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Why hasnt any team hired Mike Gillis???

FreeMcdavid

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Dec 30, 2019
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There has been plenty of job openings from GM to Executive roles in the NHL since Gillis was last employed in April 2014. Though interviewed for some of those opennings, Gillis has still yet to be hired by an NHL club.
I dont think there is a more decorated Manager or executive out there, yet its now been 6 yrs and counting since Gillis was in the NHL. This is very odd considering the NHL is known for circulating the same old boys club.

Here is a quick snip-it of Gillis's resume.

-Gillis was the Executive of Year winner in 2011, over the likes of Yzerman, Poille.
-He was the architect of 2 President Trophy Winners
- Built a team that was 1 win away from a Stanley Cup
- Made great signings like Hamhuis and Malhotra
- great trade like 9th overall for cory schneider, then drafted bo horvat
- No name prospect patrick white for Christian Ehrhoff
- Jacob Markstrom for Roberto Luongo
- He was considered a top agent before becoming a GM

Its very interesting to see that the NHL doesnt think very much of Gillis yet he has quite the following and supporters in the Vancouver fan base. Why is that?

3 things that I think might be MG's downfall.

1. Horrible draft history as a GM. I mean horrible

1st round picks included- Cody Hodgson, Jordan Schroeder, Niklas Jensen, Brendan Gaunce, B Horvat, Hunter Shinkaruk,

2nd rnd picks included - anton rodin, yann sauve, Alexandre Mallet

2. Made bad trades and traded away draft picks like candy.

- 1st rnd pick, Grabner, Steve Bernier for Keith Ballard
- 3rd rnd pick for Andrew Alberts
-3rd rnd pick for Max Lapierre
- 2x 4th round picks for Samuel Pahlsson
- 2nd rnd pick for Derek Roy
4th rnd pick for Zach Dalpe

3. He had a big ego and and apparently did not get along well with media.




I'm not here claiming that Gillis was the best GM ever, he had alot of negatives but most GMs do. He did lots of good stuff with the Canucks and its just very surprising that he is still out of a job to this day.

It's just unbelievable that lesser GMs (imo) like Peter Chiarelli , Chayka, Dubas, Garth Snow etc have been employed during 2014-2020 and Gillis hasnt. There has got to be more in the behind the scenes stuff that us fans arent previ to that is keeping Gillis black'ball'd. Thoughts??
 
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Chayka, Dubas and Snow are new/have only had that one job so far

Chiarelli got another job because he won the cup with the bruins. A cup buys a lot of good will and more job opportunities see Dave Tallon.

Gilles' bad outweighs the good and im sure the ego factor does not help his cause
 
Forge said:
I had more interest in him as a president of hockey ops role for new Jersey than I did a gm role, tbh
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Probably out of sight out of mind plays a factor. Most guys find another job (maybe not GM) within 2 years of their last position.

Gillis opted to teach at U Victoria and travel to learn more about sport sciences and how other leagues operate. Plus he had money until 2018 from the Canucks. Didn’t hear his name mentioned for other jobs until after 2018. Think it was the isles before Lou Lam got the job that he and Gilman were reported to go there together.

But after hearing him on Vancouver radio discuss his new philosophy on operating a team he needs to land with a team that is willing to spend on hockey operations and sports sciences. So some teams are not interested in spending that kind of money.

if he clashed with media and you are a club in a market that does cover hockey well, that will play against Gillis. You are likely fighting with nba, NFL, MLB for coverage so need to be able to promote the team and take the criticism.

being out of hockey for 6 years also hurts him in terms of connections. Florida it was reported by Friedman that they want to draft and develop rather than spend big in free agency with their busts. Draft record hurts Gillis but he’s smart enough to have an answer of how he would correct that. But Gillis has not real background in scouting so it’s dependent on him finding the right head of scouting. But who would that be for Gillis? Who are his connections in terms of scouting? Not the guys he had in Vancouver. And Brackett is now with Minnesota and they won’t be letting him go for the same role.

hard to know exactly why he hasn’t landed a second opportunity but 6 years outside of the NHL is a long time.
 
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He was really abrasive personality-wise and burned a lot of bridges around the league when he was here in Vancouver...he didn't have a lot of leeway to work with, being a former agent and all, but it seemed like he made things really difficult for himself when it came to collegial relationships with his counterparts around the league. Not sure if it's justified but that was the scuttlebutt back then. I know him and Burke had a real vendetta thing going on, I can't recall another time where two GMs ever publically said they wouldn't deal with each other over a personal grudge.
 
Take throwing out offer sheets like a drunk spiteful kid and running around screaming about tampering, throw in some of the worst drafting ever like you stated and a lot of crappy Signings and trades..

I don’t think he is a big target
 
Leafmealone11 said:
Take throwing out offer sheets like a drunk spiteful kid and running around screaming about tampering, throw in some of the worst drafting ever like you stated and a lot of crappy Signings and trades..

I don’t think he is a big target
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Yikes.

Took an okay team in Vancouver and turned them in to a contender. Theres more good there than bad - and you're definitely wrong about him not being a target.
 
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Leafmealone11 said:
Take throwing out offer sheets like a drunk spiteful kid and running around screaming about tampering, throw in some of the worst drafting ever like you stated and a lot of crappy Signings and trades..

I don’t think he is a big target
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I personally think it’s because he’s been out of the nhl so long. Now at 6 years. Didn’t hear about him getting any interviews until after his canucks contract ran out in 2018.

The first gm job I heard his named attached to was the islanders but then Lou got the job. Since then I’ve heard him interview for Seattle, NJ, and now FLA. Don’t recall if his name came up for the Minny, Philly, jobs.

with the drafting , he would have to sell the team on who he would want to hire to run his scouting department. Who would that be? Only one who was good that he’s connected to is Brackett and he signed with Minnesota. So, is he connected enough to know or be right with another person who would be a very good head of amateur scouting that a team could hire immediately? Who will be his guys to run the scouting department?
 
TheNewEra said:
Chayka, Dubas and Snow are new/have only had that one job so far

Chiarelli got another job because he won the cup with the bruins. A cup buys a lot of good will and more job opportunities see Dave Tallon.

Gilles' bad outweighs the good and im sure the ego factor does not help his cause
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Lmao how on earth does his bad outweigh the good? What is his bad?

He was fired after winning 5 straight division titles for “bundling” the goalie situation which led the Canucks in trading Luongo and Schneider for the teams MVP this season and their captain who is 2nd in the NHL playoffs in goals scored.

Mike Gillis doesn’t have a job because the NHL is an old boys club.
 
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it was well known around the canucks market after his firing that he wouldnt take another opportunity unless it felt right, which probably hurt him in the long run. he did interview for several teams in the last few years and wasnt hired. im sure right after his departure he could have landed a job somewhere.

i think he could come in and help a team that needs to be put over the top...hes not some type of wizard though like some delusional canucks fans will tell you. his trades for higgins ,lapierre and torres gave the team some real grit for the playoffs and he managed to get erhoff for nothing (also let him go because he didnt take bieksa $$$ after the 2011 cup run. which was a bad move imo. not that erhoff's career worked out... but he also was a big part of that 2011 teams success and left a hole that was never filled on the back end till hughes was drafted)

then there was the david booth, sammy pahlsson, derrick roy trades that really sucked and didnt help the team what so ever. but lets not talk about those cause gillis is god
 
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The same reason Burke doesn't have a job with a team.....their drafting sucks but to be fair Burke did draft the Sedins and Kesler but later on Burke was a disaster in drafting during his time in Anaheim and Toronto where such superstars such as Logan MacMillan and Tyler Biggs were drafted with the only great success in the draft being Rielly in Toronto.

Isn't Gillis the reason Vancouver didn't get more for Kesler ? I remember the trade not happening because of him & Ducks would have given up more to have him for the 2014 playoffs. Just months later the trade happened after Gillis was fired and Kesler had less value because he was acquired after the playoffs were over.
 
Leafmealone11 said:
Take throwing out offer sheets like a drunk spiteful kid and running around screaming about tampering, throw in some of the worst drafting ever like you stated and a lot of crappy Signings and trades..

I don’t think he is a big target
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That tampering was a real thing and I can only imagine the temper tantrum that Burke would have had if it went the other way. I don’t know what opportunities have come his way, but I know he wanted to stay on the west coast and lives in Victoria.
 
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He is an asshole. Believes he is the smartest guy in the room and wants people kiss his ring. He trears people poorly (and yes I witnessed it first hand) who work in customer service. I was eating with my girlfriend in Yale town when he came with a group of people and made people change tables, snapped his fingers and was just a jerk to everyone
 
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archangel2 said:
He is an asshole. Believes he is the smartest guy in the room and wants people kiss his ring. He trears people poorly (and yes I witnessed it first hand) who work in customer service. I was eating with my girlfriend in Yale town when he came with a group of people and made people change tables, snapped his fingers and was just a jerk to everyone
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this sounds like bs
 
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TheNewEra said:
Chayka, Dubas and Snow are new/have only had that one job so far

Chiarelli got another job because he won the cup with the bruins. A cup buys a lot of good will and more job opportunities see Dave Tallon.

Gilles' bad outweighs the good and im sure the ego factor does not help his cause
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Not trying to be an ass here, but who isDave Tallon? Are you trying to say Dale Tallon and messed up (we all make mistakes)? Or is this someone I have never heard of?
 
I heard a fairly substantive rumour that Ottawa was interested in him as President and CEO of the team but that he wanted a single year contract (to try it out) and complete autonomy from team ownership (re: Melnyk) which just isn't going to happen.

Interestingly, I heard this from someone who knows Gillis as opposed to the Ottawa-based rumour mill.
 
archangel2 said:
He is an asshole. Believes he is the smartest guy in the room and wants people kiss his ring. He trears people poorly (and yes I witnessed it first hand) who work in customer service. I was eating with my girlfriend in Yale town when he came with a group of people and made people change tables, snapped his fingers and was just a jerk to everyone
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Arrogance is an ugly trait.........others talk. For a guy who accomplished nothing of note, he did really think he was all that.....I would think the hockey circle being a small one, was not impressed.
Will he resurface, probably at some point, but right now he is probably eating some of his own crow.
 
Thought Gillis would've worked the best in Ottawa, but I think the team that'd fit him best right now is either New Jersey, Buffalo or Florida.
 
FreeMcdavid said:
Here is a quick snip-it of Gillis's resume.

-Gillis was the Executive of Year winner in 2011, over the likes of Yzerman, Poille.
-He was the architect of 2 President Trophy Winners
- Built a team that was 1 win away from a Stanley Cup
- Made great signings like Hamhuis and Malhotra
- great trade like 9th overall for cory schneider, then drafted bo horvat
- No name prospect patrick white for Christian Ehrhoff
- Jacob Markstrom for Roberto Luongo
- He was considered a top agent before becoming a GM
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he did? the Sedins, Luongo, Kesler, Edler, Burrows, Bieksa....basically the entire core...were already there before he arrived
he made some tweaks and added some pieces but nothing Earth-shattering
 
He has gone on record saying he isn’t interested in becoming a GM but is more interested in the analytics/off the ice side of things
 
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