Ed Willes had a point in a column I read this week. Linden joins Gillis, Nonis, Henning, and Gilman on the pile of ex-employees who left feeling bitter and betrayed. That's not how a successful team conducts business.
I'm not saying actually well-run teams don't have people leave in less than ideal circumstances, but this is getting to be a clear trend where upper management has an unpleasant breakup from the owners. This isn't to do with their contracts. Of course their contracts were paid out. That's not up to the Aquamen unless they feel like being sued. Yeah, I'm so sure Gilman went on EI.
Sure, new GMs bring in their people. But there are ways of doing business respectfully that don't end up with the person leaving having bad feelings and bitterness towards you. It really doesn't speak well how this keeps coming up with the Aquamen.
This is a tough one as I think circumstances were different. My personal opinion is that the Aquilinis have always persisted in wanting to be field a "competitive" team. It's okay to retool, but rebuilding in the sense that the plan is really not to make the playoffs is not something they believe in. The boss wants what he/she wants. If you're not willing to do what he/she wants, most of the time, there aren't that many options left.
With Gillis, there was probably an erosion of his once promised autonomy. There were reports that he had to fight for his last extension and that Torts wasn't really his hire. At the very least, he had ample warnings and I don't think he can fairly say he was blindsided or betrayed. Whether he feels bitter about the whole thing is his issue. He has the right to be bitter if he was promised autonomy and made moves that were influenced by ownership. But at the end of the day, this was hardly a situation where Gillis came to the office one day and received his walking papers without warning.
Nonis might have believed he deserved more time, but life isn't always fair. To be fair to ownership, Nonis wasn't exactly their guy. Letting Burke go but promoting Nonis was the equivalent of not wanting to rock the boat too much but at the same time wanted to make a change. He then proceeded to oversee a team that missed the playoffs 2 out of his 3 years. If the whole trade for Richards ordeal is to be believed (and why not?), Nonis had it coming. I don't see how Nonis should feel betrayed. Unlike Gillis, he had no record of success. He had no past history of success. My guess is that he was pretty clear on what ownership expectations were.
I have no idea why Henning and Gilman should feel betrayed or bitter. They were past ownership's AGMs. They shouldn't be in this business if they don't understand why they were let go. Ownership shouldn't even get involved.
I think the Linden part is a different story because Benning was just extended and wasn't extended right away. He was the President of Hockey Operations afterall and his vision should take precedence over Benning's. If ownership had promised Linden autonomy and suddenly wanted Linden to become a figurehead and PR guy after Benning's extension then ya I would be very upset if I was Linden. But at the same time, I wonder if Benning was extended because his vision matched that of ownership. To me, I find it hard to conciliate the idea that Linden had to fight for Benning's extension but Benning reported to ownership directly upon signing said extension. Seems kind of weird.
I think it's clear that Canucks' ownership aren't the stand back and let management manage the team. They want their input and let's face it, what percentage of us here would let the guy we hire 100% autonomy without pushing our views if we own the team? Most of these rich owners want to win. The question is when the losing begins, will they stand back? Take the Pegulas in Buffalo. They felt the mistake was not being more involved.
Anyways, I do believe that the Aquilinis aren't the most generous people. No GM or President should take the job thinking they have a certain number of years to deliver results without ownership fighting you along the way.
