Confirmed with Link: Maple Leafs Name Laurence Gilman Assistant General Manager

[Cor]

Click to read more...

 

[ShaneFalco]

Laurence Gilman (born January 6, 1965, in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian ice hockey executive. He is the former Assistant General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL), a position he had held since 2008.[1]
Prior to joining the Canucks, Gilman had been employed for 13 years by the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes organization, including stints as the team's Assistant General Manager, and also as the General Manager of the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League.

 

[SprDaVE]

God damn Dubas ain't wasting time. That hire was completely out of left field.

 

[Pi]

Dubas is not predictable. I like this guy.

 

[SprDaVE]

 

[Alerion]

I don't know anything about the guy and I don't think anyone saw this coming.

 

[SprDaVE]

I don't know anything about the guy and I don't think anyone saw this coming.

Not even the insiders around here saw that coming. Interesting indeed.

This is like an announcement a day for the Leafs. I assume tomorrow we'll hear about who is taking over the Director of Scouting position?

 

[Alerion]

Not even the insiders around here saw that coming. Interesting indeed.

This is like an announcement a day for the Leafs. I assume tomorrow we'll hear about who is taking over the Director of Scouting position?

In a week, The CyNick will be proclaiming he was the only insider who saw this move coming.

 

[Guy Boucher]

Nice hire. He has a good eye for talent and had a big role in creating the 2011 Canucks, which is one of the best teams to never win a stanley cup.

 

[Advanced stats]

In Dubas we trust...

I'm fairly confident this is a great hire, even though I know nothing about the guy.

Oh how nice it is to have competent management...

 

[Morguee]

So the Leafs now have a guy that helped write the CBA and a guy that helped write the expansion rules. Dubas just spent 3 years learning from Lou on how to work the system. This is a team that should know how to take advantage of any loophole there is.

 

[JEI]

A good, experienced hire. Dubas must have had his thumb on him in the event Hunter bailed.

 

[SprDaVE]

How can we spin this so that this seems like it was a hire from Shanahan to appease Babcock? I'm sure there's a way to make it happen.

 

[The Nic]

Not even the insiders around here saw that coming. Interesting indeed.

This is like an announcement a day for the Leafs. I assume tomorrow we'll hear about who is taking over the Director of Scouting position?

They never do...

 

[Buds17]

My initial reaction was it's an off of the board hire, but I remember his time with Vancouver and having the same title there. Should be a good, experienced addition to the management team.

 

[-DeMo-]

I thought people with experience wouldn't want to work under Dubas... , because they wouldn't respect him since he's young

 

[Liminality]

Was trying to find out more about the guy. This was a decent article from the Athletic a year ago about him.
Laurence Gilman eager to get back into NHL, but waiting for...

Sorry if it's blocked but here's a quote from the article.
"Along with fellow assistant GM Lorne Henning and director of player personnel Eric Crawford, Gilman was fired by the Canucks in July 2015. It marked the end of a seven-year run in which he proved instrumental in the handling of Vancouver’s salary cap, most notably during the club’s run to the Stanley Cup final in 2011.
Prior to his dismissal, Gilman forged a reputation as one of the league’s sharpest financial minds, though the “capologist” label is one he disliked. There was a certain pigeonholing that came along with it. While the perception often worked in his favor – folks around the league respected his ability to value players, negotiate contracts and navigate CBA complexities – it also limited the scope of his executive ability. He was pegged as a numbers guy, one banging on a calculator in a widowless room in the back office."

So another guy with the cap in mind, never played hockey and has been considered a numbers guy. He's also had pretty much every role you can imagine in a NHL front office before.

 

[Fogelhund]

OH no... we've hired people. Exactly how are the talking heads going to continue the sky is falling spin?

 

[Liminality]

Also in the same article above.

"Gilman’s involvement with the NHL’s newest club is well-documented. League brass brought him aboard in the winter of 2015 to help formulate the expansion draft rules and, roughly one year later, Golden Knights GM George McPhee invited Gilman to the desert for a presentation on draft strategy.
“It was extremely interesting,” Gilman said of his experience consulting with Vegas. “George McPhee and his group – [assistant GM] Kelly McCrimmon, [director of hockey ops] Misha Donskov, [director of legal hockey affairs] Andrew Lugener – they were very receptive. They took in everything that I told them. They asked very good questions, and they were extremely hospitable to me, and they were very grateful."

He helped shape the Vegas Knights. I'm sold.

 

[Amadeus]

Was trying to find out more about the guy. This was a decent article from the Athletic a year ago about him.
Laurence Gilman eager to get back into NHL, but waiting for...

Sorry if it's blocked but here's a quote from the article.
"Along with fellow assistant GM Lorne Henning and director of player personnel Eric Crawford, Gilman was fired by the Canucks in July 2015. It marked the end of a seven-year run in which he proved instrumental in the handling of Vancouver’s salary cap, most notably during the club’s run to the Stanley Cup final in 2011.
Prior to his dismissal, Gilman forged a reputation as one of the league’s sharpest financial minds, though the “capologist” label is one he disliked. There was a certain pigeonholing that came along with it. While the perception often worked in his favor – folks around the league respected his ability to value players, negotiate contracts and navigate CBA complexities – it also limited the scope of his executive ability. He was pegged as a numbers guy, one banging on a calculator in a widowless room in the back office."

So another guy with the cap in mind, never played hockey and has been considered a numbers guy. He's also had pretty much every role you can imagine in a NHL front office before.

Leafs have understood the challenge in front of them and are hiring to address that challenge.

 

[SprDaVE]

From a 2014 trade call. Pretty neat.

 

[leburn98]

Was trying to find out more about the guy. This was a decent article from the Athletic a year ago about him.
Laurence Gilman eager to get back into NHL, but waiting for...

Sorry if it's blocked but here's a quote from the article.
"Along with fellow assistant GM Lorne Henning and director of player personnel Eric Crawford, Gilman was fired by the Canucks in July 2015. It marked the end of a seven-year run in which he proved instrumental in the handling of Vancouver’s salary cap, most notably during the club’s run to the Stanley Cup final in 2011.
Prior to his dismissal, Gilman forged a reputation as one of the league’s sharpest financial minds, though the “capologist” label is one he disliked. There was a certain pigeonholing that came along with it. While the perception often worked in his favor – folks around the league respected his ability to value players, negotiate contracts and navigate CBA complexities – it also limited the scope of his executive ability. He was pegged as a numbers guy, one banging on a calculator in a widowless room in the back office."

So another guy with the cap in mind, never played hockey and has been considered a numbers guy. He's also had pretty much every role you can imagine in a NHL front office before.

 

[Liminality]

Leafs have understood the challenge in front of them and are hiring to address that challenge.

I think it makes tons of sense with how their cap is going to be structured soon. You're going to need to bend some cap rules to try and grab the best people you can get while watching your spending after the big 3 are signed. Pridham and apparently Gilman will help with that.

One last quote from the article which I thought was very interesting.

“What is very important to me, if I am going back to work for a team, would be to seek a situation similar to the one I came to Vancouver for,” he explained. “A collaborative, diverse group of people that enjoyed each other’s company, believed in the vision and were unified in their path to get there.”
Say this about Gilman: He knows a good workplace when he sees it.

 

[Cor]

Asked the Canucks board for any opinion/thoughts on Gilman. This is the first reply

Let me just say you will like him. Smart mind, pretty good in the legal aspects. Not 100% on his player evaluation talent but I suppose you will have others responsible for this and he doesnt mind to take advise of other who are more knowledgeable in certian fields.

And here’s a thread from Feb 2017 about wanting Gilman to come back

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/would-you-support-a-laurence-gilman-hiring.2195065/

 

[leaffaninvancouver]

How can we spin this so that this seems like it was a hire from Shanahan to appease Babcock? I'm sure there's a way to make it happen.

I think the Babcock angle is obviously ridiculous but I'd be surprised if Shanahan wasn't involved. He worked closely with Lou so I have to assume he's doing the same with Dubas.