PHOENIX — Let’s be diplomatic and say the origins of the relationship were unconventional.
Francesco Aquilini was still in a massive lawsuit over the Vancouver Canucks when he hired Mike Gillis as the team’s general manager in the spring of 2008. Gillis, for his part, had moved to Vancouver some months before and wasn’t exactly in demand as a potential NHL general manager.
The pair were brought together, in part, by the unlikely combination of former Canuck and Gillis client Geoff Courtnall and The Province’s Tony Gallagher. And when Aquilini fired Dave Nonis as the Canucks’ GM, he interviewed one candidate and one candidate only for one of the most coveted jobs in hockey.
Unconventional? That’s putting it mildly. A blueprint for success? Well, it was original. But almost three years after their relationship was forged, Aquilini and Gillis now stand at the core of the NHL’s best team and, together, they’ve transformed the franchise.
In the end, you can question how it all happened, and the jury is still out on some aspects of Gillis’s administration. What’s beyond dispute, however, is the level of trust Aquilini has invested in Gillis and the resources he’s placed at his disposal.
“No one has carte blanche,” Aquilini said during the team’s current road trip. “But he’s been placed in control of the hockey operations and I don’t think I’ve said no to him yet.”
And that trust is reflected in the NHL standings.
“I think Scotty Bowman said the greatest thing he had in his career was solid ownership,” said Gillis. “I have to agree with him. The luxury we have here is we have people who are committed to winning and who are prepared to look at things differently.
“I think it’s the greatest strength we have. [Aquilini] will do anything to help us win.”
Three years in, there is much about Gillis’s organization that requires a leap of faith. You have to believe, for example, that sleep doctors and sports psychologists make a difference. You have to believe that the analytics and Moneyball principles he employs give the Canucks a competitive advantage. And you have to believe the prospects he’s assembled will step into the team’s lineup and keep the train rolling.
It also helps if you believe the Mats Sundin signing was a seminal moment for the new Canucks. Gillis clings to that belief. “It legitimized the organization as a place where a top player wanted to play,” he says.
But the veracity of that position isn’t the issue here. What’s important is Aquilini has fully endorsed Gillis’s vision for the team and backed it up with his cheque book, changing the look and feel of the Canucks in the process.
The new locker room, the new computerized video system and the expanded scouting staff all cost money. You can be damn sure the new practice facility planned for the Plaza of Nations will cost money, as well.
And Aquilini hasn’t blinked when he’s been handed the bill. The Canucks’ payroll, for example, is listed at just over $59 million for salary-cap purposes, but the actual amount Aquilini forks out for players is closer to $70 million.
It’s the totality of the operation that has revitalized the Canucks, and the root of the reform is the bedrock principle that any tool will be examined in the pursuit of winning, irrespective of the cost.
Gillis believes the players respond to that approach both inside and outside the Canucks’ organization. That belief, you need to know, doesn’t require a leap of faith to accept.
“The plan was to re-invest in areas that had either been neglected or never fully developed,” said Gillis. “I thought Vancouver was never on the A-list of teams and to get on that A-list we had to do things differently. We had to make sure people knew they’d be coming to a place that was dedicated to winning. That was the key message, and the strategy hasn’t changed.”
Neither has Aquilini’s faith in his man. The owner stuck his neck out when he made the hire three years ago and, if it wasn’t exactly hailed as a master stroke then, opinions have since gone through some revision.
“People were questioning it at the beginning,” said Aquilini. “This is the business we’re in. People criticize. That’s OK. If I was wrong, I’d have to deal with it.
“It was a big decision but, in the end, it was our money at stake. I’m very confident and I believe in my ability. The difference is nobody sees it in the business world.”
But they’re seeing it now in the hockey world, right at the top of the NHL standings.
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