[mrluongo]

Living in Vancouver during this past Canucks season has taught me a great deal about the passion of Canucks fans. You probably don’t know much about me, so I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself.

I grew up in Toronto and like most Canadian kids, I dreamed of playing in the NHL. I played hockey in high school at St. Michael’s and when I turned 16, I left home to play Junior for the Kingston Canadians. Eventually, my dream came true, playing for both the Colorado Rockies and Boston Bruins, until I broke my ankle in 1984 and the doctors told me my NHL career was over.

Hockey had been my life, but I had to start a new life, so I set my sights on becoming a lawyer. Using my NHL disability compensation, I attended Law School at Queen’s University in Kingston.

Eventually, I was lucky enough to article at one of the biggest firms in Toronto. I had started a new career outside of hockey but players started calling. I sought advice from the firm’s patriarch and he was kind enough to grant me a leave of absence in order to pursue a career as a player agent. Hockey was still in my heart.

I went out on my own and gradually, over the years, my business did very well. But one more dream still lived - to run an NHL team. And destiny seemed to arrive again.

Our family has always lived in Kingston, however, our oldest, Kate, had the opportunity to train with the Canadian National Field Hockey Team, so we made the decision to temporarily move to Vancouver. We rented a house here, leaving our home and all of our belongings in Kingston, expecting to return there this summer. But a funny thing happened; the whole family fell in love with Vancouver. We never imagined how much we would love living here, and decided as a family, to stay permanently. And then, the Canucks called.

I'm 49 years old and built a very successful business, but I was ready for a change. When the opening came up at the Canucks it was a dream come true. I have faced challenges my whole life, and I am eager for this new opportunity. I understand your passion for this team, and the hunger to win. I feel the pressure already to try and raise this team to the level of competing for a Stanley Cup. This is a major challenge, because there are such huge expectations, but this is what drives me.

We all know that an agent being hired as a General Manager is a rare thing but my own unique experiences will allow me the opportunity to look at building a franchise and a team in new, and perhaps unconventional ways. My goal is not just to try to improve our hockey team, but to employ innovative thinking about how a franchise should be managed, especially as it pertains to assessing players, which I have done my entire career.

I have added Laurence Gilman as our Director, Hockey Administration. Laurence is completely familiar with the salary-cap system, has a thirteen-year history working in our League and is highly intelligent. Having Laurence on board will allow Assistant General Manager, Steve Tambellini and I to focus on player personnel, for both the coming season, and our future. Scott Mellanby has also joined our staff and will use his 20 years of NHL experience to assist us in our evaluation and assessment of players. We want to build a franchise that competes at the top, season after season, like the great franchises in our League. That’s our goal.

The bottom line for me is that I have to succeed here. I will be judged on results. Everyone from you, the fans, to the owners, to everyone in the organization wants to win. My job is to set the team in place to make that possible.

And now I have to get back to that job. We have much to do. Thank you for your continuing support and for being an Inside Edge member.

Sincerely,


Mike Gillis
General Manager, Alternate Governor
Vancouver Canucks

This post has been edited by mrluongo: 24 May 2008 - 12:41 PM

[CanuckRow]

mrluongo, on May 24 2008, 10:33 AM, said:

Living in Vancouver during this past Canucks season has taught me a great deal about the passion of Canucks fans. You probably don’t know much about me, so I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself.

I grew up in Toronto and like most Canadian kids, I dreamed of playing in the NHL. I played hockey in high school at St. Michael’s and when I turned 16, I left home to play Junior for the Kingston Canadians. Eventually, my dream came true, playing for both the Colorado Rockies and Boston Bruins, until I broke my ankle in 1984 and the doctors told me my NHL career was over.

Hockey had been my life, but I had to start a new life, so I set my sights on becoming a lawyer. Using my NHL disability compensation, I attended Law School at Queen’s University in Kingston.

Eventually, I was lucky enough to article at one of the biggest firms in Toronto. I had started a new career outside of hockey but players started calling. I sought advice from the firm’s patriarch and he was kind enough to grant me a leave of absence in order to pursue a career as a player agent. Hockey was still in my heart.

I went out on my own and gradually, over the years, my business did very well. But one more dream still lived - to run an NHL team. And destiny seemed to arrive again.

Our family has always lived in Kingston, however, our oldest, Kate, had the opportunity to train with the Canadian National Field Hockey Team, so we made the decision to temporarily move to Vancouver. We rented a house here, leaving our home and all of our belongings in Kingston, expecting to return there this summer. But a funny thing happened; the whole family fell in love with Vancouver. We never imagined how much we would love living here, and decided as a family, to stay permanently. And then, the Canucks called.

I'm 49 years old and built a very successful business, but I was ready for a change. When the opening came up at the Canucks it was a dream come true. I have faced challenges my whole life, and I am eager for this new opportunity. I understand your passion for this team, and the hunger to win. I feel the pressure already to try and raise this team to the level of competing for a Stanley Cup. This is a major challenge, because there are such huge expectations, but this is what drives me.

We all know that an agent being hired as a General Manager is a rare thing but my own unique experiences will allow me the opportunity to look at building a franchise and a team in new, and perhaps unconventional ways. My goal is not just to try to improve our hockey team, but to employ innovative thinking about how a franchise should be managed, especially as it pertains to assessing players, which I have done my entire career.

I have added Laurence Gilman as our Director, Hockey Administration. Laurence is completely familiar with the salary-cap system, has a thirteen-year history working in our League and is highly intelligent. Having Laurence on board will allow Assistant General Manager, Steve Tambellini and I to focus on player personnel, for both the coming season, and our future. Scott Mellanby has also joined our staff and will use his 20 years of NHL experience to assist us in our evaluation and assessment of players. We want to build a franchise that competes at the top, season after season, like the great franchises in our League. That’s our goal.

The bottom line for me is that I have to succeed here. I will be judged on results. Everyone from you, the fans, to the owners, to everyone in the organization wants to win. My job is to set the team in place to make that possible.

And now I have to get back to that job. We have much to do. Thank you for your continuing support and for being an Inside Edge member.

Sincerely,


Mike Gillis
General Manager, Alternate Governor
Vancouver Canucks

Didnt need a life long story. Cool, nothing new here. Where did you find this?

[Unrivaled]

He sent each of us e-mails...

You left out the Dear mrluongo part

[racerjoe]

Nice letter, hope he does what he says.

[Bloodugly]

I could respond with a letter from a fan who's been here since day 1, remembers when they drafted Dale Talon , remembers when they took the "C" away from Dale Talon, my coments about that in grade 2 still make me cringe, remembers when beating Montreal was our biggest goal for a season, remembers the embarassment on uniforms change
and hiding the team jacket in my closet that I got for christmas 'cause I'm alergic to bees and didn't need to attract any.
Remember a true cinderella story from a team that really had no business being in the final. Remember having the number 2 pick in the greatest draft ever, Nolen #1, Nedved #2,Primeau #3,Ricci#4,Jager#5. Remember Burke legaly stealing Bure in the 6th round and then watching this phenom practicing at Brittania with a parachute strapped to his back, and who couldn't remember '94, and then getting screwed by the lockout. thats happend to us twice now, remember joining CDC in 96 ,when there were only a hundred or so members and we actually had decent hockey conversation without trolls, remember when they changed CDC for the 3rd or forth time in 03 and erased our names(at least mine) Bastards!!! remember a Crawford team that wasn't going anywhere and they thought about breaking up, then for some reason it clicked. Then seen Bert cry(pu$$y). Another lockout, and if history should have taught us anything,that's where the old team should have been broken up. So Mike from a fan to a GM do your job, make the hard descions no matter how much people whine on CDC, just don't sit up in the booth like some pouty little kid that needs the snot wipped off his nose and do nothing

[Hafizzle]

Pretty good letter. If hes able to do what he promises im gonna love this guy.

[gm-place]

If you are going to steal copy and paste...
Use quotes... you're making it look like you wrote the letter yourself

[JonnyBCYa]

Quote

We want to build a franchise that competes at the top, season after season, like the great franchises in our League. That’s our goal.

Teams that come to mind: Detroit, New Jersey, Dallas and San Jose

Detroit has first-class scouting and player development.

New Jersey continues to ride the Brodeur train.

Dallas makes alright player movements and has alright scouting and player development.

San Jose drafts well and makes pretty good personnel decisions.


If the Canucks want to be one of these top franchises, then they need to have better scouting. And draft the obviously correct choice instead of the obviously wrong choice, like Delorme has done year after year after year.

[Wetcoaster]

Dear Mr. Gillis:

I also dreamed of playing in the NHL but a blown out knee in junior ended my NHL dreams - I am sure you can sympathize.

Hockey had been my life, but I had to start a new life, so I set my sights on becoming a lawyer.

Eventually, I was lucky enough to article at one of the biggest firms in Vancouver. I had started a new career outside of hockey but players started calling. Hockey was still in my heart.

I went out on my own and gradually, over the years, my business did very well.

I'm 57 years old and built a very successful business, but I am ready for a change.

I do not have a daughter who plays field hockey and in fact I am divorced with no children so I can devote 24 hours a day to working for the team and not be bothered by those silly family responsibilities like you.

We all know that an agent being hired in a teams hockey operation department is a rare thing but my own unique experiences will allow me the opportunity to do a great job. HIRE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now I have to get back to my job of trying to bring light to the darkness that is CDC.

Sincerely,


Wetcoaster
CDC gadfly

[hlrsr]

Pretty standard letter I would say.

Still don't buy any of that "We happened to love Vancouver, and oMgZ then da Canucks called me!@!! what a coincedencE!!" Please.

[lumpy]

Wetcoaster, on May 24 2008, 10:51 AM, said:

Dear Mr. Gillis:

I also dreamed of playing in the NHL but a blown out knee in junior ended my NHL dreams - I am sure you can sympathize.

Hockey had been my life, but I had to start a new life, so I set my sights on becoming a lawyer.

Eventually, I was lucky enough to article at one of the biggest firms in Vancouver. I had started a new career outside of hockey but players started calling. Hockey was still in my heart.

I went out on my own and gradually, over the years, my business did very well.

I'm 57 years old and built a very successful business, but I am ready for a change.

I do not have a daughter who plays field hockey and in fact I am divorced with no children so I can devote 24 hours a day to working for the team and not be bothered by those silly family responsibilities like you.

We all know that an agent being hired in a teams hockey operation department is a rare thing but my own unique experiences will allow me the opportunity to do a great job. HIRE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now I have to get back to my job of trying to bring light to the darkness that is CDC.

Sincerely,


Wetcoaster
CDC gadfly

Family responsibility is not silly.
It's what drives single mothers to work 2 jobs to send their kids to college.
It's what makes real men live and act with integrity, because they want to set a positive example for their children, and have them be proud of them.

The canucks played with a lot more passion and grit when they had their fathers at the game.

and i think the word you are looking for is "empathize" not "sympathize"

..
That's not to say you wouldn't be a good hire though.

[Wetcoaster]

lumpy, on May 24 2008, 11:19 AM, said:

Family responsibility is not silly.
It's what drives single mothers to work 2 jobs to send their kids to college.
It's what makes real men live and act with integrity, because they want to set a positive example for their children, and have them be proud of them.

The canucks played with a lot more passion and grit when they had their fathers at the game.

and i think the word you are looking for is "empathize" not "sympathize"

..
That's not to say you wouldn't be a good hire though.

If I meant "empathize" I would have used that word. In terms of grammar correction and use of words ... don't try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs.

And on the point of "family responsiblity":

You should consider getting a piece of optional equipment to help you along on CDC. I find using a sarcasm detector to be quite useful on these Boards. Here is one put together by the guy down the street and available from the management at CDC. It is a basic model but does the job for most posters:


I decided to get a more deluxe version not available for sale through CDC.


And then I really splurged so I could handle the occasional more learned post where the author eschews sarcasm and goes for its classier relative irony. This is a software solution so you need have some facility in installing programs:


Here is what the author of the program has to say about it:

Quote

Irony Detector 1.5

Irony Detector is a handy application for those who have trouble immediately identifying the use of words to express something other than (and especially the opposite of) the literal meaning and/or the significance of the incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result.

This is a background filtering and detection application that works with most browsers, email programs, chat software and newsreaders (though it has been known to regularly fail on AOL and WebTV platforms, so exercise caution here).

It can detect tragic, dramatic, Socratic and phlegmatic irony. You can even set the sensitivity from the most basic level to full awareness (Usenet-compatible).

Try it out. It will help you understand posts that have some subtlety and avoid making huge errors in judgment as here.

[*]

Wetcoaster, on May 24 2008, 11:28 AM, said:

If I meant "empathize" I would have used that word. In terms of grammar correction and use of words ... don't try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs.

And on the point of "family responsiblity":

You should consider getting a piece of optional equipment to help you along on CDC. I find using a sarcasm detector to be quite useful on these Boards. Here is one put together by the guy down the street and available from the management at CDC. It is a basic model but does the job for most posters:


I decided to get a more deluxe version not available for sale through CDC.


And then I really splurged so I could handle the occasional more learned post where the author eschews sarcasm and goes for its classier relative irony. This is a software solution so you need have some facility in installing programs:


Here is what the author of the program has to say about it:


Try it out. It will help you understand posts that have some subtlety and avoid making huge errors in judgment as here.

You need help man..

[Wetcoaster]

Alexander_Ovechkin, on May 24 2008, 11:32 AM, said:

You need help man..

How so?

[mrluongo]

malkin71, on May 24 2008, 10:45 AM, said:

He sent each of us e-mails...

You left out the Dear mrluongo part

cause it said my real name haha

[*]

Wetcoaster, on May 24 2008, 11:33 AM, said:

How so?

Counsellor?

[Wetcoaster]

Alexander_Ovechkin, on May 24 2008, 11:42 AM, said:

Counsellor?

Ovenchicken?

[Zomg Leet]

mrluongo, on May 24 2008, 07:39 PM, said:

cause it said my real name haha

It's not like we're going to hunt you down.

[fearitself]

gm-place, on May 24 2008, 06:44 PM, said:

If you are going to steal copy and paste...
Use quotes... you're making it look like you wrote the letter yourself

What, you didnt know right away that it wasnt actually the poster but Mike Gillis?

are you one of those "world stops turning if there is too much foam in your latte" people?

[Twinder]

What? And here I though that letter was written just for me...