Galaxydoggystyle
Registered User
- Jul 4, 2019
- 2,003
- 1,967
Wish my Habs would hire him even if it was for those types of roles. Maybe he will get that itch again to be a GM and we can get rid of MB lol.
Why hasnt any team hired Mike Gillis???
- Thread starter FreeMcdavid
- Start date
Fatass
Registered User
- Apr 17, 2017
- 25,392
- 20,744
Could Gillis be headed to Toronto, if Dubas and Shanahan don’t get that team beyond round one? He’s an ex Leaf, took an underachieving Canuck’s core to Cup Final, and is a forward thinker. And Gilman is in TO.
BrindamoursNose
Registered User
- Oct 14, 2008
- 20,056
- 14,959
Yet it has been reported that he’s interviewed for the recent NJ and Fla GM roles. Despite the president title being above GM, it’s the GM’s duties that will really impact the team’s performance.
I think he lived off the Canucks money for too long before trying to get back into the NHL. He needed a break so didn’t expect him back with a team before 2015 season, and for his style of thinking, traveling and learning about of other leagues and teams operate makes sense. But he may have spent too much time doing that. By the end of the 2016 regular season is when you would have expected to hear his name mentioned and interviewing for openings. But can’t say I recall anything before 2018 to be honest.
there have been people who have been grinding away in assistant roles that have gotten an opportunity in the meantime. Some guys worked out for teams, some flamed out like Fenton.
longer Gillis stayed out, it gave others an opportunity to build their resume and thus they have gotten a chance, like Zito in Fla with his 7 years with the Jackets club.
I also wonder given what we have heard about Gillis and his personality and how the resonates in the hockey world. How many people outside of the Canucks organization at the time would have a relationship with him now?
For him to execute his vision I’m sure the owners are going to ask him for names for the job titles that he would like to setup in the organization. Probably want to know who he would be targeting to fill those roles. Based on their experience level that impacts the budget that it would cost to setup the organization the way Gillis wants.
Last edited:
lawrence
Registered User
- May 19, 2012
- 16,305
- 8,227
He was close to the gm job if the Vancouver Canucks dating back to 1998 before we hired brian Burke. When we hired him in 2008 I read an article that the reason why mike Gillis was not hired back then was because he wanted a certain amount of autonomy that teams don’t like so he was never hired back in 1998 I’m going to assume that might be the reason why he hasn’t been hired again is because there might be a certain amount of autonomy he demands. I could be wrong.
Since he got fired he’s been a professor at uvic. Jobs he’s apparently actually interviewed for was the devils capitals and panthers jobs. Seattle never contacted him and he briefly spoke to one of the higher ups in Edmonton at the world championships or wjc.
rumours about him being a jerk is totally f in made up by hacks in provinces east of bc who doesn’t even live and follow the Canucks. Anyone Whois encountered him will tell you a different story then the side of him being arrogant.
In this article, mike Gillis mentions how and what he did to turn Ryan kesler from a 3rd line checker to a 40 goal scoring centre who won a selke.
Former Canucks GM Gillis says analytics helped Kesler score goals | Offside
mike Gillis is a type of guy they will utilize whatever he truly can to make his team better wether it’s doing something with an athlete or whatever.
Mike Gillis did also mention about what he learned as a gm in Vancouver and openly believes he is certain he will be a better gm today then he was in Vancouver.
Since he got fired he’s been a professor at uvic. Jobs he’s apparently actually interviewed for was the devils capitals and panthers jobs. Seattle never contacted him and he briefly spoke to one of the higher ups in Edmonton at the world championships or wjc.
rumours about him being a jerk is totally f in made up by hacks in provinces east of bc who doesn’t even live and follow the Canucks. Anyone Whois encountered him will tell you a different story then the side of him being arrogant.
In this article, mike Gillis mentions how and what he did to turn Ryan kesler from a 3rd line checker to a 40 goal scoring centre who won a selke.
Former Canucks GM Gillis says analytics helped Kesler score goals | Offside
mike Gillis is a type of guy they will utilize whatever he truly can to make his team better wether it’s doing something with an athlete or whatever.
Mike Gillis did also mention about what he learned as a gm in Vancouver and openly believes he is certain he will be a better gm today then he was in Vancouver.
of all the bad trades you metioned i cant believe you didnt mention Ballard.
1st rnd pick, michael grabner and steve bernier for ballard and oreskovich.
AV then does the right thing and benches Ballard for alot of parts in the playoffs including games in the 2011 cup run. Ballard was horrendous.
ugh that 1st rnd pick was 25th OA and bpa with that pick was Kuznetsov, Coyle or Brock Nelson. Sigh
I dont disagree with you that he took an okay team and turned them into contender, he added the right complimentary pieces but ALOT of the main pieces were already there, Gillis just so happened to come in when those major pieces hit their prime. The Canucks were only an okay team before Gillis got there because they werent in their prime yet. In 2008 the Sedins turned 27, Kesler 24, Edler 22, Bieksa and Burrows 27. It was perfect timing for Gillis.
Gillis is a good GM if a lot of the framework and heavy lifting is already done. If you want a GM that will build from bottom up then Gillis isnt youre guy, his drafting is one of the worst.
He's not a hockey conservative who wants to do things the good old fashioned ways. He's not in the old boys club so there are a lot of pressures in NHL circles working against him.
Mike Gillis inherited the worst minor league scouting department in the NHL and he was pretty much handcuffed by old boys club that existed in the Canucks organisation. He left the Canucks after hiring Judd Brackett who was promoted to head scout and led what is easily the the best scouting program in club history. Now that Brackett has been let go the string of great drafting will likely come to an end.
Gillis was an excellent GM that had vision and got results. Guys like Burke and Lowe didnt like him because of his history as an agent. Burke is a crusty old man that carries grudges. He lobbied for the Luongo recapture penalty to screw the Canucks among other things. Lowe is an entitled old boys club member that used his hockey connections to become a GM and get into the hall of fame. Its funny how the NHL and other GM's dont seem to hate the Canucks as much now that Gillis is gone. It says so much about the culture of the league.
Gillis was an excellent GM that had vision and got results. Guys like Burke and Lowe didnt like him because of his history as an agent. Burke is a crusty old man that carries grudges. He lobbied for the Luongo recapture penalty to screw the Canucks among other things. Lowe is an entitled old boys club member that used his hockey connections to become a GM and get into the hall of fame. Its funny how the NHL and other GM's dont seem to hate the Canucks as much now that Gillis is gone. It says so much about the culture of the league.
vadim sharifijanov
Registered User
- Oct 10, 2007
- 28,771
- 19,476
those moves were made in the context of a roster that had THREE hall of famers, two scoring champs and a multiple vezina finalist, all three of whom finished no lower than second in hart trophy voting; THREE selke-calibre forwards; FIVE top three dmen (ehrhoff, edler, bieksa, salo, mitchell/hamhuis); EIGHT 25 goal scorers (sedins, burrows, kesler, samuelsson, raymond, demitra/torres, sundin/higgins)
of course you trade draft picks to try to put the team over the top
the glaring mistake there, however, was the alberts trade. seidenberg was available from florida and he and ehrhoff had proven chemistry, but gillis cheaped out and went with alberts instead. instead, boston got him for basically a smaller version of the same package that gillis sent to florida for ballard a few months later. i think he learned his lesson which is why he went completely over the top into the 2010-'11 season, sending all those shoulda-been-seidenberg assets to florida for ballard, then signing hamhuis anyway (making it SIX top four d), adding malhotra, adding torres, then at the deadline grabbing higgins and mad max.
first, horvat is FIRST in playoff goals.
my buddy managed an establishment that gillis would go to regularly, like several times a month. i'm told gillis was friendly with everyone, talked about the team when appropriate, way nicer than certain other guys on the team and many other regulars. so if he acted like a prick in a restaurant you were in once, i can report that he at least isn't an asshole in every aspect of his life.
but anyway, the answer to the OP is hiring gillis as a GM is a very expensive proposition. because he was incredibly successful as an agent he flat out does not need the money and wants to do things his way. that doesn't just mean autonomy, that means he gets to spend way more money than most owners are willing to spend trying to get every competitive advantage. and it's not just spending all the way to the cap and burying/buying out bad contracts when possible, gillis hires staff, he funds studies, he even built a new facility for his players. i know he took a meeting with florida, but i don't think he's going to work for organizations like them or arizona.
it's a bit shocking. He knows how to build a defence which is something many teams struggle with. I think he'd turn the Leafs into a legit contender quickly
archangel2
Registered User
- May 19, 2019
- 2,064
- 2,014
I also dealt with him for 2 weeks at UBC a few years ago when he was doing a few things on the main campus. After a week TA's refused to deal with him.
Rowlet
Registered User
- Oct 13, 2018
- 3,164
- 6,384
Well yeah, they were a team capable of getting to the 2nd round and turned them, thanks to key additions through trade and FA, into a team that was capable of winning the cup in 3/6 of the years he was there. How often are GM's around long enough to fully draft their own core and develop them and then win the cup with them?
Basically everybody in 2007 was talking about how the Canucks needed a rebuild, treading water, always a bubble team etc, but instead he turned them into a cup contender. He should get a lot of credit for identifying that the Canucks had a core group of guys that were capable of winning, when most of the media didn't.
stampedingviking
Registered User
There has been plenty of turnover in the GM ranks since 2014, but really I would only look at openings since the 2016 calendar year as Gillis needed a break to reflect on his run in Vancouver.
Chuck Fletcher, Dave Nonis, etc who have accomplished less have gotten a second opportunity. But, one of the things they did was remain in the game in another role before landing a gm gig again.
Chuck Fletcher, Dave Nonis, etc who have accomplished less have gotten a second opportunity. But, one of the things they did was remain in the game in another role before landing a gm gig again.
Gurglesons
Registered User
Ding ding. Not to mention he was a vicious agent so most of these guys don't like him for that reason too.
The stories of Gillis being abrasive and having a rocky relationship go back far earlier than his tenure with the Canucks. He was a very tough player agent, in that he worked hard to get his players large contracts (for example he was Bobby Holik's agent when he signed the 5 year, $45 million deal with the Rangers), and that upset some on the management side. And with these guys never actually being replaced, many of the GMs Gillis negotiated against have remained in the league, and have held grudges against him.
Gillis was a forward thinking GM that had success. His successor can barely form a sentence and barely functions with the cap system. My point is that results matter less than connections in the NHL.
Phil Brooks
Registered User
Many of the bad trades in his final years were likely forced by ownership. He wanted to tear down the team and rebuild as he saw that the window had closed but Aquilini wouldn't allow it.
He was a forward thinking GM, he hired Chayka to do the analytics for the Canucks before any other team even knew what analytics were. He brought in sleep doctors to optimize the team's sleeping schedule due to being one of the most traveled team in the NHL.
Sure, he inherited a good core, but he supplemented them with all the necessary players to supplement them. The Manny Malhotra signing was huge. It brought so much value to the team, it gave the Canucks two top faceoff men - one on the left side and one on the right side, this enhanced both players value in the defensive side as it allowed them to play their strong sides (#1 and #5 in Selke voting) and also opened up Kesler to take on a more offensive role and pot 41 goals.
He was a forward thinking GM, he hired Chayka to do the analytics for the Canucks before any other team even knew what analytics were. He brought in sleep doctors to optimize the team's sleeping schedule due to being one of the most traveled team in the NHL.
Sure, he inherited a good core, but he supplemented them with all the necessary players to supplement them. The Manny Malhotra signing was huge. It brought so much value to the team, it gave the Canucks two top faceoff men - one on the left side and one on the right side, this enhanced both players value in the defensive side as it allowed them to play their strong sides (#1 and #5 in Selke voting) and also opened up Kesler to take on a more offensive role and pot 41 goals.
He was gm for 6 seasons. So he doesn’t have a long timeline. Ballard deal made in 2010 because Mitchell was still not cleared from his concussion after almost 6 months. Booth, ending up swapping out Samuelson. Aside from the 2010 draft when he moved the pieces for Ballard, he still had 6 first rounders, and a 2nd or 3rd for every other draft. Not exactly emptying the draft capital. Just didn’t find players at the draft.
Finals in 2011. Presidents trophy in 2012. Also got his 5 year extension in 2012. You don’t get that kind of extension if your projection of the next 3 or so years of the club doesn’t match ownerships.
obviously their performance dropped in 2013. That signalled that the group as it was constructed needed a shake up.
maybe the owner believed a trade of a core guy or two was the way to go and Gillis wanted to tear it down.
but it’s a massive change of direction in a matter of 1 season between back to back presidents trophies to then do a rebuild. Twins clearly were not going to be around when the team came out of it.
that will fall on the GM as every player on the roster he would have either traded for or signed their current contract. It’s a tough burden when rebuild wasn’t on the table in 2012 during contract negotiations and then at the first sign a drop the call is a full rebuild. No trade to shake up the core.
maybe he had calls with other clubs and he couldn’t come up with a true hockey deal. Maybe it’s futures for a Kesler/Edler. The typical 1st rounder, prospect and player which isn’t going to keep the Canucks competing for the cup.
almost in a way to where Pittsburgh is now as the twins were 33 and Sid and Malkin are 33/34. What can you do to either supplement the core or If you can’t we’ll, you don’t have many other options.
Last edited:
Phil Brooks
Registered User
The Keith Ballard trade, in hindsight, looks really bad but I can see why Gillis targeted him. He was one of the top shot blockers in the league and a good two-way d-man at the time but just didn't work under Vigneault's system.
I Hate Blake Coleman
F*** the oilers
lawrence
Registered User
- May 19, 2012
- 16,305
- 8,227
Mike Gillis went on record in 2018 saying he never had any problems with any GM's during his time as a General manager. Of course he's made some enemies around the leauge when he was a players agent, but as a GM he never had a problem with any gm's. Of course one can say he's lying but that's their own opinion.
Users who are viewing this thread
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
-
Official 2025 NHL DRAFT Discussion (UPD: UHC wins 2nd Lottery, will have 4OA pick.) (8 Viewers)- Latest: Mangosteen