As was first reported by Jim Jamieson of The Province, Vancouver Canucks top prospect Cody Hodgson has publically acknowledged that he will not be working with the team's director of player personnel Dave Gagner this summer. Gagner was hired by Mike Gillis to help better develop the clubs prospects and make sure they were on the right track to the NHL.
By reading between the lines, Hodgson appears to be unhappy with the Canucks alleged mismanagement of his back injury last summer. The injury kept him sidelined for part of the preseason and the entire OHL season up until yesterday when he suited up for the Brampton Battalion for the first time this year.
This story might be insignificant. Or perhaps maybe not. As of this writing, Mike Gillis has yet to comment on the issue so we can only speculate what the Canucks stance might be. (UPDATE -- Gillis has spoken. See below).
Flashback to July 10, 2009. Mike Gillis, in an interview with reporter Elliott Pap, had this to say about Gagner's role with the organization:
"One of the things we've talked about a lot is drafting kids who allow us to have a plan with them. Not just a plan when they finish where they are playing, but a plan from the moment we get them, and an ongoing relationship with their [current] team."We don't want to have guys in places where we don't really have a whole lot of influence over what they're doing."
Cody Hodgson is the Canucks best prospect - in fact he is one of the top prospects in all of hockey. Hockey observers have noted his on-ice vision, character, and leadership as reasons to believe he will be an impact NHL'er and potential future captain.
So, we ask this: What does Mike Gillis do? In my opinion he has a few options:
1. Play the Brian Burke hard-ball game and trade Hodgson based on the fact the player is not buying into the Canucks program.
2. Fire Dave Gagner.
3. Speak to the player and make amendments to his newly developed player development policy.
To be fair, the issue of diagnosing Hodgson's back injury in the summer and Hodgson's buy-in to train with Gagner are possibly two different things. Gagner is not the Canucks team doctor, so it's quite possible that the way the Canucks handled the injury and Hodgson's refusal to train with Gagner in the summer are completely unrelated.
Certainly the Canucks can't be happy about Hodgson turning his back on the club's development program and, as a respected player in the junior ranks, setting this example for the rest of the Canucks prospects. Again it may be a non-issue but the possibility exists that the Canucks might wonder what kind of leader he really is.
Regardless, in the fishbowl world that is pro sports, even issues like this can get blown out of proportion. This one should be interesting to watch though, which is why we wrote about it.
What do you think?
***UPDATE: Well, Mike Gillis has commented...sort of. In an article written by Matt Sekeres of the Globe and Mail, Gillis had this to say:
“I'm not talking about Cody Hodgson,” Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said from Boston. “He doesn't play for our team.”
When asked what he made of Hodgson's statement, Gillis replied: “I don't care.”
“[Hodgson] has some ideas of his own,” Gillis said. “I haven't talked to him, so I'm not going to comment until then.”
To be honest I am surprised. I expected Gillis to take the high road with this one, perhaps saying something to the extent of, "Dave Gagner is there as a resource for our prospects but they are not obligated to use him. Having not spoken to Hodgson should also come as a surprise, even though Hodgson also said as much today as well. The lack of communication flies in the face of what Gillis was trying to instill from the outset of his hiring in Vancouver.
Usually, where there's smoke there is fire. To me, the way Gillis responded to the questions about Hodgson shows that he is clearly bothered by the player.
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I usually love everything you write, but you are making something our of nothing here. Gagner is moving his off-season training center to Vancouver, while Hodgson lives in Ontario. Pretty simple.
And Sekeres is guilty of trying to make something out of nothing. It is vague what is actually asked when Gillis said "I don't care". He could have been saying that to anything.
Sekeres is on the bottom of the Vancouver Media totem pole for a reason.
To be fair, I clearly noted in the article (and I'll quote myself):
"This story might be insignificant. Or perhaps maybe not."
In fact the only opinion that I added about how I thought the Canucks felt about it was at the very end when I said:
"To me, the way Gillis responded to the questions about Hodgson shows that he is clearly bothered by the player. "
As for Sekeres. Jamieseon broke this story. Sekeres only piggybacked on that with some quotes from Gillis. I'm not sure how beating down they young reporter has anything to do with your argument.
It is likely insignificant. Certainly the Canucks camp wants it to be insignificant - he's the best prospect the team has had in years.
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NHL Central Scouting have released their complete rankings of 211 players for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
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