Canucks backtrack
Gillis says Vigneault later corrected comment that goalie wants fresh start elsewhere
Alain Vigneault gets ribbed for saying ‘ It is what it is’ a lot. But when he said goalie Roberto Luongo wants out, GM Mike Gillis had to correct his veteran coach and say that’s not what it is.
Vancouver Canuck general manager Mike Gillis said Friday that head coach Alain Vigneault “misspoke” when he told a French- language TV show that goalie Roberto Luongo wanted a trade out of Vancouver.
Appearing on the club’s flagship radio station Team 1040, Gillis said he and Vigneault talked Thursday night and the coach explained that he “didn’t mean what he said” about Luongo.
In the original interview Wednesday night, Vigneault was asked if he agreed that Luongo needed a fresh start after being supplanted as the Canucks’ No. 1 goalie by Cory Schneider during the playoffs. Vigneault replied ( translated): “That’s what he wants right now.”
According to Gillis, Vigneault later corrected that statement with his interviewers.
“[ That] is my understanding,” Gillis said. “I haven’t heard the interview but he went and told whoever was conducting it that he had misspoke immediately after it happened and I think he did. Like I said, I haven’t heard the interview but that’s what Alain told me last night and that he clarified it in his mind ... you know, [ he] didn’t mean what he said.”
Gillis reiterated Luongo has maintained the same stance — he would accept a trade if it best suited the team — that he declared to reporters in his April 24 exit interviews.
“No, it’s not full- on that we’re trying to find him a new home,” Gillis said. “What he indicated was that if we felt a change was necessary, he would do whatever was best for the team once we made that decision. And that’s all he said.
“We haven’t come to the conclusion yet what’s in the best interests of the team and Roberto is going to be part of the process. I talked to him again last week to see how he was feeling and we’re going to start moving ahead now that we’ve cleared up some other issues. We’ll start looking at where we want to go with this situation and others.”
Gillis added that if Luongo and Schneider were back, they would compete for the No. 1 job. ( On his conference call Wednesday, Vigneault had strongly hinted Schneider would start next season as the No. 1. “What happened in the playoffs would be an indication of what might happen moving forward,” said the coach.)
“I know you guys want to read into every possible meaning that you can,” Gillis continued, “but the reality is that if both are back, they’ll be competing for the No. 1 job and whoever wins it will win it.”
Luongo’s agent, Gilles Lupien, did not reply to an interview request Friday.
On another matter, Gillis said he felt there would be no divide between Vigneault and centre Ryan Kesler after comments by the coach on the player’s performance didn’t sit well with the latter, or his agent.
“No, not at all,” responded Gillis. “Coaches are paid to make hard decisions and to get the most out of people. We’re at a point in time in the evolution of our organization where excuses aren’t accepted and, if you’re cleared to play, you play. We’ll take into account everything that goes into it but I’m not worried about any divide.”
Kesler injured his left shoulder Feb. 9, didn’t miss a game but then required major surgery on May 8. He finished the season on a 17- game goal famine.
“Ryan was cleared for play and he wanted to play but clearly he wasn’t as effective as he was the year before,” Gillis said. “There are probably a lot of reasons that went into that. Injuries are part of it but, if you’re cleared to play, you’re cleared to play. There are no excuses. You have to perform and this year, among others, he didn’t perform at the level that he expected or we expected.”
Gillis also explained the Daniel Sedin concussion situation and how Vigneault was caught off guard when Daniel wasn’t ready to start the playoffs. Sedin was hurt March 21 when elbowed in the head by Chicago Blackhawk defenceman Duncan Keith.
“Daniel was trending in the right direction,” said the GM. “Everything was going extremely well. He felt well and then, for whatever reason with these types of injuries, he didn’t feel he was 100 per cent for a couple of days. That’s when we understood his progression wasn’t going as well as we perhaps thought.
“Sometimes with these injuries, the players themselves are so desperate to get back they want to believe that they’re healing and they want to believe the next day is going to be better than the previous one,” Gillis added. “Sometimes that just doesn’t happen. I think Daniel was really hungry to get back in the lineup. He knew the importance of what was coming and felt like he was feeling OK. Then he wasn’t feeling OK.”