Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Vancouver GM Mike Gillis to bring news straight to fans via Twitter

Mike Gillis

Vancouver Canucks’ general manager Mike Gillis listens to a reporter’s question during a news conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday, May 14, 2009. The Canucks have nine unrestricted free agents and four restricted free agents. Goaltender Roberto Luongo, defenseman Willie Mitchell and forward Ryan Kesler are all entering the final year of their NHL hockey contracts. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Darryl Dyck)

AP

While some hockey players are struggling with Twitter as a medium to connect with their fans, one NHL team general manager is going to join up to help bring direct contact and open communication to the forefront. Matthew Sekeres of the Globe and Mail tells us about how Vancouver GM Mike Gillis looks to break down the fourth wall.

Gillis, whose club enters the 2010-11 NHL campaign with Stanley Cup expectations raging across British Columbia, said Canuck Nation wants to be engaged via Twitter, and that social media can be used to cultivate young fans. He also acknowledged that Twitter means he can communicate directly with the public, minus the traditional media filter that has occasionally frustrated him during two years atop the franchise.

“Social media is not something that is going to go away, and I think it’s a way to get a little bit of a different perspective out there,” Gillis said. “We’ll test it out and see if it works.”

Twitter might become an important resource over the next fortnight when a couple of thorny issues - Roberto Luongo’s captaincy, and Cody Hodgson’s back - arise for Canucks management.

This makes for a strange twist on the fan/media/organization love triangle that exists in modern sport. Gillis opting to take his message directly to fans via Twitter is a fascinating one because trying to side-step your hometown writers in a way doesn’t generally go over too well. If you’re expecting juicy tidbits of information and brash sounding off, however, you’re better off looking elsewhere to get unfiltered chatter on Twitter. I’d expect that Gillis will be very company man-esque and PR friendly in his tweets about what’s going on with the Canucks.

Of course, if he opts to come out swinging and get tough on say... Roberto Luongo after Luongo throws his defensemen under the bus after a bad game, then we’ll have something. Nonetheless, it’s still a fascinating move for both Gillis and the Canucks to want to take their news right to the fans, I just hope that it pays off in getting access that we would never get before.