Hot News: Mike Gillis fired as Vancouver Canucks GM after team eliminated from playoff ...

Mike Gillis has been fired as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks.

The team announced the move Tuesday afternoon, one day after the team was officially eliminated from playoff contention. Vancouver had not missed the playoffs since 2008.

'I would like to sincerely thank Mike Gillis for his hard work and the many contributions he made on and off the ice during his tenure,' Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini said in a release posted to the team's website. 'The Vancouver Canucks had success under Mike's leadership, and we nearly reached our ultimate goal; but I believe we have reached a point where a change in leadership and new voice is needed.'

No replacement has been named.

'I also want to thank our fans for their support for the Vancouver Canucks through a difficult and frustrating season,' continued Aquilini. 'We haven't met their expectations or ours.'

Gillis seemed to indicate to the hockey world that a change was coming when he made some eyebrow-raising comments to a Vancouver radio station late last week.

'I'm not sure if I'll be back next season,' Gillis told Team 1040 radio, as quoted by The Canadian Press, with regard to whether coach John Tortorella would return as coach next season.

That comment and others crystallized public perception around an apparent rift between Gillis and the coach.

'I want us to play up-beat, puck possession, move the puck quickly, force teams into mistakes, high-transition game,' Gillis said in the radio interview. 'I think we have the personnel to do it. If we don't have the personnel to do it, they'll be changed.

'That's my vision, that's how I believe you are going to win in the Western Conference and the National Hockey League. If you look at the top teams in the West, there isn't a lot that separates any of the teams in the West, but the top teams play that way. That's the way we played.'

Tortorella, whose previous jobs were in the East with Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers, prefers a system that emphasizes defence and shot-blocking.

'The running of this team is my responsibility and I really feel over the last couple of seasons we've chased goalposts that have been moving and got away from our core principles of how I want this team to play and how we want to perform and the tempo we want to play with,' Gillis said. 'People love to pick someone to blame, but the reality is that as an organization we've deviated from some of the things that made us successful and some of the things that I know will be successful. We're going to get back to those levels.'

Tortorella joined the team last June, signing a five-year contract reportedly worth US$10-million. With the Canucks in a free-fall last month, The (Vancouver) Province published an editorial pleading for the coach to be removed: '... and they need to do it now, not later. The situation is that serious.'

Aquilini will reportedly hold a news conference on Wednesday.

Post By http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/04/08/vancouver-canucks-fire-gm-mike-gillis-after-missing-playoffs/