Good job Gillis with Santorelli and Richardson.

[SuperReverb2]

Love Torts. Love Gillis. Love the mix. Love the baking. BOTH Santorelli and Richardson are great for the team. Stanton as well. By the way. We have beaten Schneider twice now. Kesler and Daniel schooled him big time on the tying goal.

[spliced]

Well it's about time. his grace period is over and his job is on the line.

[Horvat x 53]

Your welcome

You're** wlecome

[Monty]

Thank you mike gillis for the fail Hodgson trade, fail Schneider trade, mind boggling sundin signing for half of a season, letting go of Volpatti, LUONGOS terrible contract, last but not least no 3rd or 4th line. THANK YOU

Successful troll is successful.

[Absent Canuck]

Stanton looks like he can play a top 4 role. He makes excellent decisions and looks very poised. Hawks developed him well.

[CanucksJay]

Perfectly baked cake. Perfection.

Do you guys think they would have been this good under AV?

No, Canucks would have started Oct under .500 and the AV lovers would be blaming Lu for the poor start and MG for trading Schneids and not doing enough to ice a good team.

I'm glad this coaching changer occured as it juxtaposes AV's performance perfectly

[Blue & Green]

Really happily surprised at how good both of these centers are, I was disappointed Lappy wasn't resigned but not now.

These 2 bring so much more to the table offensively and defensively without getting those stupid ill-timed penalties Lappy got. They have excelled on the dot so far as well.

Vancouver has once again become one of the best PK teams in the league due in part to the great shorthanded play of Richardson and Santorelli.

Gillis did well by these guys, Tort's does well by giving them the much deserved minutes.

[nazzymx]

You said it... it's too early.

I'll say good job once we make the playoffs and once they perform well during the playoffs

[ice orca]

Oo yeah and thanks for letting go of Erhoff and Torres as well when you could have easily signed one of the two.

Easily signed Erhoff eh?

[AllEyezOnMe]

Easily signed Erhoff eh?

Easily signed ONE of the two *

[higgyfan]

Not a big Gillis fan, but I have to give him the nod for bringing in Santorelli and Richardson, along with Stanton and possibly Welsh.

With all the current injuries, I can't imagine where this team would be in the standings without these guys.

The Gillis haters won't budge a fraction and acknowledge these additions.

[Peaches]

MG haters will hate him for anything.

Booth trade, good at the time and look who gave up for him.

Ballard trade, good at the time.

Hodgson+Schneider trades are wait and see.

We lost a 4th liner on waivers? OH NOEZZZ

Ehrhoff wanted way too much.

Torres is a non-issue because the league would suspend him for breathing if he was here.

He's brought in Hamhuis, Tanev, Garrison, Santorelli, Richardson, etc.

And I've seen people post stuff like "anyone could have signed Garry/hammer".

Likewise, any GM could have mistakes.

I'm not a Gillis fanboy by any means but some of the Gillis haters are mindblowingly stupid.

[hockeygod7]

santorelli is old school new era kid..he wont fall of the map..natural goal scorer..saw him in bchl ..he is still young ..this guy will score bunches one day..he is gooing to get stronger..he is and will get more physical as he gets older i hope..richardson is a surprise ..he can create plays has good wheels and good hand eye..tuff too for his size..my suggestion is to give kassian more conditioning and het him to do some yoga..we need him to be a physical presence with good hands in front of the net..create havac while the offence does its things..smart hockey wins you dont need to out score them by bunches all the time.

[hockey21383]

Gillis is more a of a assistant Gm rather than a a full on Gm. He cant make a good trade if his life depended on it, but he seems to be able to negotiate contracts well.

[UFCanuck]

You're** wlecome

Please tell me you did that purposely.

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

OK. Long post alert!

Sorry but no time to edit this down. Just gonna click "Add Reply" as things are because I have to run off to do other things today.

Anyway, a few thoughts on the following:

We need more new players. Our core is sucking.

How so?

Henrik is producing at a 100 point season pace. He's been crucial to the team's success so far.

Daniel has started a little slower but he's getting onto a point-per-game clip (and could catch-up to Hank with a couple strong games).

The twins have together bought-in to Torts's systems and approach. They have done everything asked of them and have been saying all the right things (when interviewed).

Kesler struggled out of the gate but has quietly picked things up (now with 5 goals) and is on pace to break 30 (which would be only the second time in his career he's done so). He's also logging the toughest minutes of the forwards and handling key matchups and defensive situations.

Garrison is arguably looking like a #1 defenseman (on pace to break 60 points and playing 23+ minutes per game and in all game situations).

Bieksa is having a surprisingly strong start. He's playing an excellent all-around game, providing leadership and grit, matching up against the top opposition forwards, and he seems (surprisingly) to have bought-in completely to what Torts is selling. Juice leads the team with a +11. Also ranks first in hits and second in blocked shots.

Edler (suspension aside) is having an average start. He's on pace for another 40+ point season and is logging the highest average icetime on the team at 25+ minutes per game. He's again looking like a solid top pairing D with tantalizing upside/potential. If Torts can manage to pull more out of him, the Canucks will all of a sudden have two potential #1 Ds (and an additional two excellent all-around Ds in their top-four--Hamhuis and Bieksa--who are both capable of playing first pairing minutes and roles).

Hamhuis has struggled out of the gate but he's slowly turning things around. Underlying his poor standard stats are some strong possession/events metrics. The odds are that he'll round into shape and have another strong year (he's been the most consistent/dependable D on the team, over the past several seasons, and he should get back on form this year).

Burrows has been injured (which is very different from sucking). He'll be back soon and will be a welcome addition to an injury-depleted forward group.

Luongo's numbers have been average and are now trending upwards. His save percentage has finally moved north of 90% and his GAA is around two and a half. Not a bad October, given his overall career trends.

That's pretty much the core for this team.

In a number of instances I'd argue that, far from "sucking," the core is actually carrying the Canucks (along with some standout performances by surprise contributors) through some tough breaks with injuries (many key players are logging high minutes and getting double shifted) and has adjusted quite well to a new coaching staff and a new focus and set of systems.

Their overall record right now is much better than I expected, especially given the changes (the "re-set") and this team's tendency, in its recent history, to start slow.

As for the complimentary/supporting group, there have been more bright spots than disappointments.

Santorelli is the most obvious (no need to really go into details). The Canucks are getting a top-six forward (currently at least) for 13th forward money.

Richardson has been a solid addition. He's been a key contributor on the PK and he's provided stability to the bottom-six. His four goals have been the gravy on top.

Stanton came out of nowhere to provide a stable partner on the bottom pairing.

Tanev is Tanev. He's been a solid bottom pairing D and he's advanced this season to become a front line player on the PK. He's also leading the team in blocked shots.

Higgins has been pretty good. He's logging important minutes (19:29 TOI/G), stabilizing lines (now especially with the injuries), and chipping in some secondary scoring. He's also far more engaged mentally in the game than I've seen for quite some time and he's bringing more of a physical presence than in years past (he already has 20 hits this season).

Hansen didn't have the best start and then he got injured. He wasn't "sucking" but there's room for improvement once he's healthy and makes his return to the lineup.

Weise and Sestito have actually been pretty solid in limited minutes. Both are on pace for over 100 hits this year (they currently have 19 and 20 hits, respectively), while playing only around six minutes per game.

Schroeder looked quite good in the the games he played. He's just been very unlucky with injuries. If he can get back healthy and put together a stretch of solid games, the team could get a significant boost in overall production and enjoy and much deeper and more balanced forward group (with his re-addition to the lineup).

Booth has been a disappointment. You could say he's been "sucking" (I wouldn't personally say this, but I get why some might think so). However, he's not really a "core" guy. Also, given how low expectations have gotten with him, the fact that he's been solid defensively and has at least cracked the scoresheet already could be viewed as a positive start to his season. Personally, I'm still expecting him to pick things up, if he can get healthy and get back into the lineup. There were positive takeaways from his play alongside Schroeder.

Lack hasn't looked out of place in an NHL net. He's actually performed better than I expected from his first couple starts.

As for the guys who've been "sucking" it's a pretty short list. Alberts deserves a spot (and that goes back to preseason). Weber hasn't been very good, especially as a forward (although he's not completely at fault for playing poorly while out of position). Dalpe did nothing during his 3 minutes per game (but again, can't judge too harshly given the usage--he was more of a warm body used to meet roster minimums than anything else).

We need more new players. Our core is sucking.

I don't really think this is the case. The core is fine. We just need to get everyone healthy.

Of course, it would be nice to add a skilled forward or two (but when isn't that the case for a team?). Possibly this becomes an option, depending on the injuries and how much they go into LTIR. However, I don't think there's much improvement to be found by making significant changes to the core group at this time. It's more likely that such drastic actions would make the team worse.

I'd actually argue that, on average and overall, the core players are performing better this season than they have for quite some time.

Going into 2013-14, I expected a significant adjustment period and some growing pains to come along with the coaching change (and the minor personnel tweaks). I definitely didn't foresee this injury bug, at least not to this extent (and especially at forward where things can get a little thin with the current roster).

The fact that the team has as good of a record as it does right now should actually reflect well on this team's core. We're not all the way there yet but the Canucks have become Tortorella's team far quicker and to a much greater extent than I expected at this point in the year. The overall buy-in from the core group is a huge part of this.

[DarthNinja]

Gillis is more a of a assistant Gm rather than a a full on Gm. He cant make a good trade if his life depended on it, but he seems to be able to negotiate contracts well.

Most people look at Gillis' trades that did not turn out so good in the end and yes there are several.

But when you say he can't make a good trade if his life depended on it, it makes me wonder what planet you are living on. Higgins, Lapierre and Ehrhoff were three trades that were great moves by GMMG and huge for the franchise at the time.

MG is such an "Assistant GM" that as soon as he became the GM of the Canucks in 2009-09, he made numerous moves/signings that took the Canucks from last in the division the previous year to top of the division for several years in a row.

It's like saying such expressions are assistant-retard as opposed to full on retard...and you should never go full retard!

[Angry Goose]

I'd like to add that MG had the right idea with Booth and Ballard. Both have elements the team needs, but it is not MG's fault that either couldn't play up to their potential, just as both Santorelli and Richardson are doing.

People under-estimate just how difficult it is to predict how a player will do. You try to bring the best out of a player but ultimately it depends on what the player.

[icycold]

Thank you mike gillis for the fail Hodgson trade, fail Schneider trade, mind boggling sundin signing for half of a season, letting go of Volpatti, LUONGOS terrible contract, last but not least no 3rd or 4th line. THANK YOU

fail hodgson trade? not likely.. We got a potential power forward who can be great when he develops along, most power forwards don't really get good until at least 27-28 yes there are the exceptions but few and far between.

Failed Schneider trade? Now that's funny! He had to unload schneids (look down for the explanation) and he picked up Bo Horvat, Bo could easily be what we wanted out of CoHo as in a possible future captain, he has great hockey sense and vision plus size and a bit of grit too. No way did MG fail on that one.

Failed on Lou's contract? Actually not really, depends how you look at it. NO ONE and i mean no one could have seen the cap being what it was because of the lock-out <---- !!! Look at how goalies salaries had gone through the roof, had the salary cap not been where it is the goalie salary would have went ever higher BUT because of the cap i doubt they will go higher but maybe.

Think about only 5 mil as Lou's cap hit under the affects of salaries getting much higher, MG would have looked like a master IF the salary cap had not ended up like it is. Like i said up there NO ONE saw that coming and even under the circumstances having goaiie as good as Lou for only a 5 mil hit is still pretty decent.

Volpatti a fail too? Good grief! players like him are a dime a dozen out there and the only difference between each of them is slight at best. Want a better one? wait 5 mins.. one will hit waivers because they don't fit into 1 of 30 teams systems or needs.

[thad]

Although MG obviously did well with these pick ups, I believe it is Torts that allowed them to excel.

Who hired torts? Lol