Canucks & Beyond
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Can Mike Gillis Save the Canucks?
by Alanah McGinley on 07/04/08 at 01:56 PM ET
Comments (11)
From Ben Kuzma in The Province:
Unrestricted free agent centre Brendan Morrison will not re-sign with the Vancouver Canucks, The Province has learned.
At one point, seven teams expressed interest in Morrison and a source indicated that the 32-year-old Pitt Meadows native is expected to sign a multi-year deal elsewhere and reject a one-year, $1.9-million US offer from the Canucks.
$1.9 million? Maybe a hometown discount for a team with a plan (a “Mats Sundin Plan” might have done it), but a one-year deal on a team whose website currently features the poll pictured here? (thanks to Waiting for Stanley for grabbing that screenshot.)
Not a chance.
This whole situation gives one the sense that players are jumping off the Titanic and swimming for the lifeboats.
I’ve given a lot of thought to that Mats Sundin offer over the last couple days, and I can almost see the wisdom of it at this point. At least signing someone like Sundin would have been a way to build a different atmosphere, one that suggested the team had a prayer.
This morning on FAN590, The Hockey News columnist Adam Proteau mentioned two problems that GM Mike Gillis is struggling to overcome right now. First, that he can’t find a trading partner willing to deal with him; and second, that free agents around the league seem to be avoiding signing on to the Canucks organization till they see some indication of improvements.
I think Proteau is probably right, and while that Sundin deal might have left us arguing about the $20 million, it would have at least changed the perception that Vancouver is a lame destination.
So here were are today. And this is our roster:
From Ed Willes at The Province:
I mean, if the most virulent Canucks hater would have plotted the team’s downfall, it’s doubtful he could have come up with everything that’s happened. This team is now on the precipice of disaster and the only thing that can save them—failing a change of Sundin’s heart—is a superhuman season from Roberto Luongo and/or a masterful coaching job from Alain Vigneault and that means another seven months of 2-1 games.
Or maybe Kyle Wellwood is a lot better than anyone knows.
Look, regular readers of this space—both of you—are aware of our thoughts about Gillis. We didn’t like the way Dave Nonis was fired. We didn’t like the way Gillis was hired. And nothing has happened since to change our opinion.
Nor mine. This situation stinks.
On the bright side, it’s still early July. Can Mike Gillis turn this around by October?
Filed in: vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: brendan+morrison, mats+sundin, mike+gillis,
Comments
I feel to be fair to our grumpy GM you need another “yes” option that suggests “he messed up but can fix this”. Only Naslund haters and those who want the team to blow up would pick the yes option.
But regardless...it’s been an awful week. The only way he can fix it now is trading with teams against or over the cap, wait for the UFA crop to go into the deep summer, fly to Sweden and camp out on Sundin’s lawn or attack the RFAs. Maybe all of them.
Posted by Mike from NYC on 07/04/08 at 01:10 PM ET
I dont like Naslund and picked no, so try again Mike.. the team is in rebuild mode.
Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 07/04/08 at 01:18 PM ET
Just a note—an article Paul just put up, Alan Muir is SI suggesting that the Canucks are liable to put out more offer sheets… best bet being on Valterri Filppula of the Red Wings.
The offer-sheet route for Gillis is an obvious one, but if you ask me, it’s tough to imagine Detroit letting Filppula go anywhere.
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 07/04/08 at 01:23 PM ET
Puckhounds - Simmer dude, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt. I have no idea who thinks he would be doing a “great job” thus far but it doesn’t mean he has completed screwed them team and can’t solve it by October.
And if they’re in rebuild mode that’s fine. Would have been nice if they had said that up front rather then what they did say about Nonis messing up a team so close to being a real contender.
Posted by Mike from NYC on 07/04/08 at 01:28 PM ET
Dont expect Gillis to be honest when he talks to the media, because he has not been since day 1 and that isnt about to change.
Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 07/04/08 at 01:34 PM ET
Yep.. I have faith in him, but his tactics seem like he might be Kevin Lowe the 2nd.
I dont care what he does to the team, as long as none of the prospects are moved, all is good, because in due time, when Grabner and Hansen and Raymond and Schneider are NHL ready, and still in the fold, we will be a much better club that was built from within, just like the great Red Wings teams year after year.
Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 07/04/08 at 01:50 PM ET
I voted no freaking clue.
Some teams have changed so much with the draft and free agency that I have no idea who is on them anymore.
But I can’t imagine anyone being worse than the Kings or the Tampa Bay “No Defense Needed” Lightning at this point.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/04/08 at 02:24 PM ET
Comparing the Cannots to the Red Wings is pretty funny. This franchise has no sense of tradition, and lurches like a drunken sailor as it tries to come up with a winning formula. Until the team is a first class organization from the top to the bottom it will never win a Stanley Cup.
Posted by denny from B.C on 07/06/08 at 12:48 AM ET
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About Canucks & Beyond
Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003, sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen. In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah is one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast, as featured at Canucks.com.
She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
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Canucks just traded for Steve Bernier.
http://canucks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=367822
Posted by nrbreitkreuz on 07/04/08 at 01:04 PM ET