The Greatest General Managers in Canucks History (#2)

[Mr. Canucklehead]

The Rankings so far:

#1 - Mike Gillis - 45.5% of Vote
Link to Thread:
The Greatest General Managers in Canucks History (#1)

We've had lots of polls with respect to the best players in Canucks' history, so I thought it would be a fun exercise (famous last words) to see who HF Van thinks the best off-ice Canucks' Masterminds in history are - I figure we can run through this with GMs, and then do one for Coaches as well.

The list of Canucks' general managers that we've had is below, clipped from Wikipedia. Like Wikipedia, I'm including Mike Keenan as an option as he was the de facto/acting GM for an extended period of time.

Disagreement and debate are healthy and encouraged. Just keep it clean, civil and respectful.

The List:

1	Bud Poile	February 25, 1970 – April 1973	No playoff appearances	[3][4][5]
2	Hal Laycoe	April 1973 – January 31, 1974		[5][6]
3	Phil Maloney	January 31, 1974 – May 31, 1977	1 division title and 2 playoff appearances	[6][7]
4	Jake Milford	May 31, 1977 – June 1982	1 Stanley Cup Finals appearance (1982) 1 conference title and 4 playoff appearances	[7][8]
5	Harry Neale	June 1982 – May 23, 1985	2 playoff appearances	[8]
6	Jack Gordon	June 4, 1985 – June 1, 1987	1 playoff appearance	[9][10]
7	Pat Quinn	June 1, 1987 – November 4, 1997	1 Stanley Cup Finals appearance (1994) 1 conference title, 2 division titles, and 7 playoff appearances	[10][11]
–	Mike Keenan (acting)	November 14, 1997 – April 19, 1998		[citation needed]
8	Brian Burke	June 22, 1998 – May 3, 2004	1 division title and 4 playoff appearances	[12][13]
9	Dave Nonis	May 6, 2004 – April 14, 2008	1 division title and 1 playoff appearance	[14][15]
10	Mike Gillis	April 23, 2008 – April 8, 2014	1 Stanley Cup Finals appearance (2011) Won Presidents' Trophy 2 times (2010–11, 2011–12) Won General Manager of the Year Award (2010–11) 1 conference title, 5 division titles, and 5 playoff appearances	[16][17]
11	Jim Benning	May 21, 2014 – present	2 playoff appearances	[2]

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

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[Mr. Canucklehead]

He was my number one choice, so going with him again here - Pat Quinn for me.

 

[Belisarius]

Jim Benning easy. GOAT

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i had pat quinn #1 by some distance but i guess it’s good that we got gillis out of the way first

 

[likash]

I was not following the Canucks at that time but i've got to go with the results(1994 SCF) - Pat Quinn.

 

[JAK]

Pat Quinn got robbed.

Recentcy bias is what it is. Hard to imagine, but anyone with memory of the late 80s to early 90s would be close to their 50s by now.

 

[4Twenty]

Out of the ashes Brian Burke built a fast entertaining high scoring attack. Started a record setting sellout streak. On a shoestring. Orchestrated the coolest trade to acquire brothers who would go on to be the franchises greatest players and spokesmodels.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Pat Quinn got robbed.

Recentcy bias is what it is. Hard to imagine, but anyone with memory of the late 80s to early 90s would be close to their 50s by now.

Highly doubt that we will ever see a Mike Gillis statue any time soon.

 

[racerjoe]

As this is the #2 thread, and i picked Pat Quinn as the #1 all time Canuck GM..I am reposting my #2 pick.

Gillis is the #2 GM in my mind purely on the fact that he presided over the best team in Canuck history, and the results speak for themselves...Cant take that away from him...He had the right attributes GM to take over for where the team currently was on 2008..Capitalizing on a young core group entering their prime...However, the spectacular downward spiral after the finals cant go unchecked.

-Gillis inherited all the key pieces that led to the Presidents trophies, and one win away from the SC
-He failed repeatedly to fill in the necessary supporting pieces when the primary pieces were already in place
-Dan Hamhuis wanted to come back and play in home province,..This was no masterstroke GM signing
-Ehrhoff was his only signature move which he acquired in a cap dump from SJS, and ultimately lost the player in a cap dump of his own.
-Turned a position of strength (goaltending) into a weakness
-Had one of the worst stretches of drafting by one GM in NHL history, leaving a barren prospect pool....This was not going to be an easy mess for the next GM to clean up.

He gets the #2 spot based on his record, not that I think he's a great GM..(there's no proof he can manage a rebuilding or middling team which is precisely why he's never been rehired)...Some people still think that he is some sort of Messiah GM, which frankly, I find disturbing.​

why are you bringing Gillis into this convo? He already won as best GM...

 

[racerjoe]

This has to be the easiest choice ever.

 

[rypper]

Easily Pat.

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

Pat Quinn got robbed.

Recentcy bias is what it is. Hard to imagine, but anyone with memory of the late 80s to early 90s would be close to their 50s by now.

Yeah its pretty brutal.

Quinn literally took a team that spent years trading Jets and Kings as fight partners for the bottom of the Smythe to a team that within 7 years was in the final.

The right answer is

1) Quinn
2) Gillis/Burke
3) Gillis/Burke

 

[JAK]

Highly doubt that we will ever see a Mike Gillis statue any time soon.

The community impact and the legacy that was built by Quinn overshadows anything other GMs do in Vancouver.

If I remember right, Canucks Place was started under Quinn, and the mandate for players to volunteer and give back was started then.

The advancement of the internet age, and the polarization of thoughts, I do wonder how many Cups would Benning have to win for the Canucks to get a statue.

 

[likash]

POM where do you rank Jimbo? Number 3 or number 4?. I know that he is number 1 in your heart.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

POM where do you rank Jimbo? Number 3 or number 4?. I know that he is number 1 in your heart.

Patience....I dont want to ruin the surprise.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Okay folks, I think we can close the book on the Gillis debate given how thoroughly he was discussed in the first thread.

Discuss the remaining candidates and vote for your #2.

 

[Jyrki21]

This won't be close, even though I have a lot of time for @420Canuck's view that Burke should be just as much in the running.

If Quinn was the first to make the Canucks relevant, Burke was the first to make them sexy.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

someone mentioned last thread that burke got credit from some ppl as the brains behind quinn. now i’d never ever heard that before and i admit it felt at least a little like it was just a deflection from brackett being responsible for our recent drafting, but if i think about it...

burke left after the 92 season. quinn’s only good trades after that were craven for kron and sandlak later, and janney’s rights for brown, hedican, and lafayette. every other post-burke trade was somewhere between meh and horrible.

 

[HedonisticAltruism]

Well, like I said in the last vote, age bias is going to play an effect. I voted Quinn this time, but it's not because I have a really good sense of this accomplishments except 2nd hand. Can't argue with the general turn around and getting the game 7... still, very much a princess run IMO. Burke is a close #2 in this... but his teams just couldn't make much noise in the off-season, so Quinn edges him out.

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

someone mentioned last thread that burke got credit from some ppl as the brains behind quinn. now i’d never ever heard that before and i admit it felt at least a little like it was just a deflection from brackett being responsible for our recent drafting, but if i think about it...

burke left after the 92 season. quinn’s only good trades after that were craven for kron and sandlak later, and janney’s rights for brown, hedican, and lafayette. every other post-burke trade was somewhere between meh and horrible.

Stojanov for Naslund?

 

[iceburg]

Quinn, easily. Maybe I should have been more forceful in the previous thread. The management of the mid 80s makes JB look like a genius. Quinn came in and just kept making great trades (nevermind the drafting of Bure with 113th overall pick and working to get Larionov over):

Just a sampling of the trade acquisitions:

Bozek and Reinhart for a 3rd.

Adams and Kirk McLean for Sundstrom and a 4th

Babych for Kurvers

a 2nd (Mike Peca) for Skriko just as he was aging out.

Jyrki Lumme for a 2nd

Brown, Hedican and Lafayette for Janney's rights

And the creme de la creme: Courtnall, Ronning, Momesso, Dirk and a 5th for Butcher and Quinn

And of course the previously mentioned Naslund for Stojanov



The late 80s, early 90s were hands down the best string of transactions this franchise has ever seen.

There, forceful enough??

 

[Vancouver_2010]

Quinn easily, then its Burke.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Stojanov for Naslund?

haha oops, that was kind of a big one

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

What about Phil Maloney, while on the road, he famously nursed his star player at the time, Chris Oddleifson back to health with Chicken soup.

Chris Oddleifson - Wikipedia

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

one thing about burke is, dude that dude was into loopholes. i think he and gillis had that in common because both were former player agents. but checkit,

Hartford Whalers acquire	Date	Vancouver Canucks acquire
Robert Kron 1993 3rd round pick (#72-Marek Malik) future considerations (Jim Sandlak) [TBODY] [/TBODY]	March 22, 1993	Murray Craven 1993 5th round pick (#124-Scott Walker) [TBODY] [/TBODY]

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

May 17, 1993: Traded to Hartford by Vancouver to complete transaction that sent Murray Craven to Vancouver (March 22, 1993).

in that trade, we sent kron to hartford for craven, plus a pick swap, plus future considerations. those future considerations were a wink wink nod nod where we got to keep jim sandlak for the playoffs before sending him to hartford (a non-playoff team) right after our season ended.

at the same trade deadline, burke did this:

Hartford Whalers acquire	Date	Detroit Red Wings acquire
Brad McCrimmon [TBODY] [/TBODY]	June 1, 1993	1993 6th round pick (#152-Tim Spitzig) [TBODY] [/TBODY]

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Hartford Whalers acquire	Date	Detroit Red Wings acquire
1993 6th round pick (#152-Tim Spitzig) [TBODY] [/TBODY]	March 22, 1993	Steve Konroyd [TBODY] [/TBODY]

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

so basically, detroit was trading brad mccrimmon, whom they didn't need going forward after the coffey trade, for a younger, cheaper guy to fill their #7 role. but burke let them keep mccrimmon for the playoffs just in case. meanwhile, burke gets a great mentor for his very young D for pennies.