[Report] Laurence Gilman named Assistant General Manager of Toronto Maple Leafs

[smithers joe]

gilman is a good, knowledgable hockey person. i was sad when JB let him go. good luck old boy.

[Where's Wellwood]

3 hours ago, coastal.view said:

right

and how long was he out of work ??

 

(3 years

and gillis has yet to again find nhl employment

there are good reasons why other teams have avoided this management group)

Your comment implies Gillis was looking for another NHL position. Do we know if he was? We know from TEAM 1040 that Gilman was keeping up to date with the league.

[Alflives]

32 minutes ago, smithers joe said:

gilman is a good, knowledgable hockey person. i was sad when JB let him go. good luck old boy.

Totally agree that Gilman is a good hockey guy, and very good at his job.  He's too bloody good for the Leafs!  Darn it anyway!!!!  I want the Leafs to be horrible!!  Hopefully the higher ups over there in "The Big Smoke" don't listen to him.  

[captainhorvat]

1 hour ago, Blömqvist said:

Yea his segments with Sekeres and Price were very entertaining and insightful. Learned so much about the Luongo deal, Schneider for the 9th overall pick/Horvat, the legacy of the Sedins, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

 

EDIT: I could definitely see them going for Tanev. Dubas with his new school pro-analytics view and Gilman with his first-hand experience with Tanev.

Listening to him was definitely a breath of fresh air. He never really held back when it came to inside information of what went on behind the scenes and how the organization was run on a day to day basis.

I could definitely see a Tanev deal to Toronto at this years draft.

[RonMexico]

4 hours ago, coastal.view said:

right

and how long was he out of work ??

 

(3 years

and gillis has yet to again find nhl employment

there are good reasons why other teams have avoided this management group)

He wasn't exactly out of work. he was busy orchestrating the new rules for the Vegas expansion draft. It's his fault!

[RonMexico]

dp

[oldnews]

Good news - that he's moving on from reducing himself to a snivelling media bystander in Vancouver.

 

Probably  the most over-rated management figure in Canucks history.

 

Best of luck in Toronto, but haven't and won't miss you here.

 

Btw, losing Hunter is a greater loss for the Leafs than Gilman is a gain.

 

 

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

41 minutes ago, RonMexico said:

He wasn't exactly out of work. he was busy orchestrating the new rules for the Vegas expansion draft. It's his fault!

Plus the Canucks were still paying him until June of last year (Gilman had two years left on his contract when he was fired). 

 

Pretty nice golden parachute. Collect full salary for a couple years while freelancing between the league offices, sports media, and some university speaking engagements. Then drop into the Leafs front office just as they've installed a young GM who seems very much like-minded and appreciative of Gilman's talents.

[Pickly]

9 minutes ago, oldnews said:

Good news - that he's moving on from reducing himself to a snivelling media bystander in Vancouver.

 

Probably  the most over-rated management figure in Canucks history.

 

Best of luck in Toronto, but haven't and won't miss you here.

 

Btw, losing Hunter is a greater loss for the Leafs than Gilman is a gain.

 

 

A bit harsh, no? Gilman was a great listen on Sekeres and Price and provided listeners with some good insider info on the Gillis era. I enjoyed listening to him for sure. 

[drummer4now]

5 hours ago, coastal.view said:

right

and how long was he out of work ??

 

(3 years

and gillis has yet to again find nhl employment

there are good reasons why other teams have avoided this management group)

I don't think Gillis will ever be hired anytime soon.. only because of his bad reputation near the tail end of his career. 

He was a good gm no doubt, but couldn't come to the conclusion the Canucks needed a hard rebuild instead of a soft reset which

essentially set the Canucks back many years.. 

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

22 minutes ago, drummer4now said:

I don't think Gillis will ever be hired anytime soon.. only because of his bad attitude near the tail end of his short career. 

Also he basically blew up the team before he left lol.. 

 

Gillis is still getting paid by Vancouver IIRC. I believe he had four years remaining on his contract when fired (at around $2 million per year) so it wouldn't actually run out until June 2018.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him hired by another NHL team in the near future, now the Vancouver gravy train is running out.

 

Had he taken a position with another NHL team any time in the past four years, he'd have lost all that that sweet, sweet Canucks money.  

 

I'd imagine he could have found an AGM, VP, Director of (insert name of department) type of position with one of the other 30 teams if he was willing to accept a pay cut.

 

Heck, even when he was fired, the rumours were that the Aquilinis would have kept him around the business if he accepted a demotion.

 

I doubt he's been offered a full GM/President position but I'd be surprised if there haven't been lesser positions offered by another NHL team.

 

They probably just don't pay as well.

 

Over the past four years, he's probably collected another $8 million of Aquilini's money, taught a law class at UVic, and served on the board of directors for Genève-Servette HC (in the Swiss league).

 

Nice work if you can get it! 

[drummer4now]

3 minutes ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Gillis is still getting paid by Vancouver IIRC. I believe he had four years remaining on his contract when fired (at around $2 million per year) so it wouldn't actually run out until June 2018.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him hired by another NHL team in the near future, now the Vancouver gravy train is running out.

 

Had he taken a position with another NHL team any time in the past four years, he'd have lost all that that sweet, sweet Canucks money.  

 

I'd imagine he could have found an AGM, VP, Director of (insert name of department) type of position with one of the other 30 teams if he was willing to accept a pay cut.

 

Heck, even when he was fired, the rumours were that the Aquilinis would have kept him around the business if he accepted a demotion.

 

I doubt he's been offered a full GM/President position but I'd be surprised if there haven't been lesser positions offered by another NHL team.

 

They probably just don't pay as well.

 

Over the past four years, he's probably collected another $8 million of Aquilini's money, taught a law class at UVic, and served on the board of directors for Genève-Servette HC (in the Swiss league).

 

Nice work if you can get it! 

Oh I had no clue he was still on the team payroll.. makes sense. 

 

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

4 minutes ago, drummer4now said:

Oh I had no clue he was still on the team payroll.. makes sense. 

 

I think we're still paying Willie Desjardins too.

 

I believe his deal runs out this summer, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him suddenly return to (pro) coaching next season (likely as an NHL assistant somewhere or maybe back as an AHL head coach).

[oldnews]

54 minutes ago, Pickly said:

A bit harsh, no? Gilman was a great listen on Sekeres and Price and provided listeners with some good insider info on the Gillis era. I enjoyed listening to him for sure. 

Gilman hung around Vancouver to offer 'advice' in the media regarding his former franchise - what they ought do, with players, etc - a good example being his public take on Gudbranson.

Interestingly, the Gillis era - in which Gilman worked - made it exceedingly clear that Gudbranson was a primary target of theirs - Gillis wanted him - sought to acquire him when he was shopping Hodgson.  I guess they were wrong about him.  And the direction the NHL was heading.   Hmmm.  Maybe they've modernized the 'analytics' since.

 

Not sure what other precedent like this there is for a former GM or AGM, but it's a fairly sad dynamic when you're nipping at the heels of the franchise you worked for, years later - in a peripheral media role.

And in addition, it fed into the 'analytcs'/canucksmarmy vs Benning dynamic (and the Bennig-can't-sign -contracts / Bennig-can't-make-trades' narratives) - as well as having an underlying taste of the kind of scorned axe-grinding that existed between the Nonis/Burke regime in Toronto vs the Gillis/Gilman era.  It played out in some ugly back and forthing between Nonis - and Darren Dreger types (particularly dramatic through the Luongo trade rumours) - and the succeeding regime in Vancouver, and no doubt hinged on their distaste for Canucks ownership.   So I suppose there was a precedent - a fairly ugly one - for holding a grudge, and airing one's dirty laundry with respect to their former franchise.....and now, ironically, Gilman too has landed in Toronto.  Florida may have been another good option, during the short-lived Rowe era (I guess that window wasn't open enough)- but perhaps this now paves the way for Gillis to also wind up in Toronto.  A natural progression from Nonis, Burke lol.  The Leafs have always seemed to like Canucks leftovers though - from management to the Mason Raymonds, MIke Santorellis, Shawn Matthias.... I personally won't miss Gilman - and don't have much use for Sekeres and Price either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Orcasfan]

Agree with Old News on this one. I don't understand at all the admiration for this guy here. Sure, he was interesting on the radio...so what. What was one of the biggest problems of the Gillis era? Those awful NMC and NTC contracts. Who was the architect for those? That's right, your man, Gilman. He talks well on the radio, but he's hopeless in the management of a franchise! But, he seems like a nice guy!

[Xbox]

1 hour ago, oldnews said:

Good news - that he's moving on from reducing himself to a snivelling media bystander in Vancouver.

 

Probably  the most over-rated management figure in Canucks history.

 

Best of luck in Toronto, but haven't and won't miss you here.

 

Btw, losing Hunter is a greater loss for the Leafs than Gilman is a gain.

 

 

Yeah I never understood Gilman. Was he a capologist? It isn't hard to lower a players salary when over 50% of the team have NTC's.

Do you think Hunter would be a good fit for Vancouver? I know we have pretty good scouting but having more minds in your room and less in the competitors is good. That's only if he doesn't become the Islanders new GM that is.

[SamJamIam]

4 minutes ago, Orcasfan said:

Agree with Old News on this one. I don't understand at all the admiration for this guy here. Sure, he was interesting on the radio...so what. What was one of the biggest problems of the Gillis era? Those awful NMC and NTC contracts. Who was the architect for those? That's right, your man, Gilman. He talks well on the radio, but he's hopeless in the management of a franchise! But, he seems like a nice guy!

To Gilman's credit, he did use those NTCs to reduce salaries of players on a cap crunched team.  The issue was that it mortgaged the future for short term gain.  When we were in the hunt to win it all, those moves made sense.  As we shifted further away from that, they were absolutely counterproductive.

[oldnews]

4 minutes ago, SamJamIam said:

To Gilman's credit, he did use those NTCs to reduce salaries of players on a cap crunched team.  The issue was that it mortgaged the future for short term gain.  When we were in the hunt to win it all, those moves made sense.  As we shifted further away from that, they were absolutely counterproductive.

Laurence Gilman Would Sign the Luongo Contract Again: “Ten Times Over”

[coastal.view]

16 minutes ago, Orcasfan said:

Agree with Old News on this one. I don't understand at all the admiration for this guy here. Sure, he was interesting on the radio...so what. What was one of the biggest problems of the Gillis era? Those awful NMC and NTC contracts. Who was the architect for those? That's right, your man, Gilman. He talks well on the radio, but he's hopeless in the management of a franchise! But, he seems like a nice guy!

that is only part of it

the stench that arose over the mishandling of our 2 elite goalies

the absolute emptying of the draft cupboards via poor drafting and trading a away picks

could any gm do any more to completely mortgage a team's future?

the torts hire was brutal and hurt ticket sales badly

[nux4lyfe]

Edit: Wrong thread.