from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

Four years into the Gillis era, the Canucks are still built around players inherited from Brian Burke and Dave Nonis and the question can reasonably be asked, has he done enough to strengthen the team’s core?

Prior to this season, that wasn’t an issue because the Sedins-Luongo-Kesler-Edler-Bieksa-Burrows nexus didn’t need a lot of help. A Chris Higgins here, a Max Lapierre there, was adequate. Throw in the free-agent signing of Dan Hamhuis and the Canucks had one of the deepest, most balanced teams in the NHL.

The problem is, over those four years, Gillis hasn’t added a lot else to this team and it’s now starting to show on the Canucks’ depth chart. To be sure, the injuries to Kesler and David Booth are a bit of bad luck. But, in the short term at least, good organizations have the depth to replace injured players and the Canucks’ depth has been eroded in Gillis’s four years.

The biggest problem has been the draft. Since his hiring in 2008, Gillis has presided over five drafts and, by any reasonable measure, the Canucks have been one of the three-worst drafting teams in the NHL over that time (just so you know, the only teams that are close are Calgary and Chicago).

more