BCBusiness

26 BCBusiness June 2015 peTer hoLsT Vancouver Canucks BACK IN THE GAME T revor Linden didn't need a comeback. "I was doing my thing and happy doing it," Linden says, recalling that far-o spring of 2014. His Club 16 •tness business was humming along, and Linden had a steady stream of corporate speaking engagements. "Life was good," he says. For his former employers, not so good. Just three years after the Canucks had hosted Game 7 of the Stan- ley Cup Finals, general manager Mike Gillis and coach John Tortorella were overseeing a team that would be starting the NHL playos on the golf course. Owner Fran- cesco Aquilini wanted a fresh start. Why not call the most popular player in franchise history? A no-brainer for the Canucks owner perhaps, but a trickier decision for Linden. "The one thing I heard from some very in‡uential people was, 'You've got a good reputation, people like you—why would you put yourself in that spot?'" Linden says. "I was kind of like the backup quar- terback: everyone liked me because I hadn't made a mis- take. It was a storybook ending when I •nished my career here in '08. Not many athletes get that sort of send-o. Why jeopardize that?" Yet the pull of the organization was strong. "I was 43 years old. I was never going to go work in Minnesota or St. Louis or Carolina. The only place I would ever work was here. And here is the opportunity. If it's ever something I thought I'd want to do, now's the time." But if he was going to accept responsibility for the team's future, he needed the responsibility to call the shots. "I told Francesco, 'I trust my ability to make good decisions; I trust my judgment.' I asked him to trust me. I need to have the autonomy to bring in the people I feel I need to bring in, that share the same philosophy and belief." Linden took over April 9, 2014, as president respon- sible for hockey operations, including coaching, scout- ing, player procurement and development, and minor league aˆliations and operations. Struggling businesses are often urged to focus on fundamentals, and for the Canucks' new president that meant scouting. Replacing Gillis with Jim Benning, a man with an extensive scout- ing background, was key to Linden's philosophy. "The lifeblood of our organization is our amateur scouting," Linden says. "We wanted to improve our direction to [scouts] and improve the accountability we hold them to—not unlike what we ask of the guys on the ice." Linden's arrival in the Canucks head oˆce also hap- pened to coincide with the expiry of the team's 20-year deal with arena caterer Aramark. It meant that the rethink Linden had been brought in to mastermind extended to the o-ice product. "I think we had to re- identify how we wanted to interact with our key stake- holders—our season ticket holders, our corporate suite holders, our corporate partners," Linden says. "And that dovetailed with the whole hospitality element, re- thinking the experience from the minute you walk in to the minute you leave, how you're greeted at the door, the service at the wine bar, service at the concession stand, the quality of food, being able to take control of that from Aramark, move it in-house and have a level of service and food that was up to the Canucks standard. [ COO] Victor De Bonis and [executive VP and arena GM] Michael Doyle put in hours and hours, had to hire a thousand people. It was a massive undertaking to bring our standard of service and food quality up to the premium brand that the Vancouver Canucks are." Still, Linden's main job involves the on-ice product. While he says post-season play remains mission number one—"We're focused 100 per cent on making the play- os," he insisted when BCBusiness talked to him earlier in 2015—it's also clear that short-term goals will not trump long-range planning. "We are not going to sacri•ce our future. We have to build from within," Linden says. "The focus of our organization is not just the players on the ice tonight but the big picture—the AHL (American Hockey League), prospect development, what's happening at the amateur level." Linden is a friend and sometime skiing/mountain bik- ing partner of Harbour Air's Greg McDougall (see p.28) and sees a connection between the Canucks' situation and those of the other companies described here. "I think the one thing that's consistent with the businesses you talk about is that when you fail, you have to have a very hard look at yourself," Linden says. "Where you are, why you're there, and what you're going to do about it. We're still going through that now. It's a work in progress." Norsat SHOOTING FOR THE STARS I t's not one silver bullet, says Norsat CEO Amiee Chan. "More like a dozen bronze bullets." In 2006, Norsat needed a straight shooter. When Chan took over the top job, it was a $13 mil- THE GREAT TURNAROUND "I think we had to re-identify how we wanted to interact with our key stake- holders—our season ticket holders, our corporate suite holders, our corporate partners. And that dovetailed with the whole hospitality element" —Trevor Linden

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