Great pick by Benning. Top quality defencemen are always undervalued until you need one, and it's good to see he saw beyond the hype of the other forwards not taken in the top 4. With the unexpected arrival of Hutton, Tryamkin's debut, and the acquisition
of Gudbranson and Juolevi, our defense looks well built compared to the patchwork we had last year.
Defence also helps offence too. The sooner we take the puck away from the other team, the sooner our forwards can take the play to the other end of the ice and generate offence. Our team last year was terrible in our own zone, and it decreased our offensive time, increased the risk of injury, and ultimately led to our spiral to the bottom of the league. If the quality of your forwards is an indication of your offensive ceiling, then the quality of your defence is your offensive floor and the Canucks fell through the floor last year.