Confirmed with Link: Dave Gagner leaves the Canucks to join The Orr Hockey Group

[Pseudonymous*]

Jeff Paterson ‏@patersonjeff
I know Manny Malhotra wants to continue as a player, but maybe #Canucks should offer him Gagner's job in Player Development

It's not a bad suggestion if Manny can't get a job in the NHL.

 

[opendoor]

I think you overestimate the requirements of the Director of Player Development.

If the title is what it sounds like, who better than Manny Malholtra to fill that role? I mean this is a guy drafted high and had to re-mold himself into becoming a near-elite defensive forward before a freak eye-injury derailed his career. I think that alone is enough experience to be able to direct a teams' prospect development. I don't think you need to apprentice for something like that.

Maybe the job description is muddled by the perception that Gagner was a bit of a scout for us as well. That may be something Manny has to grow into, but as strictly a guy who prospects can lean on for guidance and who can design programs and systems for player development, I think Manny is more than qualified.

Yeah, it's a role that former players often fill. Scott Nichol (Nashville), Martin Lapointe (Montreal), Jiri Fischer (Detroit), and Sean Burke (Phoenix) are just a few examples of guys who became Directors of Player Development soon after retiring.

It's basically a liaison role between the team and its prospects and I could see how someone like Malhotra would be good at that.

 

[Eddy Punch Clock]

Welp, it official. We lost the Bure trade.

 

[Hollywood Burrows]

Gagner was definitely plugged into that elite OHL culture. He knows all the sons of ex NHLers trying to make it, he trains all the rich kids like Hodgson, etc. The Canucks are obviously focusing hard on drafting from the OHL, and devote a ton of resources to it. So this seems like a setback. At the same time, these sorts of positions tend to be temporary in nature, you rarely see a guy—especially with Gagner's pedigree and rep—stay in a position like that for too long. Interesting to see who the replacement is.

 

[Seattle Totems]

I think you overestimate the requirements of the Director of Player Development.

If the title is what it sounds like, who better than Manny Malholtra to fill that role? I mean this is a guy drafted high and had to re-mold himself into becoming a near-elite defensive forward before a freak eye-injury derailed his career. I think that alone is enough experience to be able to direct a teams' prospect development. I don't think you need to apprentice for something like that.

Maybe the job description is muddled by the perception that Gagner was a bit of a scout for us as well. That may be something Manny has to grow into, but as strictly a guy who prospects can lean on for guidance and who can design programs and systems for player development, I think Manny is more than qualified.

I remember watching Manny get drafted. I don't think he was ever considered anything other than a defensive forward with really good leadership qualities.

 

[Finkle is Einhorn]

I remember watching Manny get drafted. I don't think he was ever considered anything other than a defensive forward with really good leadership qualities.

You don't get drafted 7th overall for your defensive play alone. Here's an HF article from '99 projecting him to be a 35-50-85 guy:

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/351/manny_malhotra_rangers_catch_a_steal/

 

[black ace]

Even in jr he wasnt a big time scorer. Most goals he ever scored was 16 both years of jr he played.

 

[Tobi Wan Kenobi]

You don't get drafted 7th overall for your defensive play alone. Here's an HF article from '99 projecting him to be a 35-50-85 guy:

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/351/manny_malhotra_rangers_catch_a_steal/

What does HF know about hockey? Nothing.

 

[BassMason]

You don't get drafted 7th overall for your defensive play alone. Here's an HF article from '99 projecting him to be a 35-50-85 guy:

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/351/manny_malhotra_rangers_catch_a_steal/

That young Malhotra reminds me a lot of what I've been reading about Horvat.

 

[Virtanen2Horvat]

I like the idea of keeping Manny in the organization. That would be cool.

Yeah Manny would be great in the office, possibly a assistant coach with his leadership but I guess its too late for that now

 

[vancityluongo]

Don't know how much of a loss it actually is, but Dave Gagner was definitely a guy in the organization that the hockey network knew and respected. Like some others have been saying, he was right in there with the "old boys" network of the OHL. Given that Gillis is all about staying away from that old boys network, I hope we don't get a controversial replacement. Malhotra has no experience but is respected around the league and in hockey, so he at least has that.

That young Malhotra reminds me a lot of what I've been reading about Horvat.

Yeah, that's almost terrifying.

 

[RobertKron]

I think Gagner was Tanev's roller hockey coach or something like that.

Anyway Tanev's path to the NHL is one in a million so I doubt that losing first crack at a bunch of roller hockey players is going to hurt the team's prospect pipeline all that substantially.

If they had employed Gagner as a scout in other cases that would be another thing, but hopefully they have already been working to backfill that role to allow Gagner to focus on his actual job title.

IIRC, Tanev played with Sam Gagner in minor hockey until he was too small to remain competitive. I think Gagner may have been their coach at one point. He made a big push for the Canucks to go after Tanev when he recognized his name on a roster for the NCAA tournament and saw he'd finally grown.

I think that was also part of Gagner's value, was that he'd been involved in elite hockey in Ontario for a long while due to Sam, coaching, and his training centre.

 

[Royal Canuck]

It would be a good position for Manny to take over, at least as an interim job just to see how he does.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Honestly, I'd rather Manny got a job doing something else. He's a great guy, sure, but as has been mentioned he has precisely zero sweet bugger-all experience. C'mon, shouldn't he at least be an assistant something or other before becoming a director of anything?

Also, I hope this can mean the last of any Sam Gagner to VCR rumours on the trade board.

 

[Jyrki21]

Noooo, the cornerstone of the Dave Gagner trade!*



(*featuring Pavel Bure and Ed Jova-something).

 

[F A N]

I wonder why Gagner is leaving. Did Gillis and Gagner have a falling out? Is it because Orr Hockey Group offered more money?

My guess is that rather than work with kids making millions of dollars a year who thinks they know better, Gagner has a chance to work with younger kids?

The partnership between Gagner and the Canucks have been positive overall I think, but the Canucks did have a lot of money invested in Gagner.

 

[Seattle Totems]

That young Malhotra reminds me a lot of what I've been reading about Horvat.

You're basing this on one poorly written HF article that talks about Malhotra having a "92 point pace" at the Memorial Cup. At the time many if not most scouts did not see the offensive upside in Malhotra. If you read that article carefully you will notice that he mentions this.

At the 98 draft Bob McKenzie pooled the scouts and the general take was that he had limited offensive upside. Malhotra did not have the anywhere near the same aura or hype around him that Horvat does now. He obviously did not put up numbers like Horvat in junior either.

Horvat may not become a top six forward in the NHL but he certainly has more upside than Manny Malhotra did as a prospect.

As for Gagner he's just a throw in.

 

[KDizzle]

I remember watching Manny get drafted. I don't think he was ever considered anything other than a defensive forward with really good leadership qualities.

Fair enough. I think maybe I latched onto the fact that he was drafted highly and assumed he was drafted to be a scorer... or at least somebody with offensive upside.

 

[JBIZ14]

Wow this place has a hard on for Tanev...I mean he's ok but its not like Gagner found us a future Norris winner. manny would be fine showing young players how totrain and make it in the NHL.

 

[Betamax*]

Wow this place has a hard on for Tanev...I mean he's ok but its not like Gagner found us a future Norris winner. manny would be fine showing young players how totrain and make it in the NHL.

Manny was an in studio guest with Rintoul on TEAM radio yesterday. He seemed very motivated to find an NHL team to actual play. I think he'll do everything he can to be an NHLer before going into retirement and into coaching and or management.

 

[JBIZ14]

I'm sure he will...my comment was more aimed at those concerned with losing Gagner and using Tanev as the reason.

 

[vanuck]

Gotta agree, Manny might be a good candidate to replace Gagner.

Btw wasn't Gagner also the one who said Connauton was one of our top prospects? Or was that a bit of tire-pumping to boost his value?

 

[BassMason]

You're basing this on one poorly written HF article that talks about Malhotra having a "92 point pace" at the Memorial Cup. At the time many if not most scouts did not see the offensive upside in Malhotra. If you read that article carefully you will notice that he mentions this.

At the 98 draft Bob McKenzie pooled the scouts and the general take was that he had limited offensive upside. Malhotra did not have the anywhere near the same aura or hype around him that Horvat does now. He obviously did not put up numbers like Horvat in junior either.

Horvat may not become a top six forward in the NHL but he certainly has more upside than Manny Malhotra did as a prospect.

As for Gagner he's just a throw in.

Sorry I should have specified that article on Manny sounds like what I've read about Horvat. Size, projection, playoff performance. Your insight along with the amount of busts in the top end of that draft mentioned have quelled my fears.

Anyhoo back on topic.

 

[kootenayfan]

Manny would be a good choice for the job, if he is interested. I wonder about Trevor Linden? I think he would be great at it, but again don't know if he would have any interest.

 

[Tanevian*]

Wow this place has a hard on for Tanev...I mean he's ok but its not like Gagner found us a future Norris winner. manny would be fine showing young players how totrain and make it in the NHL.

He doesn't need to be a Norris winner to be a great player. The Preds don't even have a Norris winner.