You're not taking into account Luongos salary that we are being relieved of..
Schneider,Luongo,$800K
For
Horvat,Matthias,Markstrom,$7m available cap space
Something like that..
If Jensen becomes the player he is trending to be right now..that is an absolute steal at 29th overall in the draft..Same with Kassian (more even strength goals this year than Coho).
MG ability to find and sign undrafted players (Lack,Tanev)...basically the same premise as drafting them.
Maybe you forgot about Patrick White?...now that's bad!
Luongo never had any problem with Gillis (source..?)...in fact,they were both happy with Louongos contract at the time of the signing..It was the league and the new CBA that hamstrung them both.
You're not taking into account that the Canucks have only had 2 picks in the top 10 in 14 years...Hodgson and Horvat..Why?..because we've been winning for the best part of the last decade..Hence,late picks and no blue chip studs..
Winning the upcoming back to back against Minny and Colorado is a pretty tall order..Recent history has us playing poorly at the Excel Center and Colorado is probably the most improved team in the NHL .
I would take a guess and say that in order to be a GM..you have to have a plan and be spontaneous at the same time..
As far as the goalies go..who knew that Luongo was going to be out played by his subordinate twice..?..Who knew that Luongos contract after the revised CBA would become untradeable..You cannot plan for any of those scenarios ..
The plan of retooling and getting younger has been underway for some time now..
I am a Gillis supporter and realize that he is far from perfect..Some bold moves have turned into bold blunders as well...Maybe some people have an an appetite for a laid back approach (Tambellini)..not me.
Most of his deals I have liked (at the time of the deal)...but at least I can see the reasoning behind his deals..there's always two points of view to every trade
The only thing I did not like about Gillis was when he spoke about Hodgsons issues through the media..he should have kept quiet..That should have been kept internal..Bad lack of judgement there.
Other than that,the teams broken,but ultimately ,I think he's the guy that should be given the opportunity to fix it ..We shall see.
"he's hated around the league,and other GMs won't speak to him"....This is one of the favourite slams of Gillis haters,yet they cannot provide a shred of evidence to support that claim.
Gillis did win GM of the year ..which was voted on by the other GMs..obviously ,he is 'respected'..
After getting spanked last night by the Oilers .I would expect a good bounce back effort by the Preds tonight ( Barry Trotz is always up for a game against the nux)...
Canucks ..first game back of an eastern roadtrip..also,a lot of key injuries..I predict a SO win for the Canucks