Cam Cole (Vancouver Sun) RIPS Mike Gillis and Canucks to Shreds - Defends Alain Vigneault

[wallstreetamigo]

Rick Bowness.

[Salmonberries]

the only thing he missed is how grossly over paid most of our players are... cant believe the raises our players areg etting next year and the contracts we already have ... they may aswell all have NTC because no one will trade for their salary anyways unless we take a crap contract back... MG may have screwed us worse than Iron MIke Keenan .... we cant trade luongo for anything and might have to take on a part of his salary just to get rid of him... burrows ,edler and higgins get a raise next year.. kesler gets paid too much no one would take that bandaid .. higgins only looked good this year because most nights none of our players are putting out much effort .. edlers bieksa ballard hamhuis garrison are all over paid .. even schnieders cap hit is about 1 million too much ... i thought this ws vancouver a team where players wanted to play becasue its a great city and we always compete... why do we over pay like we are edmonton? we cant trade anymore young guys... our bottom line guys are worth squat and no one will give us much back for our aging core who has proven they are not worth their contracts. so MG has pretty much painted us in a corner with no way out until sedins retire or take a really big pay cut next contract and someone shows us some mercy and takes luongo...

[KING ALBERTS]

Well... He did a good enough job to get us to the finals - sure he inherited most of the core, but made some good acquisitions and has to be given credit for that.

He has made some ballsy moves for bigger name players than we've seen here for years. Some haven't panned out but it's exciting when you get guys like booth, Roy, or garrison sign here.

Division and conference titles have given mg, and more importantly the owners, reason to believe this group could win the cup (and they almost did). If anything happens in the offseason it will be a shakeup (doubtful because of all the NTCs) or a coaching change, and like Toronto, the coaching change would be more for the fans than anything... Personally I want to see the shakeup. Too many chances, too many players getting older, too many players under performing, too many excuses. And too many no trades to really do much about it unfortunately.

[chrisbanks]

2 years in a row Canucks go down 3-0 in the playoffs. Islanders got a win against Pit, Min got a win again Chi but AV can't get a win against SJ. How can you let AV get away with that.

[Hyzer]

I hate how people keep saying it's the end of an era. How is 4 years an era? Cause really that's all it's been since we have been a top team with a chance to win the cup.

And to say that we have no future because the cupboard is bare is ignorant. Not enough fans or media even know about our prospects cause they don't bother following them. Pretty much if they're not top 5 picks nobody talks about them.

And then guys like Tanev and Corrado come out of nowhere, and it just goes to show that the media really doesn't know anything about these guys.

[messier's_elbow]

Ok. Everyone blaming everything on AV is out to lunch. Yes there needs to be a shake up , and hes the easiest target. Yes hes made 2 big mistakes in my opinion. 1. Not putting Garrison on the first unit pp. Especially on that 4 on 3 ... I know Kes has the hot hand but why not both of them on point with Henrik with Burrows up front? 2. Starting Cory in game 3 in such an important game after missing over 2 weeks of in game action. Lu was playing well so there was no logic. I might fire him just for this one mistake alone.

Gillis is the main reason we have become a 1st class organization but hes also made some very questionable moves. I never liked Booth, and I thought that trade was even at best, but now with the cap going down it looks like a huge anchor. Ballard... Lets just say BUYOUT. Malhotra getting hurt might have ruined our cup chances and Gillis never replaced him. Letting Torres go. I hated that he let him go in the first place now look how good he would look on the 3rd or 4th right now. We might actually have a 4th line. Our 4th line might be worst in the league.Signing Sundin for 2 years 20 million? Turned into a great move but if he accepted the whole two years , Sedins would have been leafs...PUKE. Shall I continue? Didnt trade Lu when he had the chance to get something decent. All speculation but it sounds like he could have got Shenn for him. Who isnt a world beater but has SIZE. You know what size is Gillis??? Trading Hodgson for Kassian could have been worse , I think Kassian will be a good player one day.. who knows when though, that kid has some growing up to do. But blaming Hodgson for the trade is mental. Hodgson was legitimitely injured and they sh*t all over him. Id have hard feelings too. Gillis was on a role for awhile getting Erhoff, Manny, Lappy and Higgings but hes not making magic anymore. He got Garrison and Hamhuis which were both grade A moves but they wanted to come here.I dont think he should be fired but hes on thin friggin ice.

Players. What happened guys? Edler. Wow talk about a fall from grace.Hes obviously not recovered from his back surgery. If they can trade him for a high end offesive player with heart before his contract kicks in id do it. Shadow of his 2011 playoff self. Love the Sedin brothers, but cant carry the load anymore. They are now high end second liners. Next contract they can take 2nd line money or you can go back to sweden. Roy. Roy Baby you are playing like a baby. Small and weak. Good luck getting 6 million next year hahah

[domyours]

The real question for this Nucks team is why " There were only couple guys who are playing their hearts out". How about the rest of the team? Where are their hearts??? If they don't care about this game or even this team, I suggest that maybe they should consider taking the early retirment. I'm pretty sure there're just so many players out theie eagerly waiting to take their spots.

[RobberLuongo]

Letting Erhoff go + Luongo contract = MG's gravest mistakes. We never managed to replace the man Erhoff himself. We replaced Salo with Garrison.

Edler and our PP was never the same since Erhoff left

[Canuck or Die]

The drafting has been better the last two drafts. But having only Cody Hodgson to show for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 drafts (and mishandling Hodgson) will begin to take it's toll on the Canucks shortly. No franchise can afford to get skunked at three straight drafts and expect to get away with it. Now you're waiting for relief from 18-20 year olds for another couple of years to have any kind of impact at all. It's going to get painful for awhile around here and I doubt that Gillis is up to the task of turning it around.

[Cigano]

Honestly they both have had many flaws and both need to go. Gillis got players for AV like Ballard and Kassian, but AV decides not to use these guys. But Gillis has made many bad moves, no doubt he has made some good ones, but those players are not here and the moves he didn't make is also a problem.

So in a way Gillis has to be blamed more for sure but AV just needs to go too.

[Apples]

2 years in a row Canucks go down 3-0 in the playoffs. Islanders got a win against Pit, Min got a win again Chi but AV can't get a win against SJ. How can you let AV get away with that.

[Cigano]

Mike Gillis will not be fired. Anyone who thinks that fails to realize one thing he is doing very well at; which is making the Aquilini's lots of money. That alone will allow him to keep his job.

And our drafting has been good in the last few years. People just buy into the popular belief that it's not because it's not creating immediate results. And then a guy like Corrado gets called up and you realize that there is talent coming up.

Schroeder, Jensen, Gaunce, and Kassian will all be future top 6 players. And Tanev and Corrado are already proving to be blue chippers. Then you throw in Lack in the goaltending deapartment, and you realize we do have quite a bit of talent coming up.

Fans just need to be patient. The solid drafting of the last few years will start to pay dividends soon enough.

[spliced]

Nucks are the only team in the playoffs without a win. Fire AV.

[DeNiro]

How is he responsible for making them money? The Leafs are the richest franchise still after 9 years of not making the playoffs. How many GM's have been through that team ? Gillis ain't doing nothing special to make this team money, the Canucks always will make money. Gillis has not done much for this team when looking around the league at other top teams.

[Ugli Fruit]

You can't pin the blame on one specific person. What tangible evidence is there that AV is the one causing problems, or that MG messed up the team by acquiring different players? At the end of the day the fault lies in the organization as a whole. You can win despite having one or two holes but this kind of meltdown only occurs if the entire club is just struggling.

[Hairy Kneel]

Aquilini has to step up and make a move. He's a great owner and for sure see's were in deep squat here.Do it AQ!

[chrisbanks]

Ok. Everyone blaming everything on AV is out to lunch. Yes there needs to be a shake up , and hes the easiest target. Yes hes made 2 big mistakes in my opinion. 1. Not putting Garrison on the first unit pp. Especially on that 4 on 3 ... I know Kes has the hot hand but why not both of them on point with Henrik with Burrows up front? 2. Starting Cory in game 3 in such an important game after missing over 2 weeks of in game action. Lu was playing well so there was no logic. I might fire him just for this one mistake alone.

Gillis is the main reason we have become a 1st class organization but hes also made some very questionable moves.

[TheAce]

Gillis has made some mistakes but I dont think he should be getting the brunt of the blame. Making a trade for a player is never a guarantee and judging after the trade doesnt pan out is easy. Everyone was thrilled when Booth, Ballard and Roy were brought in and it created alot of excitement. They were the exact type of players we needed at the time but for whatever reason they havent panned out or fit into AV's system.

Go back and read these boards when Ehrhoff wasnt signed for the 40 mil/ 10 year deal. Now its a huge mistake not signing him ?

When Luongo re-signed his long term deal everyone was thrilled that he was locked up. Schnieder has grown into a legit #1 and now Gillis is an idiot for signing Luongo ? Can you imagine if Luongo left like ehrhoff did but schnieder didnt pan out ?

Edler was the golden boy around here and fans would have hung Gillis if he let Edler walk and not re-sign him. Because he's turning into a Phaneuf is not Gillis's fault. Its more AV's fault for continually letting him play without ever benching him or sending him a message that his poor play wont be tolerated.

AV should be fired ! It is so clear that he isnt a playoff coach. Getting wins during the regular season against a weak division or teams on back to back nights will only get you so far. When you get into playoffs its a whole different cat. Teams enter in having studying our strengths and weaknesess. AV has not changed his strategy/plays over the last 4 years. We have the same break out drop pass on the PP and teams know this. We try the same plays over and over again on the PP and teams defend it by learning it. On the PK , we play a passive diamond formation and teams adjust and play the cross ice pass and it killed us vs LA and now again vs the Sharks. Our forcheck is a 1 deep 2 hang back and it allows teams to break out easy against us compared to the constant pressure the sharks / kings put on us that has caused so many turnovers. It was so clear that Boston had adjusted to our style and started to play physical and let us get punished. He gave the strict mandate for our players to take the abuse and let the refs call the game. Much like the sharks series, its clear the refs wont be doing any favors but instead of matching the bruins play we sat there and took it and ultimately lost.

[bongo4420]

Gillis is the most overrated GM in the history of the NHL. It only took five years for the coward media in this city to criticism him for his abject failures. For years I've been saying what this article is detailing and it was always met with ridicule on these boards. Anyone with a ounce of hockey sense could have seen this coming from a mile away. If you think I'm spouting BS just take a look at my posting history. It's really quite prophetic.

That's just a sample.

[wallstreetamigo]

You can't pin the blame on one specific person. What tangible evidence is there that AV is the one causing problems, or that MG messed up the team by acquiring different players? At the end of the day the fault lies in the organization as a whole. You can win despite having one or two holes but this kind of meltdown only occurs if the entire club is just struggling.