hey guys remember when we got luongo and the local headlines were all "goalie graveyard is closed, britches"?
we managed to run luongo, and his future all-star heir apparent, out of town. we did it guys. high fives.
Given the way the 2011 season ended, along with the emergence of Schneider in 2012, Luongo should have been moved half way through the 2012 season........and more specifically, after that revenge victory over Boston. It was at that point where the team became Schneider's, and it became increasingly apparent that the team was playing more comfortably and looked like a different team in front of Schneider.
If Gillis has any common sense whatsoever, or was in fine tune with reality, he would have recognized that Luongo's value wasn't terribly high given the way the 2011 playoffs ended, and given Luongo's contract. An intelligent GM (or even a mediocre one) would have traded Luongo for either an equally bad contract that would have helped with another need (I.e. Lecavlier at center, or Phaneuf on defense), or would have simply moved Luongo for draft picks to clear cap space while also getting some food for the farm.
Schneider wasn't run out of town, but given the spectactular mishandling of the Luongo situation, combined with the obvious truth that the Canucks were no longer an elite team after the San Jose sweep, it became obvious that we were in dire need of quality prospects. Hence - Gillis' move for Horvat.
Schneider for Horvat actually was a good move for the Canucks when you consider the circumstance, but the circumstance was created as a direct result of Gillis' incompetence and utter failure as a GM after the 2011 defeat.