Scott Bonner worked with the Giants from 2001-2017 as a General Manager and Executive VP of Hockey Operations. During this time, he helped lead the Giants to their 2007 Memorial Cup Championship. During a recent interview, Bonner relives his time as Giants GM and discusses his new profession as a player agent.
Building a New Franchise:
Scott Bonner was one of the first hires Ron Toigo announced after Vancouver was granted their new franchise. Bonner and Toigo had worked together for 10 years in Tri-City before moving to Vancouver. When discussing how to build the team, Bonner suggested slowly and through the draft. When you build through the draft the first few years, you create a better prospect system rather than spending draft picks for short term players. This allowed the Giants to draft early cornerstone pieces like Gilbert Brule and Mark Fistric. The plan worked and within five seasons, the Giants were off to the Memorial Cup.
Working With Your Family:
Scott Bonner describes the Giants’ organization as a “big family”. Ron Toigo, Gordie Howe, and Pat Quinn were able to create a positive environment within the team where everyone felt valued. On top of his work family, Bonner had the opportunity to work with his father Terry and brother Craig. Craig worked as Scott’s assistant GM and assistant coach from 2002-2007. His father Terry on the other hand came on as head scout after their Memorial Cup win in 2007 until 2016.
Working with family can be difficult sometimes but Bonner describes the experience as a positive one. “There were times where we would clash but we got along remarkably well”. In hockey as well as family life, you are going to argue, but Bonner describes the entire scenario as “living the dream”. Having support when you are brought into a new situation is important, and Scott Bonner had plenty from his real family and his new hockey family.
Draft and Develop:
When a new team enters the league, they can choose to be competitive right away, or build and develop through the draft. Scott Bonner decided that the best way to win a championship was to collect as many picks as possible to build and grow the team. By building the team this way, they were able to pick up cornerstone pieces throughout the draft. Jonathan Blum was drafted in the seventh round in 2004 and was a key contributor to the Memorial Cup teams. Tim Kraus was a seventh-rounder in 2003 who was second on the team in 2006-2007 in points. Bonner’s plan worked to perfection and saw the Giants make their first Memorial Cup within five seasons.
2005-2006 Season
By building through the draft, the Giants were able to assemble what Bonner calls “the best team in the history of the franchise”. This team had future NHLers like Cody Franson, Gilbert Brule, Mark Fistric, and Milan Lucic. After a 47 win season, the Giants made it through the playoffs and on to the Memorial Cup in Moncton. For his work assembling the team, Bonner was named WHL Executive of the Year. Unfortunately for the Giants, they could not find a way to bring the trophy back home. Bonner says that one of the reasons the team did not do well was a lack of experience. “We learned lessons in Moncton on how to play in the Memorial Cup,” says Bonner. This experience would prove important as the Giants would find themselves host to the tournament the next year.
2006-2007 Season
The 2006-2007 season was an important season for the Giants as they were the hosts of the Memorial Cup. The team lost some key contributors in Brule and Fistirc but were able to replace them with late-round Bantam Draft pick Craig Cunningham and late-season acquisition Wacey Rabbit. The Giants made it all the way through the Western Conference where they faced Medicine Hat in the Championship. After a hard-fought battle, the Giants fell in Game 7 OT. Although the Giants did not repeat as WHL champions, Bonner and his team were focused on the bigger trophy, the Memorial Cup.
Because Vancouver was the host, they automatically gained access to the tournament. Unlike some hosts that get knocked out of the playoffs early, the Giants proved that they deserved to be there with their effort in the playoffs. After going 2-1 in the preliminary round, the Giants booked themselves a place in the semi-finals where they smacked Plymouth 8-1. In order to win the finals, Bonner and the Giants would have to take down the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Giants scored the winning goal with less than five minutes left to win the game 3-1. Bonner’s strategy of building through the draft worked, and the Giants were champions.
(Chris Relke/ Vancouver Giants)
Milan Lucic:
During the Memorial Cup, we saw the emergence of a superstar in Milan Lucic. This was a player who was never drafted but was scouted by Bonner’s team out of the BCHL. Lucic would go on to be named Memorial Cup MVP and have one of the most exciting shifts in junior hockey history. Three huge hits ending with a fight brought everyone in the Pacific Coliseum to their feet. This was another example of how Bonner’s patience through drafting and developing played a key part in the Giants winning their only title so far in franchise history.
A Difficult Decade:
After the Giants win in 2007, other WHL teams started poaching staff from Bonner’s team. His brother Craig was offered the General Managers’ job in Kelowna, as well as losing scouts to teams across the league. Other WHL teams saw the success that the Giants were having through the draft, and tried to emulate it. The Giants also paid a price for having success by late draft picks. They never made it back to the WHL finals and missed the playoffs in four of the next 10 seasons.
The Giants still had some great players during this decade but struggled. Players like Brendan Gallagher, Brett Kulak, Craig Cunnigham, and Evander Kane all had successful individual careers but did not have the team around them for long playoff runs. After missing the playoffs in his last 3 seasons, Bonner decided it was time for a change and started his life as a player agent.
(Chris Relke/ Vancouver Giants)
Brendan Gallagher:
Another one of Bonner’s late-round finds, Gallagher turned into one of the greatest players in franchise history. Taken 195th in 2007, Gallagher exceeded all expectations and become the franchise leader in points. Gallagher is a player who never gives up, and is not afraid to get to the front of the net. Bonner and his team were able to develop Gallagher into the player he is today. Gallagher and Bonner have stayed connected since leaving junior as Gallagher is a client of The Sports Corporation. Bonner and his team recently helped Gallagher sign a massive 6-year/$39 million contract this past season. The relationship between these two was strong in junior and has continued throughout the years.
The Sports Corporation:
The Sports Corporation is a highly successful player agency company whose clients include Brayden Point, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan Getzlaf, and Sebastian Aho. The President and CEO of the organization, Gerry Johannson is a long-time friend of Bonner. Bonner and Johansson’s friendship goes back to 1988 when they both worked for Tri-City. This allowed Bonner to get a foot in the door and become part of the team.
Player agents start to sign players at the age of 14 and 15 generally. The biggest challenge Bonner identified is knowing the player not just on the ice, but off it. “You have to watch who you represent,” Bonner says. “You have to know everything about the player before you can be sure you want to represent them”. There is a lot of background work that goes into signing a young player to ensure that the player’s character does not hurt the company. There are some similarities between being a GM and a player agent in this regard. Although these kids are younger, they need to be respectful, or else they may lose out on the chance to play.
COVID-19 Challenges:
There are major difficulties right now with COVID and finding players teams to play for. Bonner explains that his team is a little reluctant to send younger players over to Europe due to uncertainties with the virus. “The health of the players is the most important thing we are focusing on right now”. “There are also not as many opportunities as some European leagues have caps on how many players they can bring in from overseas,” Bonner says. This means his team has to focus on Junior A and Junior B teams across Canada. They also have to ensure that players can return to their Junior teams when the season restarts. These are all new challenges that Bonner is facing but has confidence he can help his players in whatever way is needed.
Wall of Honour:
(Rik Fedyck/Vancouver Giants)
This past season, the Giants added Bonner to their Wall of Honour. Without the work that Scott Bonner and his team put in, the Giants would not be the success they are today. From staying patient and building through the draft, Bonner was able to build exciting teams. Keeping players with the team allowed fans to grow connected to these players. Players like Lucic, Gallagher, and Evander Kane are players Giants fans follow constantly. Without patience and drafting, these are players we may have never seen in Vancouver. Bonner made this franchise successful and is deserving of his place upon the Wall of Honour.
