Gillis: "What I took from it was that it sounds like he is considering two teams, Toronto and us,"

    By
    Rick Stephens
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    3
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    An excerpt from the Vancouver Sun (Brad Ziemer):

    Mike Gillis figures it’s now a two-team race and the Vancouver Canuck general manager still believes he has more than a decent chance of landing free-agent centre Mats Sundin.
    Gillis has not had any recent discussions with Sundin, but read his comments that were published in a Swedish daily on Monday.

    “What I took from it was that it sounds like he is considering two teams, Toronto and us,” Gillis said in an interview Tuesday.

    Habster:

    If you read the entire article, the Swedish interviewer/reporter doesn’t ask any questions about the Canadiens or their offer. Mats Sundin does mention the Canadiens making an attractive offer but he answers direct questions from the reporter about the Canucks and the Maple Leafs, not the Canadiens. I’m not sure why that is??!!

    From what I’ve seen and heard from Canuck GM Mike Gillis has not impressed me at all. His moves to date have been poor with the only notewothy signing being Pavel Demitra who is a perimeter type player with his best years behind him. He allowed Mats Naslund to leave and traded for Steve Bernier who isn’t exactly a proven NHL goal scorer just yet. Picking up Kyle Wellwood from waivers wasn’t an earth shattering move as well.

    Gillis arrogance and over confidence will be his downfall in the Sundin situation and in his dealings with other NHL GMs and players in the future. It won’t take long before he wears out his welcome within the NHL with head scratching moves like the $2.5 million offer sheet he made to David Backes. The Blues certainly made him pay the price when they made a $2.5 million counter offer to Steve Bernier.

    It raised a lot of eye brows when Canucks management hired the former player agent over other more worthy candidates like Steve Tambellini who has patiently waited for his opportunity within the Canucks organization.

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    3 COMMENTS

    1. wow!i would never expect to hear a habs fan to say anything positive about the Canucks but WOW. It’s not like Bob Gainey has done anything spectacular either. Look at how he let Mark Streit go, and then signs Alex Tanguay. The Canadiens are going to be nowhere close to being as good as they were last year.
      Cheerios from
      VANCOUVER.

    3. Dear disillusioned Canucks fan,

      I’m always glad to hear from Canucks fans who enjoy reading All Habs. Nothing like a good hockey debate to stir the juices!!!

      I agree that Bob Gainey let Mark “can’t play defense” Steit go to Long Island for a crazy $20.5 million over 5 years. That’s a lot of money for a powerplay specialist (34 of his 62 points were scored on the PP) who is not very good in his own zone. Many hockey “pundits” were saying the Habs PP would suffer when Souray left but it was better thanks to Kovalev and Markov not Streit.

      The addition of Alex Tanguay adds more balance and speed to an already potent offensive lineup which led the NHL in goals.

      As for your Canucks, they will struggle to score goals again this season. They will need their defense and goaltending to stand on their heads to stay in games. I just hope Alain Vigneault
      doesn’t over work Luongo again and wear him out like last season…..oh I forgot, you have Curtis Sanford to back him up!!!

      I truly hope Mats Sundin signs with the Canucks as it is your only hope to make the playoff this season, otherwise it could be a long season which ends in disappointment once again.

      P.S- If you’re going to make a comparison between Carey Price and Roberto Luongo then I suggest you compare apples to apples. In other words, compare the accomplishments of a 20 year old Price to a 20 year old Luongo.

      It took Luongo five seasons to win 24 games in a season while Price did it in his rookie year. Both goalies won best goaltender awards at the U-20 WJC but Price won the tournament MVP and a gold medal as well.

      I also forgot to mention that Carey Price won the top CHL goaltender award in 2006 and won the Calder cup with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2007….he was the main reason why they won the championship!!!!

      Anyhow, nice debating with you about the Canucks and Luongo….please don’t hesitate to continue the discussion anytime.

      Cheers from Montreal

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