Gillis on Kassian, the Sedins, scouting and prospects

[stonecoldstevebernier]

Canucks GM Mike Gillis: On Kassian, the Sedins, scouting and prospects

By Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun columnist January 21, 2013 6:03 PM

VANCOUVER — Vancouver Canucks president and general manager Mike Gillis talked to The Vancouver Sun on Monday. Here are more comments from Gillis:

• ON THE CANUCKS’ SECONDARY SCORING WOES:

“Zack (Kassian) has an opportunity to be a big-time player. If he continues to grow, it opens opportunities for other people to be moved around in the lineup that improves the rest of the lineup. When we get (David) Booth and Ryan (Kesler) back, we don’t have secondary-scoring issues.”

(Cam Cole: That’s assuming they come back to play at a high level?)

“Well, you never know, but we have a pretty clear idea, and suddenly the lineup changes dramatically. I think you’re going to see (2009 first-rounder Jordan) Schroeder in our lineup, a highly skilled player who will help our power play.

“The way we were constituted to start this year, we just needed to get through this first 2-3 weeks, and neither of our goalies was particularly sharp in the first two games.”

• ON ORGANIZATIONAL PHILOSOPHY:

“The one organization that I followed very carefully when I was an agent was Detroit, and Ken Holland, who I think is as good a GM as there is in sport, and leaving players in the minors longer does a couple of things for you. One, it lets them develop. And we have quality coaching there. And two, it helps with your salary cap, because coming out of an entry-level deal where they’re prepared to make the step into the NHL, they are still in a position of having to earn their (second contract).”

• ON NICK LIDSTROM, AND THE SEDIN TWINS:

“Detroit had Nick Lidstrom who has set the bar for everybody, and any young player coming in there knew what the expectations were of what you do daily.

He made everybody better. We’re trying to emulate that.”

(CC: Not everyone is lucky enough to have a Nick Lidstrom?)

“Well, we have those two brothers that make whoever they play with better, and they have set that standard, and that’s been the guiding light for this place since I’ve been here, is to make them as good as they can be and they’ll drag those other guys along and show them what it takes to be elite players.

“That’s what they’re doing.”

• ON ROBERTO LUONGO, AND CHARACTER:

“We have a really good player here who brings a tremendous amount to the team, his professionalism, his willingness to work — he’s the kind of player that changes the culture on a team and shows players what it means to be an elite-level player.

“And that’s what happened when we got Mats (Sundin in 2009). I know you weren’t in favour of that, but we did it for reasons that weren’t necessarily just on the ice. And yeah, maybe the goalie lets in a bad goal once in a while, or maybe the guy is a little older and a little bit slower, but what he’s bringing in terms of changing the culture of the organization is profound. And long after they’re gone, that lingers.

“We [signed Sundin] because we knew how hard this guy worked, the way he lived, what he stood for, particularly in Sweden, with Swedish players, and we felt it was really important that the culture here continue to evolve and grow on accountability and a real workmanlike process, day after day after day.”

(CC: Daniel and Henrik needed advice on how to stay in shape?)

“No, but they saw the consequence of a career spent like that, and they got reinforcement about the payoff of doing it all the time. It’s an inhibiting factor for lots of players who never understand that, never get it.”

• ON RETAINING TALENT:

“I was an agent for a long, long time, and I understand that there are players who won’t make that sacrifice, who have different values, and we wanted to keep the ones that were prepared to participate the way we thought they should — and we kept them.

“We’ve kept pretty well everybody we’ve wanted to keep. And where we haven’t been able to, we’ve tried to replace them with people we felt were prepared to do that for this organization.

“In doing so, we’ve taken some chances, tried to do some things differently to give them opportunity to be the best they can be, and for the most part it’s worked pretty well for us.”

• ON CANUCKS’ SCOUTING:

“We’ve been slowly making changes over the years, to address some concerns I’ve had — let some people go, made a fairly significant change internally. Eric Crawford is far more involved on the amateur side.”

• ON PROSPECTS, OR DEARTH OF:

“If you look at our picks, Yann Sauve got hit by a car, almost killed. Luc Bourdon was killed. Those are not things you expect to happen. We’ve traded picks in order to try to win Stanley Cups. We’ve picked at the end of the first round for three years.

“We picked Cody Hodgson which got turned into Zack Kassian who I think is going to be an impact player here. We’ve picked a lot of young defencemen who are coming along but they take time. I’m sure there’s people who don’t even realize Peter Andersson is a player we left in Sweden for two years who’s going to be a really good player. And Kevin Connauton we think is going to be a very good player.

“We expect some of those players will be ready to emerge now — Andersson, Connauton, Frankie Corrado, who is ahead of schedule. (Danish centre) Nick Jensen left junior hockey to play in the Swedish Elite League. (Belleville Bulls centre) Brendan Gaunce is the captain of his team, we think is going to be a solid player. We’ve got college players we picked later in the draft so that they could stay in college, and we wouldn’t lose their rights.

“(Harvard defenceman) Patrick McNally, he’s in college, so he’s not right in your face, so people tend to forget about him.”

• ON THE CANUCKS’ SCANT TURNOVER IN PERSONNEL:

“There’s Garrison, and you’re going to see Schroeder, this year. Aaron Volpatti didn’t play at all last year and he’s going to add something to our fourth line. Dale Weise seems to be a better player this year, who should help us.

“It’s difficult when you have a good team to turn over a lot of players. Ideally, next year, I think we’ll have more turnover, because the cap changes and we have some younger players we feel will be ready to make the step.

“So we won’t have to sign the older, kind of journeyman player.

“Our hope now, as some of these younger guys step into our lineup, is that we start to get younger over the next couple of years, and we’ll retain our core guys that they’ll learn from, and it seems to be the kind of process that allows you to stay pretty good over a long period of time.”

• ON TOUGHNESS:

“One of the reasons we made the Kassian deal was we wanted that element, but from a guy who could play. We hadn’t played well two months prior to the playoffs last year, our goaltenders were just that good that we won a lot of games we shouldn’t have.

“But we have a bigger body in Garrison, a bigger body in Zack, Aaron Volpatti, Dale Weise has made a stride. So I do think we have a different look.”

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Canucks+Mike+Gillis+Kassian+Sedins+scouting+prospects/7851486/story.html#ixzz2Ifp2dVKW

[RyanKeslord17]

Great, thanks for the post. Really like how MG continues to state that JS will be brought up here and the confidence he has in him to make the club. I feel that even when Kesler returns, JS might get a look at the 3rd line C spot, as he did say 2nd PP unit.

Love how MG is confident in our younger players, Andersson, Connauton and Tanev. Throw in Jensen into the mix as well. The future isn't too shabby for the Canucks.

[CanucksFanMike]

Best interview from MG in a long time.... i like what he said.

I am really excited to see JS in our lineup!

[cdubuya]

Good interview but its hard to take everything he says as gospel. Im pretty sure he said jshray would play last year and he never did. Cant wait for him to get a shot. To be fair to MG with our depth its tough to get everyone in.

[Navyblue]

Good to hear with Jordan Shroeder. He seems to have as much talent as Hodgson, if in different areas (Cody being all offense while Jordan would spread some of that out to defense, skating).

[elvis15]

A few interesting things he mentions in here, namely that he expects Schroeder to be in the lineup this year and contribute to the powerplay. I do think he's overstating the depth of our prospects, but he does bring up a valid point which is that very few people have seen most of these players play - like Andersson or McNally. Also, that when Booth and Kesler return, our secondary scoring woes will fade... however, in such a short season it might be too late, and they aren't going to be in game shape right off the bat. Thoughts?

[DIBdaQUIB]

Looking forward to seeing what JS can do in the NHL. He doesn't really have a spot when Kes returns but he will get a chance to show his stuff. If MG is true about getting younger and not singning journeyman type guys, I can see Manny being let go at the end of the season and Lappy moving to the 4th line with JS maybe on the 3rd.

[Zoolander]

A great read for sure!

I really liked what he said about Kassian, and Schroeder. I hope both of them get a lot of quality minutes this year and make the most of it.

I also like what he said about having a bigger turnover/ more changes next year. Hopefully Jensen,Kassian, and Schroeder will all be full-time players next year! Especially Jensen!!! :D

[Smashian Kassian]

I actually think he is right on Andersson, this is a guy who has really impressed me with the Wolves, he's big skates well and is steady, won't bring a ton of offense but has the other tools to be a good player, also loved the confidence that JS is going to be here, which I expect to be announced tommorow with Vandy being placed on waivers.

I agree with alot of the things he says, I think he hit the hammer on the head with everything, from the Sundin signing, to the prospects and the whole bit, I'm happy he is our GM.

Thanks for the post.

[nuck nit]

Five NHL drafts and ONE prospect playing for the big club that was not even drafted by the Canucks.

[nuck nit]

"......leaving players in the minors longer does a couple of things for you. One, it lets them develop. And we have quality coaching there. And two, it helps with your salary cap"

For the fire Arniel/Jordan Schroeder Fan Club -take notes.

[CookieCrumbs]

These are all positives. Great interview. I'm actually surprised how up front and open he was with a lot of these answers.

Assuming Malhotra doesn't get back to form (fingers crossed he does), then it would be awesome to see our centres as Henrik, Kesler, Schroeder and Lapierre drops back to the 4th. Lapierre between Volpatti and Weise would be mad dangerous.

[Bruce Boudreau]

The problem with the Canucks prospects it that many of them are boom or bust guys taken in the middle rounds. They are long term projects who could turn out into decent players but that is far down the road. Gillis is obviously exaggerating a little.

In terms of guys that are NHL ready. The only guys i see are Kassian,Jensen, and Schroeder. Not too high on Connauton, he is more of a pp specialist and is similar potential wise to Marc-Andre Bergeron but if he becomes that I think the Canucks will take it. Tanev needs to improve offensively but what he has shown so far is that at the very least he can be a solid third pairing guy.

I'm intrigued by Frankie Corrado he seems to have developed the most rapidly especially considering he is a 5th round pick. I think he can add more offensively than Tanev once he gets to the NHL in 2 to 3 years.

Brendan Guance looks like a solid 2 way 3rd line center in a couple of years also. After that I don't see much.

[Derp...]

Future players will be exciting to see and I can see us having a very good season next year after all of the drama is over and we have some young talent mixed in with our vet contributors. Good Job MG on telling everyone what they ought to hear

[bigpush]

The problem with the Canucks prospects it that many of them are boom or bust guys taken in the middle rounds. They are long term projects who could turn out into decent players but that is far down the road. Gillis is obviously exaggerating a little.

In terms of guys that are NHL ready. The only guys i see are Kassian,Jensen, and Schroeder. Not too high on Connauton, he is more of a pp specialist and is similar potential wise to Marc-Andre Bergeron but if he becomes that I think the Canucks will take it. Tanev needs to improve offensively but what he has shown so far is that at the very least he can be a solid third pairing guy.

I'm intrigued by Frankie Corrado he seems to have developed the most rapidly especially considering he is a 5th round pick. I think he can add more offensively than Tanev once he gets to the NHL in 2 to 3 years.

Brendan Guance looks like a solid 2 way 3rd line center in a couple of years also. After that I don't see much.

[Steve Carell]

Very very positive interview. I've always loved MG, he's so straight up with everyone.

Look forward to seeing Schroeder play as I didn't get to see him in scrimmage.

[DaMacNamedDre]

These are all positives. Great interview. I'm actually surprised how up front and open he was with a lot of these answers.

Assuming Malhotra doesn't get back to form (fingers crossed he does), then it would be awesome to see our centres as Henrik, Kesler, Schroeder and Lapierre drops back to the 4th. Lapierre between Volpatti and Weise would be mad dangerous.

[goal-ghost]

"leaving players in the minors longer does a couple of things for you. One, it lets them develop. And we have quality coaching there. And two, it helps with your salary cap, because coming out of an entry-level deal where they’re prepared to make the step into the NHL, they are still in a position of having to earn their (second contract).”

interesting to see gillis readily admit the bolded section. i think it's pretty well known that this is an effective technique for retaining players at lower priced contracts, especially coming out of an ELC as he mentioned, but i'm surprised to hear it acknowledged. it's analogous to saying young players stand a better chance at cashing in with other organizations.

doesn't seem to be the most prudent advertisement to make.

[oldnews]

Jensen is tied for 5th in the SEL with 15 goals as a 19 year old on a very low scoring team- very impressive numbers in line with what Daniel netted at that age.

Looked great in camp last year as an 18 year old last year, imo.

With players like him, Lack, Kassian, Schroeder, Tanev, Corrado, Gaunce, Connauton developing, the idea that the Canucks have no prospects seems utterly slanted.

[oldnews]

"leaving players in the minors longer does a couple of things for you. One, it lets them develop. And we have quality coaching there. And two, it helps with your salary cap, because coming out of an entry-level deal where they’re prepared to make the step into the NHL, they are still in a position of having to earn their (second contract).”

interesting to see gillis readily admit the bolded section. i think it's pretty well known that this is an effective technique for retaining players at lower priced contracts, especially coming out of an ELC as he mentioned, but i'm surprised to hear it acknowledged. it's analogous to saying young players stand a better chance at cashing in with other organizations.

doesn't seem to be the most prudent advertisement to make.