The firing of Mike Gillis in Vancouver cannot come as a shock based on the turmoil that has gone on with the Canucks this season, but the surprise is that it did not happen in tandem with the dismissal of head coach John Tortorella.
Full marks to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun for reporting early this morning that the axe was going to fall after the Canucks were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs following a shutout loss to Anaheim.
Tortorella's defense-first system has not been a great fit with skilled players like the Sedin twins and Alex Edler, but the odds of him returning for another year go up significantly with the dismissal of Gillis, who was at the epicenter of the fan's wrath, as chants of "Fire Gillis" echoed through the Rogers Arena on Monday.
The conventional wisdom is that the job responsibilities of Gillis will be split, with popular former captain Trevor Linden the likely successor as Team President.
A number of names are being circulated as GM candidates, such as former Hockey Canada CEO Bob Nicholson, Pittsburgh's Jason Botterill, Preds Asst. GM Paul Fenton, Julien Brisebois of Tampa Bay, former Canuck star and Modo GM Markus Naslund and current Canucks AGM Laurence Gilman, but the most interesting name to be mentioned is former Tampa and Calgary GM Jay Feaster, who won a Stanley Cup with Tortorella with the Lightning in 2004.
more to come