Well the Canucks may be out of the playoffs, but the team is still making news ...
Gary Roberts, who trains Cody Hodgson in offseason, rips Canucks GM Mike Gillis character
'If anybody knew this kid . . . '
By Jim Jamieson, The ProvinceMay 1, 2012
When Mike Gillis took over as GM of the Canucks four years ago, one of the areas he wanted to improve was making the West Coast team as player-friendly as possible, to become the destination of choice for free agents and make it easier to re-sign others.
After Gary Roberts' comments on the weekend, you have to wonder if any of that reputation has been harmed. Roberts, a 22-year NHL veteran and current fitness guru to a number of young NHL stars including Steven Stamkos, came out firing at Gillis in defence of former Canuck Cody Hodgson - a player Roberts has trained the last two summers and will again this offseason.
In the Canucks' season-ending press conference last week, Gillis characterized Hodgson as a high-maintenance complainer and diminished his scoring impact, saying it was part of a plan by the club to deploy him often in offensive situations to pump up his stats so he could be a more valuable trade commodity.
At the Feb. 27 NHL trade dead-line, when Hodgson was essentially swapped to Buffalo for physical winger Zack Kassian, Gillis declined to elaborate on the non-hockey aspects of the deal. But he decided to offer some harsh words nearly two months later. Was it to justify a controversial deal for an admittedly young player who didn't make an immediate impact? Frustration at the second-guessing on the trade?
"I spent more time on Cody's issues than every other player combined on our team in the last three years," said Gillis. "We made a determination that he didn't want to be here. We built him into something we could move."
Roberts' fiery defence of Hodgson's character in his comments to the Buffalo News in Monday's editions was remarkable. At one point he said he'd like to tell Gillis he's a "moron" and a "dud."
"If anybody knew this kid, this young man, to know what he went through mentally and physically for two summers trying to find out what the heck was wrong with him - of course they dealt with his issues more than anybody else in the organization because he was injured and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him," said Roberts.
Asked for a response, the Canucks organization declined comment on Monday. Hodgson didn't respond to a request for comment and his agent, Ritch Winter, declined - as both did last week after Gillis's statements. Roberts didn't return a phone message.
Gillis's first-ever draft pick was lauded for his character and intelligence when he was picked 10th over-all in 2008. But a back injury suffered in training in the summer of 2009 and its subsequent misdiagnosis - initially by the Canucks, but also by Hodgson's own doctors - dealt some damage to that relationship. So did comments from head coach Alain Vigneault dismissing Hodgson after the 2009 preseason as a player using an injury as an excuse.
This season, before which Hodgson had his first full summer of training in three years, he was named NHL rookie of the month in January. He had 16 goals and 33 points before the trade to Buffalo.
Gillis revealed last week that Hodgson was being showcased for a trade, by putting him in the best offensive situations they could and allowing him to take very few defensive zone faceoffs.
It should be noted, though, that in January, when Hodgson led the team in scoring, he played primarily with wingers Jannik Hansen and Mason Raymond. He also averaged just 12: 43 in ice time per game - which was a regular bone of contention between him and the Canucks. There are also reports that Hodgson had asked the Canucks for a trade.
Gillis indicated that he pulled the trigger at the deadline because a player of Kassian's potential doesn't become available very often.
But there's no question that the moves at the deadline - trading Hodgson and his offence and acquiring centre Samuel Pahlsson, to retool for a more defensive posture in the playoffs - blew up in the Canucks' faces. Kassian, 21, in his first professional season, wasn't ready to make an impact at this level and Marc-Andre Gragnani, the other player from Buffalo, didn't play. The Canucks managed to score just eight goals in their five-game opening round playoff loss to the Kings.
Would hanging on to Hodgson for the remainder of the season, then moving him in the summer, have made a difference?
That we'll never know.