Pre-draft cluster$#@! aka. no more cheeseburgers in the GM box

When the Aquilinis took over ownership from John McCaw, many were happy (except for maybe the Gagliardi/Beedie bid) the team went to local owners. However, with ownership change, it's not unreasonable to expect other changes trickle down through the franchise.

However, not many were ready for the bomb the Aquilinis were about to drop. Shortly after the Canucks were eliminated for the playoffs for the second time in three years, they fired General Manager Dave Nonis. Many felt this was a knee-jerk reaction, and he should have been given the offseason to play with the salary cap. He had one more year left on his contract, and many fans wanted to see what he could have done in his last year before being re-upped. These pro-Nonis folk would cite the Luongo deal as evidence of his GMing prowess. To add fuel to the fire, GM Place White Spot Triple O's also must have mourned the loss of Nonis, as cheeseburger sales are bound to drop significantly in the coming year.) - If the cheeseburger jokes are going over anyone's head, watch the Trailer Park Boys. ;)

However, despite the Luongo deal, which was not only given to Nonis on a silver platter by Keenan, but also gift wrapped on top of it, what exactly had Nonis done in his time in Vancouver?

Mika Noronen, Eric Weinrich, Keith Carney, MARC CHOUINARD (on a 2 year contract.. what was he thinking???), Byron Ritchie, Brad Isbister, Jeff Cowan (also on a 2 year deal o_O) ...

there have been a few decent signings, Aaron Miller and Mike Weaver proved to be very servicable when the defense was decimated with injuries over the course of the season.

.. and Jan Bulis... Bulis is god.

Nevertheless, the bottom line is that in his time after the Luongo deal, the team's most glaring needs were a winger for the Sedins, and secondary scoring... meanwhile, he was bringing in pluggers like Ritchie and Isbister. Vigneault himself said after the firing that Nonis never really gave him anything to work with.

Now Nonis was a decent enough GM, and I wouldn't have minded seeing him on another year, but I was very pleased when Aquilini announced the hiring of Mike "Moving Forward" Gillis. Although it's nice to say in hindsight already having seen some of his moves, Gillis is a solid addition.

Just weeks into his tenure, he was already molding the rest of the organization, firing assistant coaches Barry Smith and Mike Kelly, and bringing in advisors such as Scott Mellanby and capologist Lawrence Gillman to deal with everything numbers and CBA related. At the same time, under an Aquilini mandate to spend at will, Gillis poured money into player development, hiring Dave "My son's a budding superstar" Gagner as director of player development, as well as hiring motivational speaker and former Canuck Ryan "I don't believe in motivation" Walter.

Even before the draft, Gillis' mandate was clear. He wanted to stress player development and building from within. He wanted his players to become faster, stronger, grittier, and smarter as they matured, building on smarts and skills they already had.

This mandate would continue into the draft.