[Confirmed] Mike Gillis Agrees To Contract Extension

[Vansicle]

Even though that's true, every contract currently on this team was signed by Gillis.

It was him and the team that he hired that was able to sign players to great contracts, and manipulate the cap to give us an awesome window here to win a championship.

Basically he took what was already good, and made it great. A level that Nonis and Burke could never reach here.

[Tearloch7]

That's 'cause her thread was the first one posted

(Check the time stamps)

[vancan19™]

Why re-signing Gillis is a good thing: http://www.nwsportsbeat.com/canucks/a-huge-positive-vancouver-re-sign-mike-gillis-7512/

[DeNiro]

I don't necessarilly disagree, but a case could be made that time made the current roster great.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Gillis hasn't done great things necessarilly, or that he had nothing to do with this team's success. I'm just saying the Sedins, Kesler, Luongo, et al, would have gotten better over time, no matter who extended their contracts.

[EmployeeoftheMonth]

Has there been a better team in Canucks History. Luongo and the rest of the gang are a big reason for his success let's be honest. He screwed over Linden in his final year and he can't seem to get this tam fired up. This year proved that he deserves to go, with this team there is no reason for a first round exit. Not blaming it all on him but the coach is always the first to go

[Bertuzzi Babe]

And yet Linden credits AV as being the best coach he ever had. Kinda makes that point moot doesn't it.

[canadiangunner]

I know what you mean, until Kassian or Schneider becomes part of the core it was Burke that won us the cup.

[EmployeeoftheMonth]

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[canadiangunner]

Best thing gillis ever did was to wait for burke to board a plane to sweden, land in sweden and then watch gillis on the tarmak shaking hands with Daniel and Henrik and giving Burke the wink and the gun as he boarded the plane back to North America.

[ccc44]

I know what you mean, until Kassian or Schneider becomes part of the core it was Burke that won us the cup.

[ccc44]

Everything he's done has been with good intentions, I like where his mind is:

Acquiring Hamhuis - we needed someone to replace Mitchell's shutdown prowess

Acquiring Ballard - we needed more defensive quality and Ballard was a 30-point player playing 20+ minutes

Both were reliable defencemen who were rarely injured in their careers, which is something we needed more of. Bad luck bit us there, and clearly the scouting report on Ballard wasn't well done but it's difficult to predict how defencemen change in different markets (see Bouwmeester, Phaneuf, Kaberle etc.)

Acquiring Malhotra - shutdown center to let Kesler play more offensively and boost our PK, worked perfectly last season

Signing the Sedins - best move in franchise history, kept the face of our franchise together

Signing Luongo - a great cap hit of just 5ish million for one of the best in the league, that's a steal. Not many have outplayed him over the last few years consistently.

Acquiring Higgins and Lapierre - two great depth players and solid playoff peformers who play the right way.

Acquiring Booth - learned from his mistakes last season, got bigger up front

Acquiring Kassian - had his hand forced with the selfish little brat Hodgson and did the best he could, also getting bigger in the process

Acquiring Bitz - tried to get bigger hitters on our 4th line and it worked well for us

Acquiring Weise - a much better improvement on Oreskovich and I have a feeling this guy will break-out in the next few seasons, watch this space. He's got some serious offensive talent, plays hard and is still very young.

Acquiring Duco, Pinizzotto and Mancari - got much bigger and tougher on the farm but lost a bit of skill, which is how teams are winning Cups nowadays (see Boston, LA/Phoenix/NYR)

[nuck nit]

Ehrhoff didn't accept the contract that was offered to him. Should MG have taken his family for ransom?

Who hired Gagner again? Oh, right, Gillis.

We could win the cup and people would complain that Gillis didn't score the game-winning goal, so he shouldn't get credit.

[kloubek]

I'm glad Gillis is back on board. While he has made mistakes (what GM hasn't), I think he is a pretty saavy businessman and has a pretty good understanding of what we need to be a success.

As for AV:

He'll be around for the entire upcoming year. Take it to the bank.

What happens after that is anyone's guess. If we have another 1st round loss I'm pretty sure pressure from ownership and the end of his contract would keep him from being behind our bench another season.

[Vansicle]

Well I would say the addition of Sundin and Demitra helped turn Kesler into an offensive star.

I would argue that the addition of Ehrhoff helped the Sedins raise their game from point a game players to Art Ross winners.

And I would also argue that Rollie Melanson and the additions of Hamhuis and Ballard helped Luongo get his game back on track.

Like I said, he turned what was already good into something great. He saw the potential in the players we already had, and he implemented measures to help them reach their highest potential. That's what Gillis is good at.

[n00bxQb]

This is what,year five with Gillis and year 42 or 43 with no cup?

Gillis offered Ehrhoff Bieksa's contract.

Who brought Tanev to the Canucks?

The Canucks lost in Round one in a near sweep.Let's give credit where it is due.

[DeNiro]

Again, I'm not saying your points aren't valid, but do we really know Kesler wouldn't have blossomed under almost any circumstances? Do we know the addition of any high quality d-men by any GM wouldn't have had the same positive effect?

I'm not of the mind that MG isn't a good/great GM. I'm just trying to point out that any NHL caliber GM might have made excellent moves that improved the quality of product that the Canucks bring to the ice, and that the developement of certain players into all-stars might have been inevitable with the passing of time.

Please don't take any of this as MG hate/bashing. I actually think he's been, even at his worst, a good GM. I'm just trying to maybe point out that correlation ≠ causation . . . necessarily . . . in this case. Devil's advocate.

[nuck nit]

You make it seem as if winning a Stanley Cup is a task any competent person could do. It's not ...

That's right, Gillis offered Ehrhoff the same deal he offered Bieksa. Ehrhoff wanted a longer, more lucrative deal. There are a few problems with doing this:

Yeah, we lost in the first round to a very good hockey team. It happens ... This isn't NHL 12 where you win the cup every year, this is real life where there has only been one team that has won back-to-back cups in the last 20 years. It's an extremely difficult trophy to win.

[canuckbeliever]

Here is my two cents to the debate about whether Gillis is a good GM

Firstly, you have to look at the predecessor of Gillis and why he was fired. Dave Nnois was fired for missing the playoffs in 2 of the 3 seasons he was here. He was also hired by John McCaw and NOT the Aqualini family so he was not there guy.

The biggest complaint most of us had with Nonis was he never made real bold moves (with the exception of the Luongo deal). Instead he always did make shift changes. The summer ebfore he was fired, he went looking for Peter Foresberg and convincing him to play in Vancouver when he had an oppurtunity to sign Scott Gomez (thank god, he went to Sweden in hindsight).

He also was indicating that he would only make make shift changes after the collapse in 08. IE:Signing Fabbian Brunstrom

Insert Gillis. The hiring at the time was EXTREMELY QUESTIONABLE. Player agents never made good GM's for the most part with a few exceptions (Ken Holland being the prime example). There was rampant speculation and reports that indicated that the Aqualinis used the advice of Province Sports Writer Tony Gallagher in the hiring of Gillis as Tony and him are great friends. It is also widely known that the Aqualini family is close with Gallagher in a hockey advising role.

Now Gillis was able to do several things his predecessor didnt. One, he liked to make big bold moves. That offer he made to Mats was very bold. He also changed the culture of the team by not re-signing former client and Canuck captain Markus Naslund and instead opting for Pavol Demitra. He also threw an offer sheet towards Blues forward David Backes.

Gillis was also called upon improve the Canucks drafting record as many perceived that the Nonis picks would never pan out (oh boy were they wrong). With his first pick as Canuck GM he decided to draft Cody Hodgson who was supposed to be the next Trevor Linden for the team and potentially future captain.

Now, the problem with Gillis is this. Yes he has done all the things Nonis did not do such as make bold moves, and try to revamp the system in terms of drafting and try to change the culture when needed.

However the issue that critics/fact finders will point out is he has not been successful when he has made bold moves, changed the culture or drafted.

Here are a couple of facts.

There are exactly 0 players drafted by Gillis on the Canucks roster last season. By all accounts there will be 1 next year in Eddie Lack (unless Jordan Schroder or Kevin Connauton have a training camp of their lives).

The bold moves that Gillis has made have for the most part not panned out. As I mentioned before, the Sundin risk (2 year 10 mill per deal that would have resulted in Vancouver being unable to resign Twins). Picking the wrong pony between Raymond and Grabner and consequently taking the KEITH Ballard contract when he had a garbage year the season before. The Cody Hodgson trade is too early to tell but as of right now it aint looking too good. The David Booth contract will probably also haunt the team for years to come. Also, the Marco Sturm experiment that ended less than 10 games in to the season. The captaincy of Roberto Luongo along with the monstrous contract Gillis gave to him.

The fact that the bold move list is that long does not say much good about Gillis.

Now there are good things he has done. Namely, his work at every single trade deadline has been spectacular, especially the last two years. He has also made some good off season moves such as signing Hamhuis and stealing Ehrhoff.

He has also revamped the scouting and player personal department and has used a somewhat unconventional approach to maximize the players energy by having sleep doctors and what have you. That has helped in making Vancouver one of the most attractive destinations for players to play.

He also has kept the Nonis core intact which has developed really well. He could have easily destroyed the core in 09 during the monstrous losing streak but he didnt and good on him.

Now did he deserve a new contract? In my opinion, you could argue either way but I would say a 2 year contract at best. Give him another three years (including the upcoming one) and see where it goes.

[Tragoedia]

Good move!

[DeNiro]

I can't believe how many people on the Team1040 are calling for change already. As if change automatically equals success.

This team needs to stick with the plan and it's core players until the team starts to decline. Until then we gotta go for it while we have the window. There will be plenty of time for rebuilding after the Sedins retire.