News Article: Gillis looking to return to NHL...

[Blitz]

Mike Gillis ready to return to NHL, but not as general manager - Sportsnet.ca

I Really think this is EXACTLY the type of guy the Sabres need as a 'President of Hockey Operations' going forward (if not already promised to Ralph) - maybe Gillis is not a perfect fit, but he has done every job in hockey, & certainly knows his stuff - Could act as a capable General & liason between the Pegulas & the actual day-to-day operations of the team they seem so disinterested in.

An Ops guy at the top of the tree would also be able to hold the GM and everybody else in the chain accountable.

Would ideally love Lou Lamoriello, but as he's already taken we could also look to a straight laced guy like Doug Risebrough, Paul Holmgren or even Brian Burke to potentially turn around out this crap pile of an organization if Gillis doesn't float your boat... Ultimately we need an experienced leader at the top of the pyramid & Kim isn't it....

Thoughts?

Click to read more...

 

[My Cozen Dylan]

Sure, why not?

 

[beerme1]

Wait didn't this guy ruin Vancouver? I mean we're already ruined we don't need even more ruining I think.

 

[Blitz]

Wait didn't this guy ruin Vancouver? I mean we're already ruined we don't need even more ruining I think.

If by 'ruin' you mean a cup appearance and 2 presidents trophies...?

 

[Buffaloed]

His drafting was terrible. He left nothing for the future. His bumbling of the Luongo situation, which was of his own creation, was Botterillesque. They went from having among the best goaltending in the league to garbage overnight. He finished his tenure by hiring a coach, Tortorella, whose style of play was totally different than what the Canucks had been playing. He destroyed the culture of the Canucks. Maybe he learned from those experiences, but one thing that isn't going to change is his personality. He's one of the most condescending and smug people. He's incredibly arrogant and goes on the defensive when asked innocuous questions. It's evident to me from the article cited in the original post that Mike Gillis is still full of himself.

 

[Chainshot]

His on-ice team may have won, but man... his drafting was shit akin to Regier video scouting era shit.

 

[Jim Bob]

I'll just leave this here.

And as far as his prior results, he has both positives and negatives on his resume.

It's all about whether he has learned from his past and gotten better. Or not.

Just look at GMGM. Plenty of people laughed at Vegas when they hired him. Then a lot of people laughed after the expansion draft with some of the moves that he made.

And then they went on to have the best first season ever.

I have no idea if Gillis would be able to fix things here. But, I would have a lot more confidence about the medium-term future of the on-ice product if they announced that the org structure was going to be something like Kim Pegula being the COO with Russ Brandon being the Pres of Business Ops and Mike Gillis being the Pres of Hockey Ops and Gillis has pretty much free reign to improve things on the hockey side of the house.