, are pretty high, because we know what he's capable of doing.

"We know he's at a point in his career that he wants to continue to play. He's in the last year of his contract. He's got everything to play for. And I believe that he's going to be a difference maker for the Canucks."

Evander Kane has played 16 seasons in the NHL. The 34-year-old has scored 617 points in 930 regular season games. 161 of those came with the Edmonton Oilers, but he missed the entirety of the last regular season due to an injury, returning in Game 2 of the first round against the Los Angeles Kings.

Kane was let go by the Oilers as a necessary salary dump after the team signed Evan Bouchard to a long-term contract and are pending contract extensions of Connor McDavid, Mattias Ekholm and Jake Walman.

Kane has settled into the Canucks setup, scoring an empty netter against the Seattle Kraken in a 4-2 win last week. There has been a possibility of Kane playing alongside star center Elias Pettersson. Rutherford left the decision to head coach Adam Foote.

"I don't know," Rutherford added. "I mean, that's really [Adam Foote's] decision. At this point in camp, he has not played him with Petey. I'm sure at some point in the year, that could change. But right now, he has him playing with Hedlund Garland."

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Jim Rutherford believes the Canucks are better positioned this season

Jim Rutherford has instilled faith in the Canucks to regain their division title winning form from two seasons prior.

"Yes, the team is much calmer and in a much better place," Rutherford said. "This group appears to be really together and wants to succeed together and support each other. And it's just a total different feel from where we were a year ago."

The Canucks missed the offseason by six points last season, finishing outside the Pacific Division Wild Card standings. The team needs its core group of Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko to lead from the front and stay competitors.