Gary Roberts Calls Mike Gillis A 'moron' For Comments About Hodgson

[Bertuzzi Babe]

Good on Gary Roberts but BETTER on Cody for "Taking the High Road and NOT COMMENTING" which is what I said that MG should have done.

PLAYERS won't trust MG and I don't blame them. There was something on the forum yesterday about MG and AV being back and someone suggested does anyone think they wouldn't be back and my response was ME!

Then I suggested what MG should have said to the media about Cody: That what is said to Players behind closed doors stays there and Cody is not part of our team anymore so next question . . . That isn't exactly how I worded it yesterday but similar.

Mike Gillis will live to regret those words and I am sure of that. I was shocked at the trade but my respect for MG went out the door for those comments. Get Jim Nill here folks for our next GM. That is who our GM should have been in the first place - a guy with experience as an assistant GM.

[TotesMagotes]

Good on Gary Roberts but BETTER on Cody for "Taking the High Road and NOT COMMENTING" which is what I said that MG should have done.

PLAYERS won't trust MG and I don't blame them. There was something on the forum yesterday about MG and AV being back and someone suggested does anyone think they wouldn't be back and my response was ME!

Then I suggested what MG should have said to the media about Cody: That what is said to Players behind closed doors stays there and Cody is not part of our team anymore so next question . . . That isn't exactly how I worded it yesterday but similar.

Mike Gillis will live to regret those words and I am sure of that. I was shocked at the trade but my respect for MG went out the door for those comments. Get Jim Nill here folks for our next GM. That is who our GM should have been in the first place - a guy with experience as an assistant GM.

[Burrdin]

Who's to say that Gillis didn't make the comments on purpose to deflect the fans' and media's attention due to the LA almost sweep from the team and coach onto himself. God knows everyone was dying to hear something from him about it anyways. It was a perfect way to get people to think of him as a villain and less of the team or coaching staff for a while.

[yes we can nucks]

People make it sound like he sold him down the river well I'm pretty sure there was a huge group of people that wanted answers and weren't going to stop asking so all he said was "we dealt with Cody more than any other player we found a player we could move him for so we did" he didn't rip into him he was just finally aswering the questions. Roberts is just an idiot trying to make more waves with the Canucks if Roberts had any class at all he would have respected what Hodgson said "I'm taking the high road" and just not said anything but instead he puts out comments in an article like this to tip the scale of the media towards CoHo and away from the canucks, this was a well calculated media move.

I'm personally worried that Kassian won't become the player CoHo was looking like he was going to but we won't know until years down the road and no matter the outcome we as fans can't change it so might as well just enjoy the journey.

[TimberWolf]

Just another example of how this organization mismanages its talent.

Go back to the day they drafted Hodgson. When Gillis was asked why they drafted a small centre that can't skate very well, his answer was to laud Cody's character.

So what changed?

On top of everything he went through with his back, look at last season from his perspective. The team gets into the playoffs, and they can't score. 15 goals in 7 games against Chicago. 14 goals in 6 games against the Preds. Then they get into the Final against the Bruins, Ryan Kesler is so banged he clearly shouldn't even be on the ice, and Cody is till being used as a fourth liner.

Then the next season begins. Kesler isn't in the lineup to start the year, and Cody is rarely being used on the second line, and when he is, it's as a second line winger.

Kesler comes back, struggles to produce, and Cody still isn't seeing an increase in his ice-time, despite the fact that he's on a 45 point pace with an average of about 13 minutes a game.

This is one of the reasons why good prospects cringe inside when the Canucks draft them. They simply don't know how develop and manage good young talent.

[TotesMagotes]

MG already shot himself in the foot this season with the Sturm issue. Signing a FA and then trading him, wow thats what people do in the EA NHL games. Who wants to sign here as a FA thinking they may just end up being traded after.

[D-Money]

Gary deals with Cody directly. I'm pretty sure most of Gillis' troubles with Cody was from his agent, Rich Winter. Based on the long diatribe Rich wrote to stroke his own...er, ego - in response to the Pass It To Bulis column, I am not surprised. He sounds like a self-serving douche.

Perhaps if Gary was dealing with Rich instead of Cody, he wouldn't be so quick to lay blame.

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There's another aspect to consider here: When Hodgson hurt his back, he was following the offseason training regiment he learned from Gary Roberts. Him ensuring Cody's career is not hampered is, in a way, damage control.

[The Brindy Gypsy]

Gilis is a smart man. He obviously made these comments to take heat off of AV, Luongo, Kes etc...

He is taking one for the team and giving the media a story so they don't go pursuing negative features regarding a poor ending to the season by the players and other staff.

Everything he does is calculated

[Aladeen]

You can't be serious. These NHL players are big boys and i'm sure they know the business aspect of the league.

Any player that signs with a team without a NTC obviously knows he may be subject to getting traded. It's common sense. What is there an unwritten rule that a GM can't trade a player the same year he is signed? Give me a break.

[Line Juggler]

MG did the wrong thing, you should never bash a player on the way out. He only did it because he go robed on the trade and wanted to make the trade look better. It was a classless move that I hope never happens again.

[stanleycanucks]

Cody took the high road and has not commented on the trade and the situation with the Canucks.

Gillis didn't stay quiet and his comments about Cody come across as defensive. Plus the fact that Gillis said "We made the determination that Hodgson no longer wanted to be here." - doesn't sound like Hodgson asked for a trade to me.

It's known AV mishandled Hodgson.

Unfortunately for the Canucks, they could have used that secondary scoring in the playoffs. Hodgson is going to do very well in this league. Really hope Kassian can fulfill his potential. Time will tell.

But one thing's for sure - AV and Gillis need to pull up their socks!

[Special Ed]

Well if Hodgson turns out to be another stamkos I will know who to thank.

And now luongo wants out. It's starting to feel like this organization is starting to sink.

*puts lifejacket on*

[Aladeen]

Well if Hodgson turns out to be another stamkos I will know who to thank.

[aliboy]

When it looked like Cody Hodgson was going to be a star, his days as a Canuck were numbered.  

Just look at the big market draft picks of 2008:

5. Schenn.  Bust?  Trade bait?

10.  Hodgson.  Close to busting.  Traded.

11.  Beach.  Fairly close to being a bust.

16.  Colbourne.  Traded.

19.  Sbisa.  Traded.

30.  McCollum.  Not even close to the big league.

imo You're not allowed to be a successful team and get decent draft picks unless you're one of the inner circle who is due to win the cup.  Philly.  NYR.  They have paid their dues.  The Canucks are up there, but they're not even close.  And now the prime years of the Sedins are wasted.

It would not surprise me to see the Habs and Laffs win the cup again before the Canucks win one.  Possibly the Oilers as well.  And don't forget about Buffalo.  The Canucks apparently still need to pay their dues.  I say let us sign more and more free agents to ridiculous contracts and merely bury them like NYR and Philly do all the time.  (Hey, does Wade Redden get his name on the cup if NYR wins?)  Cheers.

TOML

[DIBdaQUIB]

THis whole thing has Cody's fateher's fingerprints on it. The guy was a high-ranking politician and from all accounts, an egotistical, demanding and interfering father throughout Cody's development.

He's not going to just sit around and let his son look like a whining demanding baby. THe problem is, if Cody responds directly, it gets into a battle and the truth might come out. The poltical atrategy...leak somethinf from a third party to insulate the actual perpetrator.

.

The press is constantly being manipulated with leraked information, trial baloons etc. Do you really think Cody resonded top GR in in a private conversation in hat scripted like rsponse about "I'm just going to take the high road"? The exact same response he took

with the press. ALso note how much time went by before this came out? Gary went to all the trouble to call the kid on his holidays to talk about it 'cause he couldn't wait until Cody shows up for his training sesssions?

This was a celverly devised PR campaign by the Hodgson camp to defend Cody's honour.

The only mistake MG made was underestimating the depth to which Cody's camp would go to gain the upper hand.

[TotesMagotes]

Yah I am serious, think about a FA that just moved his Family to a new city, maybe bought a house or leased a Condo for a year, believing they are part of a teams overall plan moving forward at least for the near future, then oh sorry you're traded to the other side of the continent. Yes they are big boys and are professionals but I am positive that there is a certiain degree of seeing what a GMs track record is in the final signing desicion.

[Li'l Fra]

I don't think Roberts understands the kind of media pressure placed on Gillis. The Hodgson story is one that won't go away. Gillis is trying to explain and rationalize his moves to an agressive crew of reporters on a constant basis.

He's simply trying to make this story go away, while being honest with the media. Gillis doesn't need to be accountable to Roberts, or Hodgson, neither one is in Gillis' hot seat on the West Coast.

I'm on Gillis' side. That said, he has surprised me with what he's said in the press recently. You'd think he'd take the high road and bury that internal stuff where it belongs, internally.

However, I'm a huge Canucks' fan and he made me feel better with what he said. Knowing we were targeting Kassian and pumping Hodgson's trade value up gets me stoked.

But...I shouldn't know this stuff. Why would Gillis tip his hand to other GMs in the league just to justify his trade to the media? Maybe he's losing it.

[hf44]

Hypocrites that what most Vancouver fans are, when Hodgson was traded everyone included myself were shocked and was wondering why. As this saga continued on, I knew Cody had asked for a trade if not directly then indirectly. He didn't even have a full season and he demanded more ice time. So MG explains the reason why he traded CH, now a majority of these fans don't want to hear about it and think MG should have kept it to himself, yet these same fans wanted to know why at the trade deadline.

[poetica]

This article makes me sick because I know Roberts speaks the truth. Gillis and the Canucks totally dropped the ball with this trade.

THAT BEING SAID......I think Roberts is assuming here that the issues Gillis was referring to were Hodgson's injury issues. I don't necessarily think that's what Gillis was talking about. Look at the work Gillis put in to deal with Rypien and his mental struggles. He's not going to throw someone under the bus for their medical issues. I think he was referring to a few attitude problems and some drama with the agent and family.

At the end of the day, though, Hodgson was not handled right by this organization and I believe it begins and ends with the coach. AV never really jived with Hodgson from the get go and I can bet he had a say in his departure. I fear that Hodgson was willing to work things out but Gillis catered to his coach that he adores so much and cut Hodgson loose.

[Hotdawg]

Mike Gillis.......the April 30/2012 CDC Whipping Boy...........

So when we're finished working our way through the team roster right down to the stick boys WBL (whipping boy list)......do we just start at the top and work our way down again or work from the bottom back up?