Gauging Mike Gillis - A 10 Part Series - By Vancity Buzz

[Robongo]

Obviously Mike Gillis is a very polarizing figure here in Canuckland. This team had some of the best years of it's existence under his regime and Vancity Buzz has decided to do a ten part series reviewing some of his biggest moves during his tenure, with some good insight behind them. Makes for a good read and a good ol' trip down memory lane.

GAUGING MIKE GILLIS – PART 1: CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF

BY JAY ADAMS | 11:59 PM PST, SUN NOVEMBER 16, 2014 |

In the right light, Mike Gillis is the greatest general manager in Vancouver Canucks history.

In this ten-part story, Vancity Buzz breaks down the seminal moments of Gillis’ reign, offering pertinent insight into the defining moments of the franchise’s brightest period. We’ll take a look at it all: the good, the bad and the awkward.

Under his six-year watch, the team captured five Northwest Division titles, two Presidents’ Trophies, and found themselves one win away from the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. Moreover, in 2011, Gillis was voted by his peers as the league’s best general manager. That’s not insignificant, when you consider Gillis’ tumultuous and bitter relationship with many of those voters.

Gillis’ reign was accentuated by the signings of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Roberto Luongo, Dan Hamhuis, Kevin Bieksa, Alex Edler and Alex Burrows to below-market-value deals; a fundamental element of a winning (and desired) culture.

But that, of course, is only half the story.

Gillis’ critics point to an inherited core. They point to a three year goalie controversy, bungled beyond any comparable in the NHL’s modern era. They point to an unbridled arrogance with local media and longtime supporters. They point to crippling no-trade clauses, the dismissal of the winningest coach in team history and the disastrous hiring of John Tortorella. They also point to an (almost) unfathomable collapse and dismantled season ticket base.

Seven months later, the debate continues to wage. Was Gillis the progressive pariah, or the unappreciative beneficiary of his predecessors’ foundation? Up first is one of the most important trades that Mike Gillis made as Canucks general manager.

Part 1: Christian Ehrhoff

Image: canucks.nhl.com

Regardless of where you stand on the Gillis debate, a number of moves in his polarizing tenure were universally accepted as unqualified strokes of genius.

At the top of that list, right beside the 5 year/$30.5M contracts of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, is the August 2009 acquisition of Christian Ehrhoff from the San Jose Sharks for bust prospects Patrick White and Daniel Rahimi.

Embodying the puck-moving quarterback the Canucks had long since coveted, Ehrhoff quickly stabilized the back-end as the team established itself as the league’s defensive blueprint.

In each of his two seasons in Vancouver, Ehrhoff captured the Babe Pratt Trophy as the team’s best defenseman.

In 2009-10, he notched 44 points and contributed to the league’s fifth-best power play. He also set the franchise’s single-season plus-minus record at +36 (a fact often ignored by his critics).

In 2010-11, he notched 50 points, and quarterbacked the league’s best power play. He excelled in the early rounds of the post-season, before succumbing to an injured shoulder.

Simply put, the Canucks’ rapid ascent to the league’s forefront would not have been possible without the offensive stalwart. When you consider the related improvement of defensive partner Alex Edler, the cost of two forgettable non-NHL prospects, and a meager cap hit of $3.1M, Mike Gillis seemingly deserves an A+ for the transaction.

But, like so many issues with Gillis, there’s another side to the story.

Ehrhoff’s acquisition was never a hockey trade. Mike Gillis did not employ advanced analytics or deep hockey sense to reveal Ehrhoff’s massive upside. His player development team did not astutely recognize the inevitable demise of Daniel Rahimi and Patrick White’s NHL careers in the midst of a hot market.

Instead, the move was entirely based on a San Jose team in financial purgatory. In preparations to obtain Dany Heatley, the team needed to dump salary and cap, without obtaining NHL (or potential NHL) salary and cap in return.

But the Sharks weren’t interested in giving away a stud 27-year-old blueliner coming off a 42 point season. Rather, Ehrhoff’s inclusion was the sweetener for (and predicated upon) the acquisition of Brad Lukowich – an AHL-destined veteran with a $1.8M salary.

Thus, if you don’t take Lukowich’s dead salary, you don’t get Ehrhoff.

While New York (Wade Redden), Chicago (Cristobal Huet), Ottawa (Jonathan Cheechoo), Toronto (Jeff Finger), San Jose (Kyle McLaren) and New Jersey (Dan McGillis) have buried unfavorable contracts for salary cap relief, very few owners were willing to embrace others’ mistakes and write cheques with no on-ice benefit. As a result, the market for Ehrhoff was unusually dry.

Enter Francesco Aquilini.

Image: nationalpost.com

In completing the transaction, ownership unequivocally demonstrated its commitment to winning at all costs. The move was never evaluative, but purely financial. If we eat $1.8M on Lukowich, we get the player we want. Without that financial investment, the transaction would never have materialized (an approach re-affirmed in 2011 with the acquisition of Steven Reiprecht in the David Booth deal).

Thus, the credit never really belonged to Gillis. It belonged to Francesco Aquilini.

But the story doesn’t end there. Gillis’ refusal to extend Ehrhoff in June 2011 may have been one of his biggest oversights.

Believing his open-market value to be $5M/season (and preoccupied with an internal cap of $4.6M/season), the Canucks tabled Ehrhoff a 5 year/$23M offer, identical to the one signed by Kevin Bieksa. After declining the deal, Ehrhoff was quickly shipped to New York for a 4th round pick, surprising the blueliner who thought progress was being made.

In justifying Ehrhoff’s departure, Gillis told local media, “I think Keith Ballard is going to be a good player for us next year”.

In the end, Gillis pulled the trigger and thus deserves some credit for Ehrhoff’s acquisition. In many ways, he was the most effective blueliner the team has ever had.

But that trigger was solely pulled because of ownership’s willingness to eat dead money to facilitate the deal. It’s a luxury 20+ other general managers weren’t afforded. Gillis was. That can’t be ignored.

When you also consider the Canucks’ franchise-long pursuit of a puck moving, powerplay quarterback, Gillis’ willingness to allow Ehrhoff to walk (based on a reported difference of ~$400,000/season) is somewhat perplexing.

That uncertainty was magnified by the signing of Jason Garrison (an inconsistent, unproven defenseman) to a 6 year/$27.6M deal in July 2012, largely to fill the void left by Ehrhoff. Never able to plug the gap, Garrison would become a prime buy-out candidate, before being shipped to Tampa Bay for a 2nd round pick in June 2014.

Maybe Ehrhoff wasn’t a shining star on Gillis’ resume, after all.

source: http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/11/gauging-mike-gillis-part-1-christian-ehrhoff/

I will post each new part as they come out.

[Robongo]

source: http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/11/gauging-mike-gillis-part-2-signing-sundin/

GAUGING MIKE GILLIS – PART 2: THE SUNDIN SIGNING

In this ten-part story, Vancity Buzz breaks down the seminal moments of Gillis’ reign, offering pertinent insight into the defining moments of the franchise’s brightest period. We’ll take a look at it all: the good, the bad and the awkward.

Canucks fans didn’t know what to expect when the Canucks hired Mike Gillis as a rookie GM in the summer of 2008.

After he proclaimed, “I don’t think this team is close [to contending] at this particular point,” at his introductory press conference, fans felt more nervousness than optimism due to his brash confidence.

Clearly Gillis was going to be honest in his assessment and aggressive with his moves.

Character and integrity – these were the key attributes for any player who was going to play for his revamped team. He repeated the words every chance he got in those first few years. Gillis also emphasized he was going to make Vancouver a highly desired home for all NHL players.

“I’m hoping to be able to attract players here because, in dealing with them for the last 17 years, I understand the message they want to hear and what is important to them, ” he said.

“We have a solid defence and solid goaltending. But there are a number of areas that need to be addressed.”

Looking at that list, the glaring omission was the forwards.

Before throwing the famous two-year $20 million offer at Mats Sundin during the summer of 2008, Gillis jettisoned Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison and shored up his forward depth with Ryan Johnson, Kyle Wellwood, Steve Bernier and Darcy Hordichuk.

He also signed Pavol Demitra to a two-year $8 million deal.

Making sense of the $20M offer

Image: Chris Schwarz, Canwest News Service

Sundin was coming off a 78 point season with the Maple Leafs and he had put up 1,321 points in his 1,305 game NHL career so far. The offer was meant to be a signal to fans of the team and to the rest of the NHL that Francesco Aquilini’s Canucks, with Gillis at the helm, were not to be taken lightly.

As the Sundin saga played out over the first few months of the 2008 season, there were a number of

teams in the sweepstakes. Throughout it, Gillis displayed an extreme amount of patience and faith in

the player he was chasing.

On December 5, TSN reported five teams were still in the running – the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens and the Canucks.

Still, Gillis maintained his patience.

“I’ve represented players who have been in similar situations and I understand and appreciate it.” (from TSN.ca)

When Sundin made the decision Canucks fans had been hanging on for 5 months, there was a strange feeling of excited disbelief in the air. Could Gillis’ vision for a program of excellence – one that attracted the league’s best talent – become a reality?

Sundin had chosen Vancouver over teams that were stronger Cup contenders – places that were

historically more alluring NHL destinations.

“I think we’ll see a big, strong centre-ice man who skates really well and averages a point a game,” Gillis said of Sundin. “He has been the captain of a team in a [Toronto] market that is really challenging and he has handled it impeccably.”

“I think the quality we try and get from every player, in terms of character and integrity, are absolutely there.”

Sundin began his time as a Canuck slowly once he finally began playing in 2009, but by February he was making waves around the league.

“Sundin finding groove with Demitra, Kesler – Canucks’ new 2nd line arrives in St. Louis with 15 points in 2 games” – this was the headline of an article on CBC.ca article published Feb. 10, 2009, following a 7-3 win over the Blackhawks.

That pace didn’t last – by the end of it Sundin managed 28 points in 41 regular season games with the Canucks. In the playoffs, he did better putting up 8 points through 8 playoff games. While the point totals weren’t up to the standards he set in Toronto, Sundin brought some intangibles to Gillis’

freshman year.

Sundin’s legacy

The year after Sundin left, Henrik and Daniel Sedin’s scoring output took a massive jump. Henrik won the Art Ross and Hart Trophies in 2010 (112 points) and Daniel followed up with his own Art Ross in

2011 (104 points).

Asked about what changed for them by The Vancouver Sun‘s Iain MacIntyre, Daniel gave credit to Sundin:

“We have a different attitude toward the game…”

“Looking at Mats, he had a tough start. It didn’t bother him. He just came to the rink and did the same things over and over again. He knew it was going to pay off. He still kept his head high and by the playoffs he was awesome.”

“We’ve always put a lot of pressure on ourselves. You learn to deal with that. But Mats put us over the top to see how he handled things.”

Henrik agreed:

“To see Mats out there, struggling, getting criticized, but still keeping his shifts short – he never played for himself. I think that’s been a key for us.”

And on an appearance on CBC’s After Hours in 2010, Ryan Kesler credited Sundin with improving him as a pro, getting him to show up every single game and bringing his game to the next level. Kesler’s

point total jumped from 59 to 75 that year.

It’s hard to quantify what effect Sundin’s signing had on legitimizing Vancouver as a destination (did key players Mikael Samuelsson, Dan Hamhuis and Manny Malhotra sign with the Canucks the

following summer because of the Mats Sundin effect?).

Still, if Sundin had half the impact the Sedins and Kesler say he had on their careers, that $8.6M pro-rated contract has to be money well spent.

The big Swede set an example of excellence that Canucks players marveled at and learned from. And perhaps more importantly, Sundin’s signing was proof to Canucks fans that Mike Gillis was dead serious about winning.

[drummer4now]

Good Stuff...

Also lawl at that oiler fan.. how karma must hurt him now.

[nuck nit]

Before throwing the famous two-year $20 million offer at Mats Sundin during the summer of 2008, Gillis jettisoned Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison.....

When you also consider the Canucks’ franchise-long pursuit of a puck moving, powerplay quarterback, Gillis’ willingness to allow Ehrhoff to walk (based on a reported difference of ~$400,000/season) is somewhat perplexing.

Believing his open-market value to be $5M/season (and preoccupied with an internal cap of $4.6M/season), the Canucks tabled Ehrhoff a 5 year/$23M offer, identical to the one signed by Kevin Bieksa.

After declining the deal, Ehrhoff was quickly shipped to New York for a 4th round pick, surprising the blueliner who thought progress was being made.

In justifying Ehrhoff’s departure, Gillis told local media, “I think Keith Ballard is going to be a good player for us next year”.

[BanTSN]

"Here's where we nitpick the best era we've ever had. Nyuuuh."

[Sergei Shirokov]

I'll always remember Gillis for being able to find under valued talent/gems. He was a big part of making our team good.

Mikael Samuelson

Chris Higgins

Maxim Lapierre

Raffi Torres

Manny Malhotra

Christian Ehrhoff

Chris Tanev

Eddie Lack

Brad Richardson

Mike Santorelli

Tanner Glass

Aaron Rome

He got a few things wrong, but he was a smart hockey man.

[Brewmaster12]

We'll have to get over this thing, Mike did not resign as a hero but fired as a Monster. He tried to help the team but actually destroyed after 2011. Tragedy eh. Shakespeare love tragedies.

[Burnsey]

Depite him being the 'enemy' and leaving on bad terms, he still did a lot to help the team. Yes after the cup run, the team fell apart and yes part of the reason could be Gillis, but still he signed an un-drafted Tanev. Who would have thought Tanev would have the impact he has now.

Not to mention Higgins, a RENTAL is still on the team playing an important top 6 role for the team. All GM's have their mistakes, but still Gillis gave the team some great years.

[Tiger-Hearted]

What really angered people the most about Gillis were his horrible public relations skills and his refusal to acknowledge his own mistakes. Everything that we loved about Pat Quinn was missing in Gillis's personality.

Boy, was I glad Trevor replaced Gillis, just in time to oversee his long-time mentor's induction into the Ring of Honour. I read that Quinn would have refused to be present for his ceremony had Gillis were still in charge. It just wouldn't have felt genuine.

[Pete M]

I'll always remember Gillis for being able to find under valued talent/gems. He was a big part of making our team good.

Mikael Samuelson

Chris Higgins

Maxim Lapierre

Raffi Torres

Manny Malhotra

Christian Ehrhoff

Chris Tanev

Eddie Lack

Brad Richardson

Mike Santorelli

Tanner Glass

Aaron Rome

He got a few things wrong, but he was a smart hockey man.

Forgot Kassian and Horvat to this list. His good moves were overshadowed by his bad moves and the demise of the stanley cup finalist.

His

[HC20.0]

I'll always remember Gillis for being able to find under valued talent/gems. He was a big part of making our team good.

Mikael Samuelson

Chris Higgins

Maxim Lapierre

Raffi Torres

Manny Malhotra

Christian Ehrhoff

Chris Tanev

Eddie Lack

Brad Richardson

Mike Santorelli

Tanner Glass

Aaron Rome

He got a few things wrong, but he was a smart hockey man.

Glass and Rome weren't undervalued. They were just bad.

[canuktravella]

agreed rome and glass and orskevick were bums but gillis did a great job filling up the prospect poole compared to the way nonis left it yuckk

[Lockhart]

I don't think Ballard was bad at first, I remember when the first year he came year he started off pretty good. Good skating, carrying the puck, nice passes, blocking shots and being physical. He got in AV's doghouse like a few other players and also had an a few injuries.

Saying Gillis is an idiot over the Luongo contract is just stupid. The contract was perfectly fine and legal at the time and with a low cap hit for an elite goalie. Brian Burke starts whining about front loaded contracts and when the CBA was changed during the lockout, then the "contract sucked"

Gillis' main problem started when an emotional Luongo was interview right after the Finals loss to Boston. Schneider could have been traded in that off season and we wouldn't have had a goalie controversy, would have upgraded our team with whatever we got for Schneider.

Torts was an Aqualini hire.

[sam13371337]

I'll always remember Gillis for being able to find under valued talent/gems. He was a big part of making our team good.

Mikael Samuelson

Chris Higgins

Maxim Lapierre

Raffi Torres

Manny Malhotra

Christian Ehrhoff

Chris Tanev

Eddie Lack

Brad Richardson

Mike Santorelli

Tanner Glass

Aaron Rome

He got a few things wrong, but he was a smart hockey man.

A cherry picked of MG's "good moves"

and even then, that line up looks extremely weak.

[dura_mater]

Torts was an Aqualini hire.

Yup. If you're going to give credit to the Aquilini's for Ehrhoff than they have to take the blame for Torts. Although, honestly having Torts was probably a blessing in disguise (high draft pick, and team overhaul).

[mancaesar]

I remember back when Gillis was hired, everyone was debating whether or not it was a good move for the franchise. As with everything else, the prevailing wisdom was "wait and see", and "ask me again in 5 years". Well now we can finally look back with clarity. This is a really good thing to do, as we can learn a lot from this period. Sadly, most CDCers seem more concerned with making a million Bo Horvat threads, and "The time to trade XXXXXX is now, and not later" threads instead of spending the 3 minutes required to read some well written insights and analyses about a very important era in Canucks history. Oh well. I always appreciate the work and thought put into meaningful threads. Thanks OP.

[StarGirl]

I'll always remember Gillis for being able to find under valued talent/gems. He was a big part of making our team good.

Mikael Samuelson

Chris Higgins

Maxim Lapierre

Raffi Torres

Manny Malhotra

Christian Ehrhoff

Chris Tanev

Eddie Lack

Brad Richardson

Mike Santorelli

Tanner Glass

Aaron Rome

He got a few things wrong, but he was a smart hockey man.

Agreed. He did many things that were really nice for our team, but obviously nothing can be perfect...

[Cpt.Clutch]

It was my opinion all along that the real reason Gillis was fired was for throwing his boss under the bus with the hiring of Torts. Gillis repeatedly said things to the media that could be construed as blaming the owners while AquaMan himself got on the radio to deny it outright, putting all the blame on Gillis. The reason he was fired was not because of his hockey or business moves, it was purely reflective of his relationship with his boss. In the end he was arrogant and belligerent towards everybody.

[awalk]

I always thought the Sundin signing was a game changer for this organization. As mentioned in the article, the signing had a profound impact on the careers of the Sedins and Kesler, and I'm sure a few more. I also think it was the first time the Canucks ever signed a free agent of that status and notoriety. Credit Aquillini for opening up his pocket book on that and the Ehrhoff deals, sure -- but you have to give credit to a manager who knew exactly what resources were available to him, and used those resources to his absolute advantage.

Gillis also brought some excellent people into the Canucks organization, some of whom remain with the team today. Laurence Gilman and Lorne Henning are solid pieces of this team's management group. I do think, however, that he took far too long to shuffle and restructure the scouting team, and his earlier drafts reflect that with poor results.

Scouting will undoubtedly improve with a career scout now working as GM, but I do hope that Linden doesn't make the same mistake that Gillis made in showing loyalty to a point of fault to certain draft and development guys.

[Me_]

I'll always remember Gillis for being able to find under valued talent/gems. He was a big part of making our team good.

Mikael Samuelson

Chris Higgins

Maxim Lapierre

Raffi Torres

Manny Malhotra

Christian Ehrhoff

Chris Tanev

Eddie Lack

Brad Richardson

Mike Santorelli

Tanner Glass

Aaron Rome

He got a few things wrong, but he was a smart hockey man.

He's not dead... He's still a smart hockey man.