Vancouver Canucks GM Fired: Owner Makes First Decision, Relieves Dave Nonis

The Vancouver Canucks relieved Dave Nonis from his General Manager duties yesterday—that was a surprise to many. 

Grumblings of a possible firing have been floating around the NHL because the team has missed the playoffs this season.  Despite this, it seems to have come as a bit of a shock to the players and fans in Vancouver. 

The Vancouver Canucks GM and Senior VP was heading into the final year of his contract, which was signed when the Canucks were still owned by Orca Bay. 

During the three seasons in which Nonis was at the helm, the Canucks have missed the playoffs twice.  In his first season as the Canucks’ GM, Nonis decided to keep in tact the team that Brian Burke—his mentor and friend—had built.

It being his first season as GM, he was not willing to shake things up too much.  The decision was as much a strategic move as it was a political one.

If the team had gone deep into the playoffs, Nonis would have been heralded as the only one with the foresight to see that the team had what it took to get the job done. 

If they didn't go far or didn't make the playoffs at all (which is what happened), he could easily say he did what he thought was right at the time. Then he would have justification to make a new team the way he thought it should be made.

The first year was a win-win situation for Nonis.

After the failure of the team under Coach Mark Crawford, Nonis could now put his own stamp on this team.  He traded the troubled Todd Bertuzzi, promising defenseman Bryan Allen and goalie Alex Auld for Lukas Krajicek and Roberto Luongo. 

The message was clear to the fans and the rest of the league: this would now be a defensive team built from the goalie outwards, and not a “run-and-gun with questionable goal-tending” team. 

The Canucks' young GM had managed to secure arguably the league's best goalie, without giving up the entire team. 

The following season, the Canucks went on an improbable run after Christmas.  They managed to make it to the second round of the playoffs, playing an effective—albeit boring—style of hockey. 

It was farther than they had made it for years.  But then there was the past recent season.  They didn't make the playoffs, and now the glee of making a run for the cup has worn off. 

The Jack Adams award and the Vezina nomination mean nothing.  It looks like the Canucks' run-under the system played in 2007 was an over-achievement. 

The Vancouver Canucks chose to play a system that leaves no margin for error every night.  Perhaps the Canucks' personnel was not capable of delivering that kind of play.

Dave Nonis' tenure doesn't look all that bad. He made possibly the deal of the decade in getting Luongo, and he did take the organization to a record season of wins. 

So why did he get fired? 

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