Quote:
Originally Posted by pastarocket
Let's shift the discussion towards the guy who caused this whole goaltender mess in the first place: "bold moves" Mike Gillis.
How the heck do you get to keep your job as the Canucks GM after signing a good goaltender in Luongo to a lengthy contract, AND a no trade clause? Talk about not knowing how to manage your team's salary structure.
Gillis restricts the team's ability to see big free agent players in the offseason because of such crazy contracts. It's doesn't take an "cap-ologist" to figure out that salary cap is harder to manage when you sign a player to such a lengthy contract.
Did this guy not foresee the NHL salary cap going down in future years?
What kind of bold moves has MG done to add legitimate, top 6 forwards at their prime or near the prime of their careers in order to give this team offensive depth?
David Booth? If the guy shot pucks like the way he shoots animals, he would be a decent power forward. Mats Sundin? He was past his prime when Gillis signed him to play here.
Trading Schneider to New Jersey for the 9th pick in the draft? -possibly a Cam Neely moment. New Jersey's GM fleeces Gillis.
It just boggles the mind how Gillis still has a job with the Canucks.  |
I feel like there is just so much wrong with a lot of the things you said here.
How the heck do you get to keep your job as the Canucks GM after signing a good goaltender in Luongo to a lengthy contract, AND a no trade clause? Talk about not knowing how to manage your team's salary structure.
You do realize that the owner has to agree to this kind of thing, it's not like Gillis just does it, and if Aquilini doesn't like it, he fires him. Lu's cap hit is 5.3m, which is not ridiculously high for a goalie of his calibre, and at the time of it's signing, everyone in the league was doing these stupidly long front loaded contracts.
More often than not, signing "big" free agents isn't how you build a cup winning team.
Did this guy not foresee the NHL salary cap going down in future years?
If that's really an argument, the same can be said for GM's all across the league. At the current time, via Capgeek, there are 10 teams with less cap space than the Canucks. Further, the cap is supposed to be going back up next year.
What kind of bold moves has MG done to add legitimate, top 6 forwards at their prime or near the prime of their careers in order to give this team offensive depth?
Booth had a decent first season coming off of injury, and if he had played the full year he would have projected to have 40ish points with 20+ goals. Not too bad. He had some freak injuries last year and has yet to play a full season, and could do great under a new coach.
Sundin did alright for us and like someone said, all it cost was money, so it wasn't a terrible signing. People seem to forget he added pieces like Torres, Lapierre, Higgins, Ehrhoff, Samuelsson, Hamhuis, Malhotra - all which were vital pieces in our 2011 cup run. If we had won that game 7, this discussion wouldn't be happening.
Trading Schneider to New Jersey for the 9th pick in the draft? -possibly a Cam Neely moment. New Jersey's GM fleeces Gillis.
Bo Horvat projects to be a very, very good player, and if he turns out anything like Bergeron, I can't say we got fleeced. Could he have gotten more for Schneider? Maybe, but he did the best he could have at the time. Obviously the situation wasn't handled very well, but I certainly wouldn't say we got fleeced. Trading into the top 10 of a deep draft isn't an easy thing to do. Cory Schneider is 27 and isn't even a bonafide starter yet, and has had no playoff success. I don't doubt he will be a very good goalie, but you have to take these things into account.
I would have rather traded Cory for assets as opposed to giving away Lu for nothing. Let's be honest, the window for us winning the cup is very slim now, and we acquired some assets that should be ready to make a big impact by the time that window should be closed. Maybe that gives us the chance to continue being a competitive team. Cory is also a UFA in 2 years, and if he plays spectacular, what kind of money will he want then?
It's easy to point out the negative things that have happened, but there have been a lot of positives as well.