[News] Mike Gillis fired. Linden named President. of Hockey Ops

[sureLoss]

6'2'' 200lbs is considered small?

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

6'2'' 200lbs is considered small?

Ah.. he seems smaller on the ice... but I stand corrected on the size.

[schteve_d]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Kinda sucks that the Canucks are making these necessary changes so soon. I was hoping they'd toil around for a couple years.

You spelt Oil wrong.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

I think people are a tad optimistic on Knight. He's 23.. the same age as Brodie and Bouma. If he was 20.. sure I'd say there's a bunch of development and improvement to come.

He looks like a guy who's too small/not physical enough to play bottom six and not talented enough to play top six.

Perhaps I'm wrong. I look at Granlund and I see NHLer, I look at Hanowski and Knight and see long shots.

(and please don't go with the do you watch the games... a difference of opinion doesn't equate to me not watching the games)

Just look at the flowers..

[liamenator]

Feaster's moves were pretty much a wash. Some good, some bad. The team he built is trending up, and there are lot of warm fuzzy feelings around here right now because they try really hard and they're overachieving. But they're still small and soft and they're still 26th in the league.

Even bracketing all of that, the reason Jay Feaster is not a good NHL General Manager is because he torpedoed his credibility around the league with a well-documented series of gaffes that were, and remain, totally inexcusable. He talks a lot about attention to detail, but it's something he clearly lacks; almost all of his mistakes have been administrative errors (Calgary) or cap-related miscalculations (Tampa).

He's perfect for Vancouver--just the kind of outside-the-box hire they love to make.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by devo22

Calgary had the worst prospect pool 3 or 4 years ago and that's hardly debatable. Go back and look at the prospect pool back then. Ryan Howse was a top 5 prospect in the organization, it was that shallow of a prospect pool.

And with the "young guys stepping into the lineup", I hardly talked about Giordano, Brodie and Backlund who were all established NHL players already. Monahan, Colborne, Byron, Wotherspoon, Granlund, Sven, Billins, Agostino, Hanowski, Knight, Cundari ... all brought in by Feaster.

Billins, cundari, hanowski? Every team in the league has borderline AHL/nhl players. Feaster should get no praise for them . The best part of Feaster was that he read the team wrong and got rewarded with a 6th overall pick, and traded 2 great players and received 2 additional 1sts. Basically flames got rewarded from his failure.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Billins, cundari, hanowski? Every team in the league has borderline AHL/nhl players. Feaster should get no praise for them . The best part of Feaster was that he read the team wrong and got rewarded with a 6th overall pick, and traded 2 great players and received 2 additional 1sts. Basically flames got rewarded from his failure.

Yeah, its kind of funny...... the best thing that ever happened to Feaster was that ROR failure. If that goes through? Maybe we end up keeping Iginla/Bouw, make a playoff push and fail, and most of those players aren't Calgary Flames.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Lanny'sDaMan

So we all saw the decline of the Canucks and a large number of fans I speak with all say this version of the Canucks seems to be on the exact trajectory the Flames were on back in 2010. I'm honestly amazed Gillis lasted this long. His seeming ineptitude in all things pertaining to hockey is well documented and hashed over by many media outlets.

So if we all saw this, and that far back too, how didn't Aquilini see this sooner? He's supposed to be a fairly astute businessman no?

Seems to me to be a case of not being able to see the forest, for all the trees. Things like this are always clearer at arms length. When you are in the asylum, no one thinks they're crazy. /Cliches

[Psytic]

I don't think Feaster deserves any credit. He himself admitted to leaning heavily on the scouts and Wiesbrod. So essentially his ONE job was probably negotiating trades and some contract law. The Iggy and Jbo trades show his negotiating skills and the RoR saga show his contract law skills. This is why he should never hold a GM position again.

[d_phaneuf]

Renaud Lavoie @renlavoietva · 4m ago
Can Bob Nicholson be the next Canucks president ? Could be another great candidate for the Vancouver team. #tvasports

TVA has broken every Canucks story the past 2 years, they have the building mic'd or something, so this could have legs

[Vinny01]

Feaster set the team up nicely for a rebuild. Burke inherited a team that was starting from scratch. Feaster drafted some very nice prospects but also built a very small team.

My biggest issue with him was the reputation the team seemed to have when he was in charge. They seemed to be a bit of a joke. The RoR offer sheet alone was reason enough. The whole way the Iginla trade went down looked bad in him too.

I think Feaster is a good fit if Vancouver wants to run on the treadmill for a couple years before bottoming out.

[Quincy Egg]

Originally Posted by Lanny'sDaMan

So we all saw the decline of the Canucks and a large number of fans I speak with all say this version of the Canucks seems to be on the exact trajectory the Flames were on back in 2010. I'm honestly amazed Gillis lasted this long. His seeming ineptitude in all things pertaining to hockey is well documented and hashed over by many media outlets.

So if we all saw this, and that far back too, how didn't Aquilini see this sooner? He's supposed to be a fairly astute businessman no?

What? The Flames went several years of just barely making the playoffs before making any significant change- not to mention the Jokinen trade hamstrung their prospect pool. The Canucks are making changes after one year of not making the playoffs and will likely end up with a pretty good draft pick when all is said and done.

The Canucks are not digging their heels in the sand like the Flames did.

[Lanny'sDaMan]

Originally Posted by Quincy Egg

What? The Flames went several years of just barely making the playoffs before making any significant change- not to mention the Jokinen trade hamstrung their prospect pool. The Canucks are making changes after one year of not making the playoffs and will likely end up with a pretty good draft pick when all is said and done.

The Canucks are not digging their heels in the sand like the Flames did.

What's that, a couple absolute robberies in both goaltender trades? Firing your president and gm? The Flames tried personnel changes in management and moved out players too. But they didn't go full rebuild until this year. Unless the Sedins and Bieksa are on their way out, then yes I stand by my statement of the Canucks are following the Flames path.

[d_phaneuf]

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/ni...n-could-be-gm/

According to a source close to the situation, former Hockey Canada president and CEO Bob Nicholson is at his home in Penticton, B.C., this evening and is negotiating with the Vancouver Canucks to become the next president of the team. It’s expected he’ll accept the job and there is mounting speculation that he’ll name former Canuck legend Trevor Linden to replace Mike Gillis as the team’s GM.
Nicholson did not respond to a voice and text message left for him by thn.com Tuesday night, but a source said he has been negotiating with Francesco Aquilini, the chairman of the Canucks, about becoming team president.
As soon as Nicholson announced his resignation from Hockey Canada last week, NHL teams were reportedly immediately in hot pursuit of him. He had reportedly already turned down the presidency of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment before the job was given to Tim Liewicke in 2013, and there is speculation that the Washington Capitals quickly made him an offer, which he also turned down.
It’s believed Nicholson most covets the Canucks job because he is a native of British Columbia and wants to spend more time with his family. It would be a perfect fit for the 60-year-old Nicholson, who is said to be more interested in new challenges than a big salary. It’s believed the Capitals offered Nicholson substantially more than the Canucks would pay him, but his heart is apparently with the Canucks.

[DOOM]

D Sedin, H Sedin, Kesler, Burrows, Higgins, Edler, Garrison, Hamhuis, Bieksa all have a form of NTC/NMC.

Even if the new GM moves some of the pieces they wont get full value.

[Violator]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/ni...n-could-be-gm/

Aquilini speaks tomorrow maybe hell be talking about the lawsuits he filed against the province.

[jschick88]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/ni...n-could-be-gm/

Ya I know it's McCown and Shannon and likely full of it but they said on PTS that Nicholson was in Boston today and off to Dallas tomorrow...

[moon]

Feaster made some low cost moves to bring in some okay bottom six/bottom pairing guys to fill out a rebuilding roster. Nothing wrong with that but hardly something to hang your hat on.

Outside of Monohan nobody he brought in looks like they are going to be top 6 and maybe 3 guys have an outside shot if everything works out for them (Sven, Johnny, Poirier/Klimchuk). Most of the young guys we have aren't good enough even for the bottom 6 on contending teams and haven't shown that they will be (Knight, Agostino, Hanowski, Cundari, Billins). Colborne, Russell, Wotherspoon, Granlund might be good 3/4th liners /bottom pairing d-men and there is always the chance someone surprises.

When you compare that to the opportunity the team had to unload guys for much bigger returns earlier and Feaster sitting on his hands instead and the downward trend his team have taken year to year both in his time in Calgary and TB it is mindblowing to think someone would want him as GM.

It seems the best thing people can point to about Feaster is things that may happen in the future while there is a laundry list of awful moves from his TB and Calgary positions that actually happened to indicate he is an awful GM.

I can understand why Flames fans who are homers and want those decisions to turn out for their benefit would be willing to look at those possibilities favorably but it is hard to understand why a fan of another fanbase with no bias or investment would look at Feaster's history and say I hope that is what happens to my team.

[Erick Estrada]

Linden as GM? Big LOL to that. Didn't think it was possible but that hiring will actually put the MacTavish hiring in a more positive light in comparison.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Quincy Egg

What? The Flames went several years of just barely making the playoffs before making any significant change- not to mention the Jokinen trade hamstrung their prospect pool. The Canucks are making changes after one year of not making the playoffs and will likely end up with a pretty good draft pick when all is said and done.

The Canucks are not digging their heels in the sand like the Flames did.

Let's wait until the Canucks actually make changes, and see what they are, before we start declaring them having it all figured out.


In 2009-10, the Flames started the season well and were fighting for first overall for a while, then, they went into a tailspin in January, just before the Olympics and barely missed the playoffs for the first time in years. Sutter wasn't fired, but Feaster was brought in to assist him, and was eventually replaced just after Christmas, 2010.


So, right now, the only difference between the 2010 Flames and the 2014 Canucks is that the Canucks actually cut Gillis loose at the end of the season, rather than a couple months into the next season. How much of a difference that will make is still to be seen.



They're still stuck with a lot of long-term big-money contracts. Can they move those deals, or do they try to bolster the line-up to give the Sedins their chance at the Cup, like the Flames did with Iginla?