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WAR OF WORDS: CANUCKS COACH REPROACH?

Ny

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Gillis the route of
the problem

By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

t the year-end press

conference, the red-faced,
tired-looking Mike Gillis
addressed the media with a line
of frustration that endured his
voice. Question after question,
Gillis answered and made
excuses for the reasons why the
Canucks were stunned in the
first round of the playoffs; not
once did he accept responsibility
for the failings of his team. He
blamed it on a lockout season,
nagging injuries to key players,
and the way that the game has
changed in today’s NHL. It was
pathetic seeing him shoulder his
blame onto mere shortcomings
that piled up over the course of
the season.

He stated at the trade
deadline, after acquiring
Derek Roy, that you need great
goaltending and a lot of luck

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to win the Stanley Cup. But
looking at the playoffs this year,
the four teams in the Western
and Eastern finals are the past
four Stanley Cup champions.
I wouldn’t say that’s lucky,
they’re just that good of teams.
The recent firing of Head
Coach Alain Vigneault seems
to be the beginning of the end
of Gillis’ final moves with this
organization if he doesn’t turn
the team around this season.
The expected and predictable
decision came nearly three
weeks after the Canucks were
eliminated by the San Jose
Sharks in the quarterfinals of
the post-season which speaks
loads in terms of how slowly
decisions are made for this team
under Gillis’ guidance. His
predictability and lack of guts
is why the Canucks are in the
position they’re in right now.
Anew coach should have
been a given after the early exit
in the first round of the playoffs
to the LA Kings last year. A
team that finished first overall
in the NHLin consecutive
years and went to game seven

of the Stanley Cup Finals loses
in six games to L.A. in the first
round? That is unacceptable,
especially in a hockey-mad city
like Vancouver. But Gillis kept
Vigneault and look where it led
this Canucks squad—another
early exit in the first round.

A wasted year. However, the
blame doesn’t rest in Vigneault’s
hands. The man was a class

act coach who got the Canucks
within one game of winning

the Stanley Cup. But after seven
seasons players begin to tune
out the voice they’ve been
listening to for so long. It’s as
simple as that. His time had
come. Even the greatest coaches
of all time go from team-to-
team. There just needs to be a
change, a new voice in the room
with a different approach to the
game and players.

For Vigneault’s sake, Gillis
didn’t make it any easier on
him after the Cup run two
years ago, regarding the players
he’s been given to play with.
Following the dreadful Stanley
Cup finals loss, Gillis failed to
resign juggernaut defensemen

 

Mike Gillis | Photo couretsy of Jason Payne/Vancouver Sun

Christian Ehrhoff, pesky-
forward Raffi Torres, traded
Mikael Samuelsson for David
Booth (a complete bust), and
shipped out their best prospect
in years, Cody Hodgson for
Zack Kassian (another complete
bust). Not to mention the whole
Roberto Luongo dilemma,
which Gillis failed to take care
of last year and this past trade
deadline. The truth of the matter
is Gillis has made this team
worse than they were when they
competed deep into the playoffs
during that magical 2011 run,
so how can you expect them to
be nearly as successful when
they don’t have the tools? The
only effective and strong player
that Gillis has brought into this
squad in the past two years is
defensemen Jason Garrison—
and that’s not saying a whole
lot.

A coach can only do so
much with the same group of
players, year after year. There
needs to be some sort of gutsy
decisions and risks that the GM
has to take in order to improve
their team. That's their job.

This offseason Gillis
must address the goaltending
situation. There’s no way Cory
Schneider and Luongo are going
to be sharing the same net next
season, which means either
unloading Luongo and his 12-
year contract (another huge
mistake by the GM) or trading
away the highly sought-after
Schneider who could bring in
some key players in return. The
core needs a shakeup as well,
possibly getting rid of Ryan
Kesler or Alexander Edler for
some young talented players.
However, knowing Gillis and
his boring predictability, this
is very unlikely. I] wouldn't be
surprised if all he gets done is
the goaltending dilemma come
next season.

All eyes are on Gillis, as
this seems to be his final straw
before getting dumped.

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