Mike Gillis Is To Blame.

[aqua59]

Actually Gillis does have to take some responsibility but not all of it. He's not on the ice. He's not the coach. I think the coaching style is to blame. That may have been Gillis' biggest mistake so far and that was to keep AV in charge. The guys a good coach but only for the style he likes. Defensive hockey. He keeps slipping back to his old ways liking close scoring games.

I also think there's to many of the same type of players on the Canucks. I know MG has been focused on bringing in smart intellectual players that are of good character. I think they need some players that are of some questionable character on the ice. Players that will make to look over your should when you're on the ice because they might cross check your neck. Toughness is one thing but toughness doesn't mean nasty. Those 2 words mean different things and I think Vancouver is no where nasty enough. Jack K is still too young and I've got no problem with him. He's just not nasty. People expecting him to preform as CoHo just don't get it. He'll come along fine. He's not their problem.

The using of the pieces on the boards is the real problem.

No power play, hel l no goals on ages, that old shut down trap style AV loves. I've said this before and will say it again, The Vancouver Canucks will never win the Stanley Cup with AV at the helm.

M Gillis just has to make the Mac T doesn't slip away to another team this summer. Mac T is thew kind of new age coach the Canucks need.

[sdnucksfan]

i agree with more of this post than all of your other posts combined, however, some of it is a bit far fetched.

while i dont know what the hard on for may ray is about, he has been useless all season and surely will be moreso during the post season. MG can't keep every player he'd like, teams like buffalo that were hardly at the cap floor had a lot of money to spend on Erhoff and unfortunately we couldnt match. theres also rumors that higgins wouldnt re-sign if torres did and even if those are un-true, PHX offered more so he went there. nothing we can do other than offer him stupid money and in that case MG would be criticized for over paying, especially if he didnt live up to it, which he more than likely wouldnt.

there are plenty of players we can wish we still had , i bet chicago wishes they still had their cup winning roster. i think booth was a goo acquisition and given a full training camp and full season next year hell do a lot better, he's looked good and showed a lot of promise throughout but hes coming off two concussions and still hasnt had a full season witht the team, getting rid of sturm for him was surely a good move. I didnt like seeing Samuelsson go though i agree with you there.

Kassian fits a role we need much more than COHO and if we develop him we have nothing but a bright future in him. he's even younger than COHO so the sky is the limit as far as developing the kid goes. Pahlsson is also a good acquisition with his experience.

if we dont make it this year there is so much to look forward to next year. our team will see a full training camp, pre season, and entire season together. i dont think having 4 new guys on our starting roster is helping us, while i like most of the moves MG made i dont like all the movement made.

I think we have a lot to look forward to as far as moves made in the offseason and our team developing in camp together. 6 of our forwards didnt make camp before this season(kes, mayray, weise, booth, pahlsson, kass) and 5(kes, mayray, booth, pahlson, kass) didnt play the beginning of the season with van and 2(pahlsson, kass) werent acquired 'til half way thru at the deadline.

theres really no wonder were not looking like a team. i think even with the exact same team and circumstances next year we'd make it all the way to the cup no problem. theres no shortage of talent here, the team just needs time to develop together.

[Beaken]

For all the good things that Mike Gillis has done, his tenure with Vancouver will forever be defined by the Hodgson trade. Anyone at the time ( and it was majority of you) who liked the trade simply had blind faith in Gillis. It completely disrupted the teams chemistry and took away crucial secondary scoring (in big games to boot). Our hole was a top four defenseman and he goes out and gets Kassian whom is not NHL ready when we're in win NOW mode. That trade will forever be a headscratcher to me

[Guest The Brown Burrows]

I completely agree with you but many of these problems could be easily solved if AV used his players properly. Dumbass, just put his job on the line in 1 month.

[van_ws]

Completely agreed. I would like to see both AV and Gillis lose their jobs this summer.

[danny411]

yes, its gillis fault

and its the coaching staff fault.

[RunningWild]

Agreed with most of your post. You can not deny that Gillis had horrible trades since joining Canucks, and he's drafted horribly. He's hurt the current team and the future team. He has been Canucks GM for 4 yrs, going on his 5th draft and produced no one. Nonis was the Canucks GM for only 4 years and he drafted: Hansen, Raymond, Schneider, Edler and signed Burrows.

Who has Gillis signed or drafted that a) has made and stayed the roster b ) is a top prospect

Answer: No one.

In 4 yrs with Canucks, not a single drafted or signed player has made and stayed on the roster, or is considered a top prospect. Tanev is great, but has yet to play a single full season with Canucks. We've seen him trade away young talent that has gone on to prosper elsewhere (Shirkov, Hodgson, Grabner). We've also seen Gillis hand draft picks away like candy to bring in 'role players' for current team. The real issue is that he's drafted so poorly there are no options on the farm, he had to make trades. It's a vicious cycle.

The core of this team (mainly Sedins, Bieksa, Burrows, Salo) are older - in hockey years. Who will replace these guys in the future? There's few options on the farm. It's just a bad situation.

[oldnews]

Hodgson and Ehrhoff are not Canucks - their own interests were more important than being a Canuck - fair enough - good riddance.

Those of you whining about everything but the weather, listen to what Smithers Joe said. Save it for the offseason.

[canucklehead_82]

Gillis is loading this team up with stars, I blame the coach for not utilizing them to their full potential and disrupting lines before they can develop chemistry. But then again, I'm just another fan, what do I know...

[Darkstar]

After the loss in the first I was like "Oh maybe they were unlucky because of penalties"

The second game... "Maybe I should start a rant, but they got a lot of random shots in"

The third game? Ok it's time for a rant.

Mike Gillis failed in addressing this teams needs and problems after last year's elimination to Boston. Let me start, by saying that letting go of Christian Erhoff who was an integral piece to our cup run last year, was a complete debacle.

Erhoff would have only cost us 4.5-5 million dollars, don't even say that Mike would have overpaid Erhoff. What he should have done, is waive that 4.5 million dollar 6th defensemen that AV still refuses to use! Notice why every player is suffering in stats this year? Notice how our fragile defense is not moving the puck as well as last year? Christian Erhoff ladies and gentlemen.

[nuck nit]

Hodgson and Ehrhoff are not Canucks - their own interests were more important than being a Canuck - fair enough - good riddance.

Those of you whining about everything but the weather, listen to what Smithers Joe said. Save it for the offseason.

[puckluv]

keep in mind, the general manager and his crew give the coach what he wants...this is Vigneault's team

[tiredatwork]

I know it is time to question Gillis' role with what has gone wrong but he did sign Hamhuis,Bitz,Higgins,Weisse,Volpatti,La Pierre and Tanev.

I love hamhuis but given it's been 5 years and we've traded away tons of draft picks and prospects that is an incredibly brutal list. An absolute disgrace.

[canacks1970]

Agreed with most of your post. You can not deny that Gillis had horrible trades since joining Canucks, and he's drafted horribly. He's hurt the current team and the future team. He has been Canucks GM for 4 yrs, going on his 5th draft and produced no one. Nonis was the Canucks GM for only 4 years and he drafted: Hansen, Raymond, Schneider, Edler and signed Burrows.

Who has Gillis signed or drafted that a) has made and stayed the roster b ) is a top prospect

Answer: No one.

In 4 yrs with Canucks, not a single drafted or signed player has made and stayed on the roster, or is considered a top prospect. Tanev is great, but has yet to play a single full season with Canucks. We've seen him trade away young talent that has gone on to prosper elsewhere (Shirkov, Hodgson, Grabner). We've also seen Gillis hand draft picks away like candy to bring in 'role players' for current team. The real issue is that he's drafted so poorly there are no options on the farm, he had to make trades. It's a vicious cycle.

The core of this team (mainly Sedins, Bieksa, Burrows, Salo) are older - in hockey years. Who will replace these guys in the future? There's few options on the farm. It's just a bad situation.

[nuck nit]

Ehrhoff is not the only reason we're losing. MG moved Ehrhoff because he saw Edler as a suitable replacement on the PP and is he really that far off?

Eons,apparently.

Are you forgetting that the Canucks PP was locked into 1st place for the majority of the NHL season?

Edler scored two PP goals in the last 55 games.

You're also forgetting that even with Ehrhoff next year the powerplay completely dried up against Boston too.

Ehrhoff was injured.

You have a pretty generous definition of proven playoff performer. Samuelsson is such a playoff performer that he managed all of 3 points in 2 rounds of play last year.

Samuelsson was injured and bowed out of the playoffs,requiring surgery.

Samuelsson led all Canucks in playoff scoring two years ago.

Mikael had a 30 goal season and two 50 point + seasons in Vancouver.

Mikael is leading Florida in playoff scoring.You did know that wee fact,right?

http://panthers.nhl.com/club/stats.htm

Moving Samuelsson and Sturm for Booth is such a one-sided trade personnel wise that I have problems understanding why you'd have a problem with it. $4.25 million is not very significant in today's NHL salary cap with his skill set and age.

Samuelsson makes $2.5 million.Booth makes $4.5 million. Not important,nope.

http://capgeek.com/players/display.php?id=813

Booth has zero playoff points.No goals.No assists.

Torres is a player I think any team would want but he had all of 7 points in the playoffs last year, I highly doubt moving him contributed significantly to why the Canucks are losing to LA.

You could be wrong.Consider it as a contributing factor.

You criticize the Canucks for not being a skilled team but they were number 4 in the NHL in goals for. I think if anything the Canucks are guilty of being too top heavy with the Sedins and you see that without Daniel the entire lineup is thrown out of whack.

Huh?

Adding to the problem is the fact that they've made so many defensive errors in this series and they do not have the offence to make you forget about them like they usually do.

Huh? Where is your hero,Booth? Age,skill set. Only $4.5 million.

Last night's GWG was the result of blown coverage and of course in games 1 and 2 turnovers by the D were significant too.

Agreed.Superstar Eddy that Gillis surmised would fill Ehroff's role-right?

When I read your post I just see someone who's ranting for the sake of ranting. It doesn't give me a better understanding of why we're losing to the Kings, at all.

Time to go back to hockey school.

[RunningWild]

Ohh please. What has Nonis and Burke done in their time here as Gm. A team that couldn't get past the the second round and were happy to win a Division title or making the playoffs. Lets start with Burke and Nonis in the position of drafting. Who had the lower picks Gillis or Nonis? Except for Schnieder how many first round picks had Nonis have on the team? Thats right Nobody.

How do expect Gillis to build a team when previous Gms trading away second and third round picks draft picks like Candy for rental players in Weinrich,Smolinski,Sopel,Keith Carney,players past their prime. When you already had an aging core in Linden Naslund,Morrison .

What has Shirokov done? What has Grabner done this year?28 points this year compare to 50 points the year before. Grabner had 4 years to make the team. He went to the Panthers training camp out of shape. Thats right out of shape! Would you be happy with one of your prospects coming to camp out of shape? I'm pretty sure you would have been complaing about Gillis keeping an overweight player that at one time had so much potential.

Well at least Gillis had better success then Nonis over that same time frame. And don't give us well Gillis only took over the previous regime's talent. What GM hasn't taken over a team from the prevoius Gm??? Are you going to give Burke credit for the Ducks stanley cup run too. Considered he only made a couple of moves in his three year stay???

Who has Gillis signed that sticked with the team you mean players like Tambellini,Torres,Sameulsson,Tanav,Glass,Maholtra,Hamhuise,Sundin,Lack, at least Gillis hasn't missed the playoffs with his signings. And at least they contribute to the team in some way. Trading former first round pick in patrick White for Errhoff. Or getting a younger player in Booth for two players past their prime in Sammuelsson and Sturn. Would Nonis do that trade? I don"t think so.

Lets take a look at some of Nonis signings that Gillis had to deal with after he took over for Nonis.

Marc Chounard sign a three year contract and was suppose to be our shut down Centre and he ended up spending most of his time in the farm. How about Tommi Santala in Nonis mind was the best 4th line centre he ever saw. We all know Tommi struggled in the Nhl compare to playing in the minors. Josh Green,Danny Sabourin,Yannick Trembley,Ryan Shannon,Brad Isbister,Byron Ritchie,Aaron Miller,Mike WEAVER,Mike Brown,Kris Beech, Jason Jaffery, and Don't forget Rory Fitzpatrick. What impact did those

Signings do for this team under Nonis? And think the we have nobody in the farm to developed now,compare to four years ago we have alot more then you think. Let me remind you that in Nonis's last year as Gm what Did he have in the farm or draft picks that could of helped the team at the deadline. He had no leverage! He traded picks the previous two year for rental players and he had nobody in the farm that was worth while that he dangle with except for Schnieder.One trade Cooke for Pettinger.

Since Gillis has taken over 4 years ago Running Wild at least he never missed the playoffs, Not satisfied with winning just a Divison title or just making the playoffs. Got rid most of Nonis's signings and signed players that would work around the talent that he was keeping. Told his owners to spend more money into developing scouting and players. Yes me make some questionable trades and player signings like the previous regime. But imo he not doing anything much different then Nonis, maybe better.

[canacks1970]

Wall of text buddy. And clearly you didn't read my post.

Tell me who (of the current roster) was drafted or signed by Gillis that has played an entire season for this team? The answer: NO one. Torres, Tambellini, Ehrhoff etc etc are not on this team., nor were they drafted/signed by Gillis.

When Gillis took this job, he had ALL draft picks except for 2008 3rd round pick. That's it. He was also given a top 10 - 1st round pick - years later this player would ask for a trade. Who has he drafted since, who is still in the orig, that is considered a top prospect? None. Could they be better at the NHL level? Perhaps, you never know, but we haven't seen any of them of an extended time - so how do we know.

I realize this team went to the SCF last year, but you do realize there is still no Cup right? The only goal for this franchise (and most franchises) is to win the cup. 2 presidents trophies, division banners do not equal the cup. The core of team was drafted by Nonis/Burke, Gillis hasn't drafted anyone who's made a significant difference at the AHL level or NHL level. That's a problem for the future of this team.

[RunningWild]

Well you didn't read either.Torres,Tambellini and Ehrhoff did spend the entire season on the team. Well is wasn't Nonis who signed those players Running Wild? What does signing a player mean to you???

[canacks1970]

Hard to read your post as it was a massive wall of text. Signing as in a free agent signing, i.e Tanev, Burrows. And again, Torres, Tambo, Ehrhoff are not on this team.

[RunningWild]

I respect what your saying Wild! And I might disagree with you but Signing to me is not just drafting but a ufa.