Vancouver Canucks' Fans Against Mike Gillis

Mike Gillis has been the Canucks' GM since 2008, and during his tenure the Canucks have had some of the most successfull seasons in team history. The Gillis Era included a run all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, 2 President's Trophies, scoring titles for the Sedins and Jennings' Awards for Schneider and Luongo. Gillis has retained the core that he was provided by Nonis, and has actually signed them to great contracts when compared to other players across the league. However, the no-trade-clauses he has been handing out like candy have come back to bite the team in the ass. Luongo had way too much say in the team he went to, as did Kesler and Edler.

After the aganozingly close to winning the Stanley Cup run of 2011 things appeared to take a turn in Vancouver. The following 2 seasons were ended abruptly with first round playoff exits to the Kings and Sharks. Secondary scoring was identified as a key problem by most, especially based on the fact that the Sedins were getting older and needed help. Then there was the little issue in net. The Canucks were faced with the unfortunate problem of having Luongo signed for his entire career, while also having the young emerging Schneider on the team. This led to the biggest soap opera in the NHL as the team had to deal with a goaltending controversy for the better part of 3 years.  The Canucks appeared to have placed all eggs in the Schneider basket, but then ended up moving him at the NHL Draft to New Jersey for a pick that turned into Bo Horvat. This was one of the moves that had fans shaking their heads at Gillis.  The fact that he could not move Luongo at the deadline prior to the draft was astonishing.  There were numerous offers floating around, but Gillis felt the return was not enough and did not pull the trigger on the deal. To turn around and deal Schneider when all roads looked to point to Luongo leaving the team was simply amazing. In fact, the Acquilinis had to fly to Florida to mend the relationship with Luongo so he would come back to the team.

As we are all aware, Gillis has shit the bed on the goaltending issue. He has just traded Luongo back to Florida for Markstrom and Matthias, which isn't a bad return, but leaves us all wondering why would you trade Schneider if you were going to burn bridges with Luongo in the first place. This mismanagement has undoubtedly left the Canucks as a laughing stock to the rest of the league, and one has to wonder how this makes the organization look in the eyes of other free agents.  Will they think twice about signing with the Canucks if Gillis is still in charge?

Gillis has taken the stance of sitting around and doing nothing rather than making the big bold moves a team needs to make before their core group gets too old to win the Cup.  Alex Edler is another great example. Goal scoring is an issue with the Canucks, but rather than trade Edler before his NTC kicked in, Gillis decided to stand by and do nothing. 

Then there are the actual moves Gillis has made.  Two of the worst trades would have to both be with the Florida Panthers (it appears the Panthers are the only team Gillis can make trades with). The first trade involved trading away one of our best dynamic offensive prospects in Michael Grabner for a package that included the now bought out Keith Ballard. Whereas Grabner erupted for a 40 goal season in New York, Ballard was quickly hated by AV and a waste of space on the blueline. The second Florida trade involved fan not-favourite, and future buyout candidate David Booth. Fortunately the Canucks did not give up any great assets here, but they have been handcuffed by Booth's large contract, and could have spent the money on a better asset.

In summary, Gillis has shown that he does not have the guts to make big deals and too many times in his tenure has stood by rather than make big moves. This is not the type of management the Canucks need in place as we go through this inevitable rebuild or retool. The success the Canucks have achieved during his time as GM can all be attributed to the team Nonis has built. 

Enough is enough, we do not want Mike Gillis in Vancouver any longer.