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It's a time of turnover in Vancouver and their beloved Canucks right now. In a span of 24 hours their GM and President (both Mike Gillis) were fired and already the President was replaced with Trevor Linden. The GM will come later.
But that might not be all the names on the exodus list from Vancouver. John Tortorella has only coached the Canucks for one season but with that being a season without the playoffs, it has been raising questions about his future. That to go along with questions about his style being the right fit in Vancouver and it's been a big question mark.
Team owner and chairman Francesco Aquilini did nothing to calm that speculation on Wednesday when Linden was announced as the new President of Hockey Ops.
Aquilini: "Mike hired Tortarella and I'm responsible for that and that's why we have a change in direction today" #canucks
— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) April 9, 2014
That quote, the quote of the presser, was interesting on a few levels. First off is the obvious; it doesn't sound like Torts is on any real stable footing there, now does it? If Gillis was fired because he was the one who hired Tortorella, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for Torts himself.
But it could also have something to do with all the talk about how it was the Aquilini family that really wanted to hire Tortorella, not Gillis. The Aquilinis have shot that down to the point that they are suing two Canadian papers for libel for making such insinuations.
For what it's worth to Torts, he is only focused on his job, or so he says.
“I’m going to coach the team until Sunday. I will keep working every day until I’m told not to.” - Torts
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) April 9, 2014
It's relatively common for a new man in charge to bring in his own coach to run the system he wants to already Tortorella isn't in a favorable position with his bosses changing. Now with a hardly ringing endorsement from the team's owner, you have to wonder if he'll be around to see a second season in Vancouver.
