To start off today, did you see the news of this protest outside Rogers Arena before Tuesday's game? This group was handing out "Fire Gillis" T-shirts!
— Ufcvancouverbctrevor (@Ufcvancouverbc) April 2, 2014
This is getting ugly.
Mike Gillis was on TEAM1040 this morning and was pretty straightforward about the issues at hand. Click here for the complete audio, which is about 15 minutes long.
If you don't have time to listen to the whole thing, here are the key points:
He talks about the team's playing style, how it has deviated from the way he wants the team to play, and that we have the personnel to get back to that style. When asked what that means with regards to Torts:
On whether Torts will be back next season; @GMMikeGillis "I'm not sure I'll be back next season"
He says that everyone will be open for evaluation at the end of the year, including himself, but that he continues to have a clear vision of what he wants to do to get the team back on top.
He avoids blaming Torts' coaching style directly for the team's decline, saying the problems are far-reaching, but finishes his thought with this nugget: "If people don't want to get on side with how I view this team, then they won't be here."
When asked if the team has considered bringing in a general manager while he stays on as president, he says it hasn't been discussed, but that the job is "more than a full time job." He says that if reorganization is necessary for success, "that's what we're gonna do." So—sounds like it could be a possibility.
He says the team will continue to try to spend to the cap, provided it's "the right players and the right ages and the right positions."
No negotiations yet with this summer's restricted free agents, Zack Kassian and Chris Tanev, but Gillis speaks highly of both. "We have lots of cap space to get those guys signed and we're confident we're going to be able to do it."
He was asked about the webcast that he promised to do for season ticket holders shortly after the trade deadline, and had to do a bit of a dance. Said that, depending how things go for the rest of the week, he'll do it next week—which sounds like he's now waiting till the team is officially mathematically eliminated.
(And yes, the season-ticket holder renewal packages were sent out. According to this story from News1130.com, this year's renewal deadline has been pushed up to next week—April 9, to be exact. Fans will need to decide whether to get back on board before this sorry season is even over.)
Gillis praises Eddie Lack, and says that Jacob Markstrom also has tremendous potential. "I feel strongly that we have two guys that are in their prime...If we had given Eddie any run support this season, he'd be a nominee for the Calder."
He says that Markstrom will start a game before the end of the season—that the decision on his readiness will be Rollie Melanson's, but that he's "getting there. We have a lot of faith in this guy. We will see him before the season ends."
To conclude, "We're gonna get back to the fundamentals and the principles that I believe in, and that's how we're gonna play. If people don't want to comply...those hard choice are going to come again if we don't get back on the same page."
Hey Bro Jake—good job asking the followup question, "What are those principles?"
"I want us to play upbeat, puck possession, move the puck quickly, force the other team into mistakes, high transition game...That's the way we played. We made a lot of enemies, but we had the success."
Pretty hard not to assume that he's pointing the finger at Torts here—and that management has given him some directives he hasn't followed that go beyond "Don't storm the other team's dressing room."
It sounds to me like there has been some friction through the year—that Torts has been asked to do things that haven't come to pass. Some of that could be the work schedule he laid out earlier in the year, with the lack of practice and abundance of days off, or it could just be about the disconnect with the team's on-ice style.
I'd stop short of saying that Gillis has given management a "him or me" ultimatum, but for all his humility in saying that he might be the one to go, he comes back pretty strong when he says "my way or the highway." I don't think Gillis really believes he's going anywhere.
Meanwhile, stoic captain Henrik Sedin insists on shouldering the blame for the bad season, saying it's not the coach's fault. He also says that he and Daniel will be back, ready to get their revenge, next season.
Like most of you, I'm sure, I love the idea of the Canucks getting back to their old style. Those games were a lot more fun to watch—not just because we were winning.
My question for Gillis: do we really have the personnel to do it?
If he gets a chance to continue re-tooling the team's personnel this summer, he's going to have to be pretty adept at slotting in younger players who can start playing key roles and take some of that pressure off the Sedins and the rest of the aging core.
The Red Wings make it look so easy when Gustav Nyqvist explodes offensively just as they need someone to step up and fuel their playoff push. Can the Canucks follow a similar path?
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