Canucks' Gillis on Team 1040
/Canucks GM Mike Gillis was on Team 1040 radio Thursday morning and he was very candid with his answers.
On if he still enjoys working for the Canucks: "Yeah, yeah I do. I mean, no one is harder on myself than I am when it comes to our performance and we have passionate fans and they have every right to voice their displeasure with how we've performed this year.
"Sometimes it's borne out of a media frenzy because when you're down it's easy to kick people when they're down. You know, it's my responsibility to get us back on top and that's what I intend to do."
On the future of John Tortorella with this organization: "Well, John's a proven winner. He's a competitor. You know, this season has been difficult to describe and all the things that have happened and what we've endured that we certainly didn't anticipate.
"John, like myself and like everybody will go through a thorough evaluation at the end of the year and decisions will be made.
"The one thing, the running of the team is my responsibility and I really feel the last couple of seasons we've chased goal posts that have been moving and got away from our core principles of how I want this team to play and how we want to perform and the tempo that we want to play with, so, you know, people love to pick someone to blame but the reality is that as an organzation we've deviated from some of the things that made us successful and some of the things that I know will be successful and we're going to get back to those levels. We're going to get back to that style of play that we started six years ago and we have the personnel to do it and we just have to be committed and have the guts to be able to carry it out."
On if he expects Tortorella to be back next season: "Well, like I said David, I'm not sure if I'll be back next season."
Asked if he's serious that he might not be back next season: "Well, I think everyone is open for evaluation. We've had players that have severely underperformed. Our team has underperformed. I think that we're all open to evaluation and we all deserve evaluation and that's what going to come.
"Having said that, I have a career vision of where we had to go. I had one six years ago, I have one today that we have to execute on in order to compete for the Cup in the Western Conference and that's what I intend to do.
"I think it would be fair to say that we'll all be under scrutiny and evaluation come the end of this season which is deserved."
On Tortorella's style and a possible disconnect with the players: "Well, when you have an entire team's level of performance drop off there has to be reasons for it. Whether those things are attributable to one thing and one thing only is unlikely. I think it's a combination of things that have contributed to us not performing at a level that's expected and I think those things need to be addressed systematically and completely and turned around so that we can build the style of play and style of team that we want to have here.
"You know, John's an accomplished coach. Six years ago everyone thought Alain Vigneault couldn't change from a defensive style coach to an offensive style coach. If given the resources and if the players are committed to it, I think any coach can coach the team that he has.
"Having said that, our problems are far-reaching and they will be addressed and if people don't want to get on side with how I view this team and how it's supposed to play, then they won't be here, just like six years ago."
Gillis says he'll do the usual thorough review of everyone with ownership at the end of the season.
"We now have cap space, and that has been one of our strengths in using it."
On if he could bring in a general manager and just retain the presidency: "That hasn't been discussed. You know, the job here in Vancouver, as you guys know, is beyond a full-time job in terms of the responsibilities you have and the pressure and the scrutiny you have. I accept that, that's part of the job here. We have really good people that work for us. That hasn't been a consideration to date. Like I said, we're going to do anything I can to win the Stanley Cup. If that means sharing some roles, if that means reorganizing this place different, that's what we're going to do.
"I am not in this to hang around. I'm in it to win. We got in it to win six years ago. We came really close, but we didn't finish it off and my sole purpose here is to win. I'm prepared to do what it takes to do that."
On if the Canucks will still spend to the cap next year, given the current situation and with the cap going up: "We will try our hardest to spend to the cap, provided it's the right players and the right ages and the right positions.
"There's not going to be a ton of free agents out there, but we've managed to do well in the first week of July in the past four or five years. This year we got a couple of players that everyone discounted in Brad Richardson and Mike Santorelli and they ended up performing at the levels we expected.
"There will be opportunities. We'll have to see what's available when we get there, but we have the resources to spend to the cap we intend to do so, provided the right players are there."
On RFAs Zack Kassian and Chris Tanev, and if there have been initial contract negotiations: "Not yet, no. They're both restricted free agents and we like both of them tremendously.
"I think Zack is just scratching the surface of what he can do. His vision, his size, his toughness. Having played 12, 13 minutes this year, he's had a pretty good season and is tracking in the right direction.
"Chris Tanev, same thing. Chris is a very steady, reliable defenceman who we miss when he's injured and we're confident... we have lots of cap space to get those guys signed and we're confident we'll be able to do it."
On talking with Ryan Kesler about the future: "I'll do the same thing we do with every other player. We'll meet at the end of the season and talk about his goals and objectives and how he feels about things and we'll move on from there."
On goaltending: "You get people in Toronto who just love to carve the Vancouver Canucks and it's going to be unending, so we're used to it now, but it's unfortunate for a young guy like Eddie Lack because Eddie is a very special player. He's got great personality, he's got great size. His emergence allowed us to think a little differently about where we were going. I have great faith in him.
"I think Jacob Markstrom is another 24-year-old goalie who has all the attributes to be a top-flight goalie in the National Hockey League, so I feel strongly that we have two young guys who are in their prime. I hope our fans get behind them and support them.
"If we had given Eddie any run support this season, he would certainly be, in my mind, a nominee for the Calder. Probably wouldn't win it, but should be in consideration based on how he played. He's lost more one-goal games than any goalie in the league and he's second in the league in shutouts with half the games played, so I think this guy has a great opportunity. He wants to a Canuck and I would love to see people get behind him because he's a terrific young kid."
On if we'll see Markstrom start: "Yeah, we will. Rollie's goaltending coaching style is very specific and he works really hard with these young guys and he's determined that they get in when they've shown him enough in their fundamentals in practice to be ready to play and Jacob is getting there.
"We got him from a different organization that approaches it different than we did and we have a lot of faith in this guy. He's a competitor, he's huge, he's athletic and there's some things he needs to work on to reach the next level, but spent his time in the American Hockey League. He's now spending his time in practice here with a lot of hours, a lot of time with Rollie and he's really moving in the right direction so we will see him before the season ends."
On what he would say to the fans of this city if he could say one thing: "We've had a lot of success in the past and none of this sits well with me. It's been an incredibly frustrating season on a variety of different levels and for me, I'm committed to getting back to the levels that we expect. We have a plan to do it. We had a plan six years ago to do it and we got as close as we could get. We learned a lot of lessons from that and I'm tired of chasing a moving target. We're going to get back to the fundamentals and principles that I believe in and that's how we're going to play.
"Like I said, if people don't want to comply, we did this six years ago. We made hard choices and those hard choices are going to come again if we don't see people that get on the same page."
What is that vision?
"I want us to play upbeat, puck possession, move the puck quickly, force teams into mistakes, high-transition game and I think we have the personnel to do it. If we don't have the personnel to do it, they'll be changed.
"That's my vision, that's how I believe we're going to win in the Western Conference in the National Hockey League. If you look at the top teams in the West, there isn't a lot that separates any of the teams in the West - but the top teams play that way. That's the way we played and in playing that way we made a lot of enemies, but we had the success..."
Source: Team 1040 Radio