Pears

Gillis has fans?  He was gifted that team and drove it like someone who stole it.  The left it on the side of the road out of gas, blown engine and 4 bald tires.  There was a spare in the trunk but it had no air.  Shooting Star.

Not a single club interviewed him since his departure for two reasons. One they knew he had mostly inherited a great team and he failed to add the parts to win.  Number two he was a former agent who screwed over many clubs and was likely blackballed....That team was so damn good and close it should have at least made two appearances to the finals but we had the wrong guy!

Gillis inherited Luongo, the Sedins, Burrows, Kesler, Edler, Ohlund, Salo, etc. Basically he inherited most of the core that would lead us to the Cup finals. Obviously he surrounded them with the right players, so he should get some credit. But people need to stop blaming Benning for Gillis' mistakes with those NMCs. You can also blame the NHL for allowing such big and long protected salaries to be handed out at the time. You shouldn't blame Benning for picking up the pieces and turning this organization into producing top young talent every year. It's really sad that some fans can't see how valuable Jim Benning really is.