Canucks to Announce Mike Gillis as new GM

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It's a bit of a surprise that Vancouver Ownership decided to go with a former player agent with no experience for this job. It may be that his close relationships with players would address some of the recruitment issues thatthe ownership perceives as being at the core of the canucks problems.

It should be noted that one of his former clients is Markus Naslund. So those people in Vancouver looking for Markus Naslund to be released my not get their wish.

Check out Mike Gillis as a player: http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1978/78005.html

This article points out some of the possible reasons Gillis became an agent:

"What makes Gillis' success as an agent even more remarkable is the fact that during his own playing days, he was represented by the notoriously corrupt Alan Eagleson, who later went to jail for defrauding many of his clients, including Gillis. After Gillis' stopped playing, he was eligible to receive disability insurance payments from the NHL. Although Eagleson had no right to do so, he convinced Gillis to pay him 15 percent of his disability money. He lied to Gillis in claiming that he had negotiated the a special disability deal, getting more money than Gillis would have otherwise received. Over 10 years later, in 1997, Gillis successfully sued Eagleson for $570,000, most of which went to cover his own legal costs for pursuing the lawsuit. Later in his own career as an agent, Gillis continued to speak out against corruption in his condemnation of the practice of giving lavish gifts or cash to young players in order to earn their business."

This seems to make him a guy lots of people may want to play for.