New Details Emerge on the Rejected Rebuild Plan Former Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis Proposed
Photo credit: Vancouver Canucks/NHL.
Details have emerged in recent days about a rebuilding plan that former General Manager Mike Gillis proposed to Vancouver Canucks Owner Francesco Aquilini.
The Vancouver Canucks are just 17 games into the 2025-26 season, but the word rebuild has been thrown around quite a lot in recent days by members of the team's fan base.
Reports indicated earlier this month that the team's ownership group has zero interest in rebuilding at this time, something that was shared by General Manager Patrik Allvin during his appearance on After Hours with Scott Oake on Saturday night.
"Well I don't think you can do that when you have good players in Quinn Hughes, Demko, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and then the next wave of young players in Willander Pettersson, Mancini, Lekkerimäki. Very excited to have Braeden Cootes playing well in Seattle. I think he had a six point game tonight against the Giants. And we have Medvedev the goalie [with the] London Knights. So I think we're prepared well for it. Obviously you don't want to put young players in a position to fail in the National Hockey League, but I do see a lot of growth. And another guy Aatu Räty here getting big minutes and took a key faceoff in the end [of the game] here. He's another guy who's just going to grow again." Allvin said.
Details emerge regarding rebuild plan pitched by Mike Gillis to Vancouver Canucks ownership
The topic of rebuilding has been brought up several times in the past decade and in a recent article for The Province, Patrick Johnston shared a plan that former General Manager Mike Gillis proposed to Vancouver Canucks ownership, led by Francesco Aquilini.
According to Johnston, Gillis' proposal would've seen the club land two first round picks in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks involving Ryan Kesler and another first rounder by dealing Alex Burrows to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Vancouver would've had four first picks in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, however, the team's ownership group rejected the plan and just before the 2013-14 season came to a close, Gillis was fired by the Canucks.
"For a decade, ownership has been afraid of the word and look where that's got them. To recap, this all goes back to 2014, when then-GM Mike Gillis went to ownership and said it's time to move on from the group that had almost won the Stanley Cup in 2011, that with some quick aggressive moves they could have a young new core emerging within a year or two." Johnston said.
He added, "He was ready to trade Ryan Kesler to Anaheim in a deal that would have netted two first-round picks and Alex Burrows to Philadelphia in a second deal that would have returned another first rounder. They'd have had four first rounders in the 2014 draft. All four would probably have been on the NHL roster by 2016."
He added, "He was ready to trade Ryan Kesler to Anaheim in a deal that would have netted two first-round picks and Alex Burrows to Philadelphia in a second deal that would have returned another first rounder. They'd have had four first rounders in the 2014 draft. All four would probably have been on the NHL roster by 2016."
We'll have to wait and see how the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign goes, but if the Vancouver Canucks happen to miss out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs again, which would mark five times in the last six seasons, some serious questions need to be asked about this group's ability to contend and if a rebuild is needed.
Source: Patrick Johnston/The Province
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