The Vancouver Canucks have named former captain Trevor Linden as the teams new president of hockey operations and alternate governor. “Today is a real honour," Linden said. "I came to Vancouver 26 years ago and I have never left. I love this city. It is my home and the Canucks have always been part of my family." "Im passionate about the Canucks and I want to win – just like the Canucks fans do," he added. "I believe Im ready for this challenge. Im passionate about this team and I want to win." Francesco Aquilini, chairman of Canucks Sports and Entertainment offered glowing praise of the captain-turned-president. "We believe in Trevors leadership abilities," he said. "His 20 years of NHL experience including seven as team captain, his role as NHLPA President, community leader and businessman offers a very special skill set; one that will positively shape the direction of this club in the future." Speaking on the succession plan for replacing Mike Gillis, who was dismissed as general manager on Tuesday, Linden said that he has a multitude of options to explore and has already begun looking. "Thats a process that I have to thoroughly evaluate," Linden said when asked about the GM search. "We will do a general manager search from both within and outside our organization." With only three games remaining in the regular season, the Canucks announced that Gillis was fired after the team was officially eliminated from postseason contention. The Canucks were also eliminated in the first round in each of the last two seasons after falling one win short of a Stanley Cup in 2011. "I have a profile of a general manager that I would like," Linden said Wednesday. "Now its about putting a candidate list together. Thats a critical path." He would add that he will operate with "full autonomy" as Canucks president and will make all decisions on hockey operations. Linden also expressed his intention to have a new general manager in place by the 2014 NHL Draft, scheduled for June 27-28 in Philadelphia. Under first-year head coach John Tortorella, they sit 11th in the Western Conference. And as for Tortorellas future with the Canucks, Linden said theres no hurry to decide. "Any sort of coaching decision will be made in due time, after a thorough evaluation," he said at Wednesdays introductory news conference. Aquilini elaborated on the need for a new man at the top of the Canucks hockey department. "We came from within one game of winning a Stanley Cup [in 2011], and it was time for a change," he said. Aquilini added that he would not stop short of pointing the finger at his recently-dismissed GM and his current coach. ""Mike (Gillis) hired Tortorella and Im responsible for that and thats why we have a change in direction today," he explained. Linden would not offer up any theories as to what led to the Canucks failure to make the playoffs this season, but pointed to the timing of the decision as beneficial to getting answers. Linden said hed use this coming week to talk to coaches and players and conduct a "thorough review" of the season. "Ill reserve comment until I have more detail," Linden concluded. Gillis came to the organization in April of 2008, taking over for the fired Dave Nonis. He turned a club which had missed out on the postseason in two of the previous three seasons and built them back up into a contender, snagging five straight playoff berths, five Northwest Division titles and two straight Presidents Trophies (2011, 2012). "On behalf of my entire family, I would like to sincerely thank Mike Gillis for his hard work and the many contributions he made on and off the ice during his tenure," said Aquilini in a statement on Tuesday. "The Vancouver Canucks had success under Mikes leadership, and we nearly reached our ultimate goal; but I believe we have reached a point where a change in leadership and new voice is needed. "I also want to thank our fans for their support for the Vancouver Canucks through a difficult and frustrating season," continued Aquilini. "We havent met their expectations or ours. We are committed to bringing the Stanley Cup to Vancouver for our fans and we will continue to do everything possible to reach that goal." Linden played 16 seasons with the Canucks and is the franchise leader in games played. As team captain from 1991 to 1997, he helped lead the Canucks to their second-ever appearance in the Stanley Cup final in 1994. Yasmany Tomas Jersey . Goins is the early favourite to win the starting job at second base. Pillar is an outsider to secure a role off the bench, which becomes an even more difficult spot to win if the number of back up jobs is reduced by one. 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Since then Seager just keeps hitting home runs and Seattle has started to see some wins. Seager hit a pair of homers Sunday, including a three-run shot in the eighth, to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 6-5 comeback win against the Texas Rangers. Seager has five homers in his last four games, a power surge that started with a two-homer game against the Astros on Wednesday. Before that game, Seager was hitting .156 with no home runs and two RBI, a slump that matched the teams performance -- Seattle lost its eighth straight game Tuesday. In the four games since, hes gone 8 for 15, added five homers and 11 RBI and raised his season average to .228 while the Mariners have won three of the four. Hes also had at least two hits in all four games, tying a career-best streak. "Its been a good run. I think if you continue to stay with the program and not panic, hopefully itll come around sooner or later," Seager said. "Its been feeling good for a little while. The results obviously werent what I was hoping for, but it was starting to come around." The Mariners fell behind 5-0 to Texas early before Seager led the late rally. Seager led off the seventh inning with his first home run and then gave Seattle the lead with his two-out shot down the right field line in the eighth off Alexi Ogando (1-2). "Theres nothing like positive results," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "When you start to get some positive results you feel better about what youre doing and how youre doing it." The comeback victory also gave the Mariners their first home series win against Texas since September 2012. The homers more than made up for an earlier missed opportunity, when Seager struck out with the bases loaded to end the fourth inning. "I thought we had him for a minute," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I thought he was slumping. But I guess hes not." Danny Farquhar (1-0) pitched the eighth to earn the win and Fernando Rodney closed out the ninth for his fifth save. Rangers starter Matt Harrison made his first appearance in more than a year, giving up two runs on three hits in six innings. Harrison was acttivated from the disabled list before the game to make his first appearance since April 6, 2013.dddddddddddd Harrison was the Rangers opening day starter last season but only pitched two games before going on the disabled list with an inflamed nerve in his lower back. He had two back surgeries in a nine-day span a year ago, and another surgery on his right side in September. He battled stiffness in his back and neck during spring training, starting the season on the disabled list. "Glad to be back," Harrison said. "Its been a long road." Harrison had no problems in the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters he faced. But a lengthy top of the fourth -- the Rangers had eight batters and scored three runs to take the 5-0 lead -- seemed to affect Harrison as he came out for the bottom of the inning. Harrison walked Michael Saunders to lead off the fourth, and Robinson Cano got the Mariners first hit with a one-out, run-scoring double. Harrison gave up another single and a walk to load the bases with two outs before Seagers strikeout. Harrison gave up another run in the sixth when Cano singled and later scored on Harrisons wild pitch to cut the Rangers lead to 5-2. Seattle starter Brandon Maurer was knocked out in the fourth inning after giving up five runs on seven hits, but the Mariners bullpen -- Seattle used six pitchers on the day -- gave up just one hit the rest of the way. "They saved us," McClendon said. "Its hard to win games when your bullpen is giving you four, five innings. Its hard to win, and they shut it down. They threw up zeros." NOTES: McClendon gave his usual Nos. 1 and 2 hitters -- OF Abraham Almonte and SS Brad Miller -- the day off. Both players have been struggling offensively, with Almonte hitting .204 and Miller .174. "Well give them both some time off and hopefully theyll bounce back," McClendon said. ... Texas optioned IF Luis Sardinas to Double-A Frisco before the game. There had been speculation the Rangers would place OF Shin-Soo Choo, who hasnt played since his hurting his left ankle at Oakland on Monday, on the DL to make room for Harrison. Washington said the Rangers are waiting to see if Choo will be able to play soon. ' ' '