from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,

The team finally has assembled a bevy of solid NHL prospects and have openly said they are hoping young players will come in and steal jobs from some veterans — and yet somehow it’s not important enough to have any of the club’s coaching staff present at the Young Stars tournament.

John Tortorella and his entire staff are decidedly absent from these proceedings, as is general manager Mike Gillis. Gillis’s assistant GM, Laurence Gilman, was here for just a day before departing Friday at noon to head back to Vancouver for what he called “important organizational meetings.”

What’s particularly odd about the absence of Tortorella and his assistants is the fact that these guys have virtually no knowledge of the players in question — given the coaches are entirely new to the organization, save the goaltender coach Rollie Melanson. You are certainly left scratching your head wondering why they wouldn’t have attended Thursday night’s game, at the very least, and then if these meetings in Vancouver were so frightfully important, flew out first thing Friday morning.

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