JamesB Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 A lot of people are pretty negative about MG right now. I think that is a bit tough but I would like to review (with all the accuracy of hindsight) what I think were the five biggest mistakes he has made. (All GMs make mistakes in hindsight, and I am not saying I know better, but these are moves that could easily have gone the other way.) 1. Trading a first round pick and Grabner (a former first rounder) for Ballard and Oreskovich. Grabner was on the verge of being a solid top 6 forward. His 16 goals this year are more than Canuck. Ballard, despite a cap hit of over $4 million cannot even crack the line-up and rates below a career depth D (Alberts) and a guy playing junior 3 weeks ago. Would love to have Grabner now, not to mention a first round pick who might also in the top 6 by now. 2. Letting Salo and Torres walk when they wanted to stay and would have taken low salaries. After the 2010-2011 season they both want two year deals but MG would not bite. Big mistake. Would love to have those guys on the team now and they were willing to accept below market salaries. 3. Trading Hodgson for Kassian. This year Hodgson scored 15 goals -- also more than anyone on the Canucks. Kassian might still become good, but right now he is a 4th liner. H. is another top 6 forward MG basically gave away. 4. Letting Ehrhoff walk. He probably would stayed for maybe $5.1 million. Could have kept him if we had not picked up Ballard. Had 23 pts this year and led Buffalo in plus/minus. And maybe we would not have had the cap room to pick up Booth, whose cap hit of over 4 million has been a complete waste. 5. Keeping AV too long. No longer has the ear of the players. A pretty good coach, but a change is needed. Undo these moves and I have the Canucks as this year's Cup favorite. Same top 4 D and Ehrhoff and Salo as well! And a much better top 9 forward group. I admit a similar exercise could be done for other teams. But is interesting (to me at least) to consider how things might have gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avicii Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Torres and Ehrhoff are the only onces i agree with. Garrison > Salo. Salo wasn't a stabilizer for Edler by the way, just so everyone knows.. Edler was paired with Salo against LA and he played just as crapty as tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kj29 Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Torres and Ehrhoff are the only onces i agree with. Garrison > Salo. Salo wasn't a stabilizer for Edler by the way, just so everyone knows.. Edler was paired with Salo against LA and he played just as crapty as tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pears Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Torres and Ehrhoff are the only onces i agree with. Garrison > Salo. Salo wasn't a stabilizer for Edler by the way, just so everyone knows.. Edler was paired with Salo against LA and he played just as crapty as tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avicii Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Right now, Totally, Salo > Garrison We need the experience in the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Gillis tried to fix what wasn't broken. He bought into the idea that the team wasn't tough enough. So he traded skill for toughness, and now we're neither skilled nor tough enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 MG had his hand forced on the Hodgson move. He had no chance keeping Ehrhoff - the guy wanted the big bucks so screw him. Same can be said of Salo, and MG does the right thing to get Garrison back, who's far better physically ,defensively and has a much better shot than Sami. Letting Torres and Bitz go were IMO the two big losses - we lost a lot of toughness and skill up front right there, and instead MG replaces them with Roy who really hasn't done anything special so far. The Grabner move in hindsight is terrible, but at the time MG was bolstering our pathetic defence and it seemed like the wise decision. The same can be said for getting Booth here. Essentially, if everyone played to their potential we'd have a 30 goal scorer (Booth), a 70 point 3rd line center (Roy), a stable 30 point D-man (Ballard) along with a 16-goal scorer (Garrison), but right now no one on this entire team is playing to their potential. Hate to say it, and as much of an AV fan as I am, but when players aren't playing to their full potential it's the coach's responsibility. It's their job to get the most out of every one of their players, and right now AV simply isn't doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALTtimegreat Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 It's Gillis so its not a surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf44 Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 A lot of people are pretty negative about MG right now. I think that is a bit tough but I would like to review (with all the accuracy of hindsight) what I think were the five biggest mistakes he has made. (All GMs make mistakes in hindsight, and I am not saying I know better, but these are moves that could easily have gone the other way.) 1. Trading a first round pick and Grabner (a former first rounder) for Ballard and Oreskovich. Grabner was on the verge of being a solid top 6 forward. His 16 goals this year are more than Canuck. Ballard, despite a cap hit of over $4 million cannot even crack the line-up and rates below a career depth D (Alberts) and a guy playing junior 3 weeks ago. Would love to have Grabner now, not to mention a first round pick who might also in the top 6 by now. 2. Letting Salo and Torres walk when they wanted to stay and would have taken low salaries. After the 2010-2011 season they both want two year deals but MG would not bite. Big mistake. Would love to have those guys on the team now and they were willing to accept below market salaries. 3. Trading Hodgson for Kassian. This year Hodgson scored 15 goals -- also more than anyone on the Canucks. Kassian might still become good, but right now he is a 4th liner. H. is another top 6 forward MG basically gave away. 4. Letting Ehrhoff walk. He probably would stayed for maybe $5.1 million. Could have kept him if we had not picked up Ballard. Had 23 pts this year and led Buffalo in plus/minus. And maybe we would not have had the cap room to pick up Booth, whose cap hit of over 4 million has been a complete waste. 5. Keeping AV too long. No longer has the ear of the players. A pretty good coach, but a change is needed. Undo these moves and I have the Canucks as this year's Cup favorite. Same top 4 D and Ehrhoff and Salo as well! And a much better top 9 forward group. I admit a similar exercise could be done for other teams. But is interesting (to me at least) to consider how things might have gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Doughty Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 5 straight NW title, 2 President's trophies, game 7 of the 2011 finals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hat Trick Maker Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 I wouldn't want Ehrhoff back, he was terrible at D. They called him errorhoff in SJ for a reason. Plus, he had the worst +/- rating in the 2011 playoffs. In fact, it was the worst in recent NHL history. MG had his hand forced on the Hodgson move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButterBean Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Out of all those deals I really wish we had Grabner and Ehrhoff. If we would've known that AV hated Ballard we'd have a legit 2nd line scorer right now. Ehrhoff brought great mobility off of the rush and he can QB a PP. Imagine him with the Sedins, Kes and Garrison, that would make the best PP in the NHL. Much more useful then having Edler here. Btw, Garrison>Salo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avicii Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Ballard won't ever be the defenseman he can be in Vancouver. Hell, his fate was doomed the moment we signed Hamhuis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smackyo23 Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Ballard won't ever be the defenseman he can be in Vancouver. Hell, his fate was doomed the moment we signed Hamhuis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avicii Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 AV destroyed Ballards game. He can't play the way he can because he's always looking over his shoulder to see if AV will bench him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go Faulk Yourself Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Gillis basically just models the team around the latest Stanley Cup champion every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avicii Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Gillis basically just models the team around the latest Stanley Cup champion every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockey21383 Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 MG had his hand forced on the Hodgson move. He had no chance keeping Ehrhoff - the guy wanted the big bucks so screw him. Same can be said of Salo, and MG does the right thing to get Garrison back, who's far better physically ,defensively and has a much better shot than Sami. Letting Torres and Bitz go were IMO the two big losses - we lost a lot of toughness and skill up front right there, and instead MG replaces them with Roy who really hasn't done anything special so far. The Grabner move in hindsight is terrible, but at the time MG was bolstering our pathetic defence and it seemed like the wise decision. The same can be said for getting Booth here. Essentially, if everyone played to their potential we'd have a 30 goal scorer (Booth), a 70 point 3rd line center (Roy), a stable 30 point D-man (Ballard) along with a 16-goal scorer (Garrison), but right now no one on this entire team is playing to their potential. Hate to say it, and as much of an AV fan as I am, but when players aren't playing to their full potential it's the coach's responsibility. It's their job to get the most out of every one of their players, and right now AV simply isn't doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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