Canucks management refuses to accept blame for the treatment of Bruce Boudreau.

While the fans of the Vancouver Canucks did an incredible job of showing what a classy city they have on Saturday night, serenading now former Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau with chants of "Bruce there it is" during his final game as head coach of their team, it's a completely different story when it comes to those running the franchise.

On Sunday, Canucks president Jim Rutherford, Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin, and their newly appointed head coach Rick Tocchet finally faced the music when they were forced to face the media and answer questions about how the Boudreau fiasco has been handled.

While you might have expected the Canucks to issue a series of profound apologies, the reality was instead a stunning lack of accountability from those at the very upper echelons of the organization. Canucks president Jim Rutherford even went so far as to pass the buck completely, blaming the "speculation" around Boudreau for how everything played out.

“It was the speculation that drive this. It wasn’t us," said the Canucks president.

“This took on a life of its own with all of the speculation. And that’s why people are upset about it.”

Rutherford famously made some rather ugly comments about Boudreau earlier in the season when he spoke publicly about the performance of his head coach, comments that make his attempt to pass the buck today come off as nothing short of laughable.

To his credit, Rutherford did at least acknowledge that those comments were a mistake, and even offered an apology to Boudreau when it comes to that incident specifically.

“I will apologize to Bruce for this: In my interviews over the year when I was asked a question, I was probably too direct and too honest… So I’m going to zip it. I’m going to let Patrik and Rick talk about the team…” admitted Rutherford on Sunday.

Rutherford wasn't the only man to make a ridiculous comment during today's media availability however. Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin attempted to make the ludicrous claim that he only made the decision to move on from Boudreau as head coach today, this in spite of the fact that NHL insiders have been reporting that Tocchet would take over the role for weeks now. Not to mention that Tocchet himself has openly admitted in recent interviews that he did in fact speak to Canucks management well before today.

It showed a disturbing lack of accountability from the Canucks management team, and it certainly helps explain how things have gotten so bad in Vancouver.