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Mike Gillis refuses to address John Tortorella’s status, whether he lost room

Mike Gillis refuses to address John Tortorella’s status, whether he lost room

Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis, admittedly, has had a tough couple of days since his team yielded seven third-period goals to the New York Islanders. “When you're not performing up to a standard that you think is acceptable, it's never easy,” he said, at the GM meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., on Wednesday.

It’s bad for Gillis’s Canucks, as The Province surmised:

“Tortorella is in the crosshairs because of a 2-11-1 slide, his tunnel tirade to get to Bob Hartley that didn’t help morale and a preoccupation with push and pace. It has led to a rash of injuries and indifferent play and the inability to maintain consistency or have anything left in the tank.”

This had led to critics saying these are “fireable offences.”

So are they, Mike Gillis?

“Well, there's a lot of rumor and speculation out there, and for me to comment on it would lend some degree of credibility to it, which is not something that's good for anybody. I think right now we have to get behind our team and behind our players and behind our coaching staff and try and win some hockey games.”

So, is Tortorella safe this season?

“That’s rumour and speculation. I'm not commenting on that because then it just lends credibility to what's out there with bloggers and all kinds of different people. So it's unfair to comment on any future plans other than what we've already said, which is we're trying to get younger, we're trying to retool and we're trying to do some things a little differently the next one, three, five years.”

[Bloggers. Like The Province.]

Has Tortorella lost the room?

“I'm not going to comment about specific things with John. I think it's unfair to him, it's unfair to our team and it's unfair to all of us that are responsible for what's going on.”

OK. So no vote of confidence for Tortorella beyond "get behind our coaching staff."

Gillis also addressed his letter to the fans and the future of the Canucks. “This is a time of transition for our hockey club. We have to recognize it,” he said. “We maintained last summer that we needed to start to think about how to become really competitive again, and we're in that process and we're going to carry it through. Our only objective is to win the Stanley Cup. We have to find ways to do it, and you go through cycles and this is a cycle that we're going through and we have to find ways to make change.”

Hey remember when the Sedins would cycle? Under the last guy?