It was only Friday where it was stated here that Vancouver Canucks ownership was wrong to — according to reliable sources — have heavily influenced the hiring of head coach John Tortorella last June and essentially not allow their general manager Mike Gillis to do his job and hire coach that fit the mold and philosophy of the team he had built. The feel here was and still is that the Tortorella-Gillis partnership was never going to work because it never should’ve been formed to begin with. It was also made clear and is still the belief that some of Gillis’ moves over the last three seasons did warrant dismissal. But if the Aquilini Brothers, who own the Canucks, didn’t see it fit to fire Gillis when he completely botched the goaltending situation by not trading Roberto Luongo to the Toronto Maple Leafs when a deal was reportedly in place only to then trade the younger star in waiting Cory Schneider to the New Jersey Devils at the draft and then end up trading Luongo to the Florida Panthers at the 2014 NHL Trade Deadline, then why now?
Why? Because they were never really giving Gillis another chance and that backfired on them this season as the Tortorella experiment went horribly wrong and the Canucks will now miss the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. But rather than acknowledge their mistakes and fire Tortorella and even Gillis, they decided to make Gillis the scape goat completely as they relieved him of his duties as President and GM of the team Tuesday but kept Tortorella as coach. But the state of denial didn’t stop there as Vancouver Province Canucks writer Jason Botchford reported on “The Montreal Forum” Tuesday that the Aquilini Brothers had filed libel complaints against two Vancouver based reporters for reporting exactly what was reported here and is well known across the NHL that they played a major role in the Tortorella hiring and have been meddling in hockey decisions instead of letting Gillis do his job.
Rumors circulated throughout the day Tuesday that former Canucks player and fan favorite Trevor Linden would be named President of the team but Linden claimed that no offer had been made yet. That actually wouldn’t be a bad move at all as it would satisfy a livid and frustrated fan base and also bring in a smart hockey man in Linden. But the biggest question remaining would be a.) would the Aquilini Brothers allow Linden and whatever GM he or they hired do their jobs and b.) what GM is going to want to walk into this mess right now? Surely not a proven one and maybe not even an up-and-comer like Bruins Assistant GM Jim Benning or Coyotes Assistant GM Brad Treliving, both hot commodities on the GM market right now. Whomever was interested in the job would want to know that they along with Linden — if he was hired — have complete autonomy.
The Aqulini Brothers need to look in the mirror now and admit their mistakes. Part of that will be eating the four remaining years on Gillis’ contract and quite possibly the same for Tortorella if he is fired and if the new GM wants to fire him, allowing him to. Part of that might also involve buyouts of under-performing veterans like forward David Booth or defenseman Jason Garrison and then allowing the new management to move players like forward Ryan Kesler or defensemen Alex Edler and Kevin Bieksa. Whatever happens itn must be management’s decision now.
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