Gillis. Who is He?

[RoyalDude]

A farce who was lucky to have inherited a team with some very good players? Or he knows his shit?

I myself don't have the man crush on him like all of you do. I don't like to steal posts from other posters from other Canuck boards, but this dude says it all for me.

Some jack ass named Chubros from the Canucks Board at Hockeysfuture (I put in Bold my favorite part of his post) -

I think there is some middle ground that reasonable people on both sides of the debate can agree on:

- Gillis was hired into a very favourable situation
- Most of the key pieces that have driven the team's success predate Gillis
- Overall, Gillis has done a good job of retaining those assets
- Gillis has made some good moves augmenting the roster, which has contributed to the team's success
- Gillis has been innovative in his attention to sports science issues
- Gillis has made some poor moves and has taken some big risks

The degree of credit that Gillis deserves is what is up for debate. It's certainly less than 100% but more than 0%.

In my mind, the jury is still out on him. He's done some things that scare me, and I'm not completely sold on his judgement.

What does set me off is people who say things like "In Gillis We Trust" and treat the guy like a God, then turn around and slag Nonis, Burke, and Quinn. They're the same fans who can't find fault with any of the players on our roster until they're on another team, when they begin to rip them to shreds. I believe that our past GMs were good Canucks and, while open to criticism, deserve respect and credit for the good things they did for the franchise.

[Strangelove]

A farce who was lucky to have inherited a team with some very good players? Or he knows his shit?

I say he's a farce who knows his shit.

[coco_canuck]

Serious question RD,

Did Gillis give to you in your rear end?

If I didn't know better, I'd say you're love scorned by the amount of time you spend Gillis.

Carry on carrying on.

[TDA Rum]

I believe we will know for sure within the next 2 years....

[wafflecombine]

At its core, no manager or coach gets to start fresh. They inherit the team that was there before them. There is wisdom in this otherwise we'd see a new GM come in and blow up teams more often. New guy in town, trade, cashier, etc 50-75% of the team depending on contracts and then make the team truly "theirs". that's like telling a math Ph.D he sucks at math because he didn't invent calculus. Point is, everyone stands of the work done by people before them.

By and large Gillis has done a decent job. He retained our core, made some good moves, made some bad moves and made some moves we aren't sure about yet. Every GM can boast a similar scorecard because no is perfect all the time, every time.

This said, I thought Gillis and AV might pay a heavier price then they did after this years disappointment... but I guess ownership had a different opinion.

[ODB]

I want Luongo to stay and wanted AV to be fired... Can’t always get what you want!

Gillis, I'm happy he was re-signed. I think he's made mistakes but he's definitely earned the opportunity to finish what he's started.

His decision to keep AV on board has shaken my confidence butt, I'm still prepared to back GMMG... for now. Things could change if he fucks up the Lou trade, draft and July 1st. His 2012 off season has to be much better than 2011!

[SKYO]

As long as Colarado/Minny/Flamers/Oilers don't get any better we should be a president trophy contending team for awhile, till the Oilers get some defense.

Anyways I like how MG has created a solid team atmosphere with hiring a lot of pro's in sleep/food/training etc, the feeling that the management actually care for each player, plus the development of draft picks/prospects and helping our farm team a lot.

However his dealings are not the greatest, some homeruns like white/rahimi for Ehrhoff.
Some questionable, like Sturm, the Hodgson-fiasco, trading for Ballard, Booth?(too small of sample size to judge that yet)
And his constant failing of trying to acquire a true power forward. Kassian will take awhile to develop so it could take two, three or even four years to see any impact of that ZK deal.

Our defense really needs a facelift as they usually rely on RL or CS to bail them out way too often, Edler/Hammy/Juice our the core, with Tanev on his way, somehow though MG has to stabilize that backend this offseason with either acquiring a top 2 dman or get a Willie Mitchell type along with J. Shultz to help out our offense, as we are at our best when we have solid puck control and agile deft hands/high octane scoring, like the way we were with Ehrhoff.

This potential Luongo deal could decide his fate when his new contract is almost up.

[Vpete]

I had a two friends in the states who used to argue about politics all the time, one was a Republican and the other was a Democrat. The Repub used to tell the Dem that the only reason Clinton was good was that he only had to ride on the economic coattails of Reagan and Bush senior.

The Dems response was that at least Clinton was not dumb enough to screw it all up like Bush jr. That's kind of how I look at Gillis. He knows what he has, knows how it got there and has done everything to maximize his assets while taking some risks. Everyone has a shelf life but like Clinton he deserves another run just because he didn't screw everything up.

While I tend to not favour the 'you done good by not screwing up' approach, at least in business, politicians get a little more leeway from me in that area.

[RoyalDude]

Personally, Mike Gillis time of judgement is about to begin, until this last season he's been hiding behind a team he took over that came with The Sedins, Luongo, Kesler, Burrows, Edler, Bieksa, Salo, Schneider etc., a pretty nice situation. But that core may have seen it's peak not because they are done as individuals, but the makeup of the core may be getting stale. I think we saw complacency settling in with this group the last half of the season. Plus we are seeing a changing of the guard when it comes to other teams in the league, the new have nots and new haves.

There is no more hiding behind the last regimes core group, it's crunch time for Gillis now, the two best players on this team are closing in on 33. It will be interesting to see how Gillis responds to the falling of the Twin Powers over the next while. Because of Gillis, this is the first time in a long while this team doesn't have a presence of the next coming, sort of like Bertuzzi and Naslund taking over for Bure, Linden and then the Sedins taking over for Bertuzzi, Naslund. Who do we have coming up in this organization that will be taking the place of the Sedins? Schroeder, Jensen, Kassian???

Gillis really needs to improve on his drafting and developing. In 4 years, not one of his draft picks on the team at seasons end, and that could easily be the same case come next season for Gillis, his 5th year as GM of your Vancouver Canucks.

[RoyalDude]

we should be a president trophy contending team for awhile

What about the Stanley Cup? Isn't that the prize of all prizes? Who cares about the Presidents trophy, it's gay. We saw a serious digression from Stanley Cup finalist to first round knockout in 5 games, was it? Can't remember. And that ain't no blip cause we saw this team's play over the last 30 digress quite dramatically. On this team, Gillis has a serious drop off in talent after a handful of players. He needs more depth. The Sedins, Kesler, Hamhius, Edler, Bieksa and Burrows, Luongo and Schneider can't do it all by themselves. Our supporting cast sucks large.

[Strangelove]

I had a two friends in the states who used to argue about politics all the time, one was a Republican and the other was a Democrat. The Repub used to tell the Dem that the only reason Clinton was good was that he only had to ride on the economic coattails of Reagan and Bush senior.

The Dems response was that at least Clinton was not dumb enough to screw it all up like Bush jr. That's kind of how I look at Gillis. He knows what he has, knows how it got there and has done everything to maximize his assets while taking some risks. Everyone has a shelf life but like Clinton he deserves another run just because he didn't screw everything up.

While I tend to not favour the 'you done good by not screwing up' approach, at least in business, politicians get a little more leeway from me in that area.

Yes but isn't this in fact a business... and wasn't Clinton impeached for lying*.

* all GMs lie

[Jovocop]

As long as Colarado/Minny/Flamers/Oilers don't get any better we should be a president trophy contending team for awhile, till the Oilers get some defense.

Anyways I like how MG has created a solid team atmosphere with hiring a lot of pro's in sleep/food/training etc, the feeling that the management actually care for each player, plus the development of draft picks/prospects and helping our farm team a lot.

However his dealings are not the greatest, some homeruns like white/rahimi for Ehrhoff.
Some questionable, like Sturm, the Hodgson-fiasco, trading for Ballard, Booth?(too small of sample size to judge that yet)
And his constant failing of trying to acquire a true power forward. Kassian will take awhile to develop so it could take two, three or even four years to see any impact of that ZK deal.

Our defense really needs a facelift as they usually rely on RL or CS to bail them out way too often, Edler/Hammy/Juice our the core, with Tanev on his way, somehow though MG has to stabilize that backend this offseason with either acquiring a top 2 dman or get a Willie Mitchell type along with J. Shultz to help out our offense, as we are at our best when we have solid puck control and agile deft hands/high octane scoring, like the way we were with Ehrhoff.

This potential Luongo deal could decide his fate when his new contract is almost up.

I am not trying to defend MG but

Sturm, was just a UFA signing which only cost the Canucks' money. If he did not work out (which was the case), the Canucks only lost money but not any assets.

As for Booth, trading away an oft-injured and pending UFA Samuelsson and a useless Sturm was not much of a gamble. Just like Bernier, the problem is not Booth, but his contract. If Booth's contract is $3m a season, I doubt anyone would complain about his production. However, sometimes you have to give to get. What do you expect to get with an oft-injured and pending UFA Samuelsson and Sturm?

As for acquiring a power forward, MG did sign Backes to an offer sheet but the Blues did match it. MG was right about Backes. He then acquired Bernier. The biggest mistake that MG made was not signing Bernier before St. Louis retaliated. As everyone know, true power forwards do not grow on trees. As a fan, all I can hope is that Kassian could be the one soon.

One thing that MG did not do well enough last season was to acquire a bigger defenseman. Knowing that the league was going back to the dead puck era, MG should grab a guy like Gill for a pick or two.

[vic]

- Gillis was hired into a very favourable situation

When Gillis took over, the team just finished a season where they went 1 for 7 down the stretch and finished dead last in the NW division.

[clem]

Gillis doesn't appear to have done much for the organization's prospect depth. The Canucks are rated third worst in the league.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/71825/hockeys-future-organizational-rankings-spring-2012-21-30/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hockeys-future-organizational-rankings-spring-2012-21-30

[RoyalDude]

- Gillis was hired into a very favourable situation

When Gillis took over, the team just finished a season where they went 1 for 7 down the stretch and finished dead last in the NW division.

Um, and loaded with a group of very good young players on the verge of hitting their prime, and not just good players in one of the 3 area's of a team ie, Forward, Defense and Goaltending, but good players in all 3 of those areas. Everybody knew they were going to be a good team when Gillis took over and Nonis was fired. Shit, we could have parked Jack Gordon's coffin in the press boxes as our GM and the results would have been the same as they were for Gillis.