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The Vancouver sports scene has been full of surprises this spring.
In mid-April, the Vancouver Canucks suddenly fired general manager Dave Nonis and quickly replaced him with hockey agent Mike Gillis.
Almost overnight, Vancouver Province hockey columnist Tony Gallagher, a long-time critic of Canucks management, threw his support behind the Gillis appointment.
Then, last week, Ed Willes, another Province sports columnist, took holidays, and speculation, denied by The Province and Willes, quickly arose whether he had been pressed to stop criticizing Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini over his decision to dismiss Nonis.
The fact this speculation arose so quickly again raises questions about the relationship between sports journalists and the people they cover.
Wayne Moriarty, the editor-in-chief of The Province, confirmed Aquilini called the newspaper to complain about Willes.
On April 15, the day the Canucks announced Nonis's dismissal, Willes wrote that Aquilini's ownership of the NHL club was a farce and the firing of Nonis a fiasco. He felt the Aquilini family was “as qualified to run a hockey team as they are to perform open-heart surgery.”
Willes wasn't alone. Vancouver Sun hockey writer Iain MacIntyre wrote that Nonis's dismissal raised “troubling questions” about Aquilini's style of management – a style likely to inhibit top candidates from applying for Nonis's job.
Aquilini responded by complaining to the Sun as well as The Province. At The Province, his call was taken by Jamie Pitbado, the newspaper's vice-president of promotions and community investment.
“He voiced his displeasure,” Pitbado said. “I think he contacted the newsroom as well. There were some parts [in the column] that might have been a little close, a little personal, but Ed has the freedom to write his point of view.”
Willes was apprised of Aquilini's complaint, but Province management insists the columnist was not pressed to lay off. “I'm fully supportive of Ed's position,” Moriarty said.
The Province and Willes both deny that his two-week vacation was tied to the problem with Aquilini.
Aquilini, a real-estate magnate, is a powerful and controversial figure in Vancouver. In 2005, he was sued by two businessmen who accused him of going behind their backs to buy 50 per cent of the Canucks.
In January, the suit was thrown out by the B.C. Supreme Court.
A call was made to Aquilini's office this week, but no return call was received.
The possible role of Gallagher in the Canucks' move to hire Gillis has been the subject of speculation among people in hockey.
Gallagher and Gillis, who moved to Vancouver from Kingston in 2007, have known each other for a long time and have a friendly relationship.
But, in an interview, Gallagher denied any involvement in the Canucks' decision to hire Gillis. He said he rarely communicates with Aquilini.
“I talked to Aquilini maybe, I don't know, two or three months ago,” Gallagher said. “But it didn't have anything to do at all with who he was looking for. I didn't even know he was going to make a change.”
However, Gallagher enthusiastically supported the Canucks' making the general managing change and was also in favour of Gillis being hired.
Gallagher wrote that firing Nonis was a no-lose situation for the club. Even if Nonis were replaced with a “drooling idiot,” Gallagher argued, there was an upside, because his incompetence would send the team to the bottom of the NHL standings and produce high draft choices.
Gallagher championed Gillis, writing: “He's perhaps the best candidate in hockey never to have been a general manager.”
When Gillis was confirmed, Gallagher approved of Aquilini's “thinking outside the box” and “handing over the reigns [sic] of the team to a successful player agent who has turned down at least two other teams who have pursued him for GM posts in the past.”
But Gallagher's opinion wasn't shared by many in the Vancouver news media. Most commentators felt sacking Nonis had been a mistake – a reckless move by an owner ill-qualified to judge the general manager's work.
Willes and MacIntyre were skeptical of Gillis's credentials.
Responding to Gallagher's columns in support of Gillis, MacIntyre wrote that Gillis had “a friend in the media singularly devoted to getting him the job.”
Gallagher said he didn't promote Gillis out of friendship. He felt he was the best man for the job, despite an absence of NHL club front-office experience.
“I think he was a good choice,” Gallagher said.
