Mike Gillis and The Myth of Success

The roster move to send down Jordan Schroeder from the Vancouver Canucks back to the AHL looks to be a rather innocuous move. After all it’s the final cut of a training-camp in a lockout shortened season. It’s easy for a simple move like that to get lost in the shuffle. But what does Jordan Schroeder not making this team in his 4^th professional season mean for the Vancouver Canucks?

The life of a General Manager is defined by the moves you make and the success you have. If you need any evidence of that being true, just look at the recent Brian Burke firing from the Toronto Maple Leafs. While it could be determined that Burke’s bluster and bravado got him shown the door, the case could just as easily be made that no playoff appearances along with his tenure defined by the Phil Kessel trade are adequate reasons for his current state of employment.

With injuries to Ryan Kesler and David Booth, the focal point of the Canucks training camp has been the team’s lack of secondary scoring. Mason Raymond has been given one final shot at securing a place on this team and given a 2^nd line role and during camp was the only player with any experience in that slot, albeit in limited time with Alain Vigneault’s constant line juggling. That left Andrew Ebbett and Jordan Schroeder to compete for the two spots left open by the prolonged absences of Kesler & Booth. With seemingly two spots available on the 2^nd line it seemed as if Jordan Schroeder might finally make the club after 4 seasons. And yet, he’s been sent down highlighting a troubling trend with Mike Gillis draft picks.

Gillis has gone through 5 drafts as the Canucks GM, picking 30 players during that stretch. Total man games? 94. And that’s being kind because I’m giving him the 17 Canucks games from Zach Kassian as a result of the Cody Hodgson trade. Ninety-Four! The current Canucks lineup is screaming for secondary scoring, the best and cheapest way to remedy the scenario is to look at your organizational depth and see who is ready to be the next man up. The cupboard showed only Jordan Schroeder, who was drafted four seasons ago and couldn’t beat 30 year old journeyman Andrew Ebbett out for a 2^nd line role on a roster with two significant injuries.

How is it that that Jordan Schroeder was the only option available when two players went down? Mike Gillis and the Vancouver Canucks have experienced tremendous success over the past 4 years. But is this clubs success his to claim, or has the Canucks success masked his overall contribution to the roster?

Let’s examine Mike Gillis’ history as Vancouver Canucks General Manager.

The Draft:

Again as described above 94 man games have come from Gillis draft picks. Some of the most notable draftees are Cody Hodgson, Yann Sauve, Jordan Schroeder, Anton Rodin, Kevin Connauton, Nicklas Jensen, Frankie Corrado and now we’re including Zach Kassian just to be kind. While some talent is located in this group, it’s still only produced 94 games, most of which have come from Cody Hodgson 72 with the Canucks. It’s all well and good to preach the “talent is on its way” defence, but that works better when you’re the Edmonton Oilers in the middle of a substantial rebuild rather than the position the Canucks find themselves in.

Gillis’ draft failures might best be showcased in the dubious honour of being the first NHL team to be without a draft pick in Rounds 1, 2, and 3 as was the case in 2010. This was the draft that The Canucks traded for Keith Ballard giving up the 25^th pick overall, Michael Grabner (who went onto a Calder nominee season) and Steve Bernier. The 25^th overall pick turned out to be bright forward prospect Quinton Howden and perhaps more egregious is that the 26^th pick was Evgeny Kuznetsov, who is most famous for torching Team Canada 2 years running en route to winning Gold Medals in back to back years at the World Junior Hockey Championships, and the 28^th pick Charlie Coyle, 2 of the best forward prospects in the game. I know it can be relatively easy to play the “What If?” game but these aren’t even remotely stretches. These were moves staring them in the face, and the Ballard move was to acquire a 5^th defenseman. Ballard has since seen the likes of Aaron Rome, Chris Tanev and Andrew Alberts jump ahead of him on the depth chart and is a buyout candidate at the end of the season.

After 5 seasons of draft picks, Gillis should have more pieces available for the coaching staff than just Jordan Schroeder to fill vacant slots in an opening day lineup.

Free Agency:

Gillis’ free agency record started with much publicity as his first big move was the signing of Mats Sundin. A pro-rated $8.6 million deal which saw Sundin join the Canucks mid-way through the season. While it wasn't a catastrophic mess, the team hardly saw adequate return for the money that was being paid to Sundin.

The Manny Malhotra signing has proven to be a good piece of business at the time, and although it’s impossible to predict an injury like which Malhotra suffered, the $2.5 million cap hit is a bit much now for a 4^th line center. Of course Malhotra could return to form and recapture a 3^rd line role, making that cap hit much more feasible.

At the time the term for Dan Hamhuis’ contract seemed to be perfect value. As it turns out $4.5 million for Dan Hamhuis is a relative bargain. But make no mistake, Hamhuis wanted to play in Vancouver. Hamhuis was given offers as high as $5 million a year for as long as seven years. Having Hamhuis be a BC Boy made this negotiation go a lot easier.

We have yet to see what Jason Garrison can do as a Vancouver Canuck but currently he is set to make $4.6 for the next 6 seasons. Jason Garrison’s NHL resume is highlighted by his once season performance of 16 goals and 33 points last season.  That was his breakout year, he is now 28.

Trades:

Perhaps Gillis’ best trade was a case of being at the right place at the right time. Trading for Christian Ehrhoff turned out to be a clever piece of work but Gillis had the good fortune that San Jose was looking to offload salary immediately to bolster their chances to acquire Dany Heatley from Ottawa. Also Christian Ehrhoff is no longer with the team but since no significant pieces were given up in this transaction we’ll move on.

Maxim Lappiere was a deadline day acquisition in a move that was very low-risk, high-reward and has proven to be successful.

Chris Higgins also was a deadline day acquisition. Gillis gave up a 3^rd round pick to the Florida Panthers and that pick will be used in 2013.

I dissected the Keith Ballard trade above and each passing day that trade looks worse and worse.

David Booth is currently injured but he was acquired in a trade by Gillis. While the value in the deal seems to have made sense, the production from Booth hasn’t been seen, and with a price of $4.25 million over the next 3 years.... It would be nice to see some return on that investment which has spent an increasingly large amount of time on the injury report. But even when healthy Booth’s contribution was muted at best so this season was set to be his audition as well.

And then we get to Cody Hodgson-Zach Kassian trade. This will perhaps define The Mike Gillis era the most (up until a Luongo trade). Hodgson was the 1^st draft pick by Mike Gillis. A center billed as a leader, a future captain and a star in the making with credentials (WJHC Gold Medal Winner, CHL Player of the Year). The way this story ends won’t be told until the careers of Hodgson and Kassian develop, however as it stands right now, Cody Hodgson could have played a significant role on the Canucks current depth chart.

Some of these trades are pieces of good work, but all of these trades have netted 0 pieces towards the Canucks core group of players.

Re-Signings:

Alex Burrows: 4 years $8 Million.

Daniel & Henrik Sedin: 5 years $30.5 Million.

Ryan Kesler: 6 years $30 Million.

Kevin Bieksa: 5 years $23 Million.

Cory Schneider: 3 years $12 Million.

Here is where Gillis has in fact shown his best value, as a contract negotiator. All of these deals are tremendous value against league market. But do you notice something about every player listed above? Not one of them is a Gillis acquisition. All were here prior to Gillis’ arrival.

And there is 1 re-signing missing in that list, and it’s Roberto Luongo: 12 years, $64 million. A contract that will also define the Gillis era. The trials and tribulations from Luongo’s time in Vancouver won’t be discussed here, however the contract remains an albatross on the teams salary cap and it is Mike Gillis who placed it there. He made this bed, and is now trying to persuade someone else to sleep in it. The emergence of Schneider along with Luongo publicly on the market, this situation and contract gets more awkward by the day. This 1 contract stands out against the rest but Gillis' skill to negotiate successful contracts has been shown, but as a talent evaluator - there is a lot left to be desired.

Of course trading Roberto Luongo could be another remedy to fix the secondary scoring issue. A deal involving Luongo would recoup assets for the teams overall depth. Some of the pieces could help now and add to the core of the team. Pulling the trigger on a Luongo trade is going to happen – but what exactly has General Manager Mike Gillis done to prove that he should really be the one to hold the gun?

Quick take on the NFL Conference Championship... Home team in CAPS:

FALCONS (+4) over 49ers

You’re never as bad as your worst game and you’re never as good as your best game. The Falcons couldn’t have played a worse half against the Seahawks and got away with it. The 49ers looked dominant against the Packers. You’re never as good as your best game.

Ravens (+8) over PATRIOTS

Too many points available here for the Ravens that can attack the Patriots with their biggest weakness, throwing it deep. Not to mention they match up remarkably well. Don’t forget, Ravens were 1 stripped pass away from playing the Giants in the Super Bowl last year instead of the Patriots.

Last Week: 1-3

Season: 130-128-3