It’s tough to try and encapsulate Mike Gillis’s tenure as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks without surmising that the former player agent had the most successful run of anyone who’s ever held the position.

With a Stanley Cup Final appearance and two President’s Trophies, along with five division titles in six years as Vancouver’s GM, it’s not a particularly close competition.

Indeed, the only other person who has any rational claim to the title is the late Pat Quinn.

And while Gillis’s run might have been a case of being in the right place at the right time, it’s hard to argue with the results the Sudbury native achieved.

Gillis has been out of hockey (other than a stint advising Geneve-Servette of the Swiss National League) since the Canucks fired him in 2014. But he recently resurfaced with a tell-all interview on TSN 1040.

There were a few interesting tidbits from Gillis, especially in the areas of drafting (he wishes he revamped the club’s scouting staff earlier), the fallout from the 2011 Stanley Cup run (“I don’t think I’ll ever be over 2011”) and the John Tortorella era (“it wasn’t a fit”).

But buried in there was a question about the NHL’s reported expansion to Seattle and whether Gillis would welcome the chance to lead another franchise.

"If they flattered me enough by asking if I was interested, I'd be most definitely interested," said Gillis. "I'm hopeful to have a discussion with them."

Seattle may be awarded a franchise at December’s board of governors meeting and from there things could move quite fast.

Former Dallas Stars and Arizona Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett is an advisor to Seattle’s ownership group and has indicated a GM search would take place in the spring.

He also said "[the] general manager I think is somebody who has done that job at the NHL level before. I really think that's important in an expansion team."

There aren’t that many ex-general managers just lying around waiting for another chance, and certainly none that have experience in the Pacific Northwest. (Sorry, we don’t think Dave Nonis will be a candidate.)

The groundwork has obviously been laid with the Vegas Golden Knights, who improbably made the Stanley Cup Final in their first season. So the Seattle Whatevers won’t get an easy ride in their inaugural campaign, as the Knights showed that success can be achieved in a team’s first season.

It would be interesting to see how the Canucks faithful reacts to a Mike Gillis-led Seattle rival. Feelings of jealousy might be hard to hide from two hours away.

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