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Guillaume Brisebois | D


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There's no doubt that Benning is a hard working, humble guy with strong roots in scouting. But IMO, his ability as a "talent" evaluator is over-rated.

We all agree that Benning was the de-facto head of scouting while wearing the AGM hat during his tenure with the Bruins. Do you know how many of those players drafted while Benning was with the Bruins have played over 50 NHL games? Six. Count 'em...six. That's six in the 6 years that he was fully engaged with the Bruins.

One was a no brainer (Tyler vs. Taylor).

The others are Dougie Hamilton (178 games), Jordan Caron (159 games), Joe Colborne (160 games), Ryan Spooner (60 games) and Craig Cunningham (59 games). It can be argued that there is a decent stable of young players playing in Providence (Camara, Ferlin, Khoklachev, Subban to name a few), but until they play in the NHL, all they are are promising prospects.

You know what else five of the guys that were drafted under Benning's watch have in common? They all ply their trade in a city other than Boston.

Though I'm optimistic about what Benning brings to the table as far as talent analysis and accumulation, let's be a little realistic about the man and the circumstances that dictate whether he is as good as you make him out to be.

You make some fair points and I think you might be right. However, I'd like to evaluate JB's scouting skills based on the next few years that he's on the Canucks before saying he is good or bad now that he gets to make all the final decisions.

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Benning said this during the summer summit. He was targeted by the team for a pick in the 2nd round. Impossible to say if he would have been picked by Vancouver had they got a 2nd round pick because we don't know which pick it would have been or who else was available on their list. Benning's comment was clear that Brisebois was one of the guys they wanted to get with a 2nd round pick though.

Benning also cannot pronounce Guillaume's first name. Benning says GILL-EE-AM, but it is pronounced GUY-HOMME.

What mangosteens said^^^.

Except there is no "i" after "ll" in Guillaume Brisebois' name.

Benning should just make it easy on himself and call Guillaume Brisebois Billy or Willy (you know, the anglo equivalent).

Edited by bigbadcanucks
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Benning on Brisebois- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

Benning on Sbisa- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

That kind of scares the sh*t out of me. JB's got a good track record of identifying forward talent, but he's not been very good at drafting D.

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Benning on Brisebois- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

Benning on Sbisa- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

That kind of scares the sh*t out of me. JB's got a good track record of identifying forward talent, but he's not been very good at drafting D.

It's possible that Briesbois can be a top-4 dman for us when the team is good and contending in the far future.

It's also possible for Sbisa to be a top-4 dman for us when we're ripping the team apart and rebuilding. ;)

I don't know about you, but I'd even want Sbisa to be our top D pairing if we're contending for the 1st. Hahaha.

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You make some fair points and I think you might be right. However, I'd like to evaluate JB's scouting skills based on the next few years that he's on the Canucks before saying he is good or bad now that he gets to make all the final decisions.

The only thing that I'm remotely right about is tempering expectations with a little dose of reality...other than that, I'm most likely talking out of my @$$, because honestly, I'm not a hockey insider so all I can base my comments on are historical stats.

We all have high hopes that Benning is going to recreate some of the drafting magic he showed when he was with Buffalo (where he built his reputation), but as you say we gotta give the man a chance to show what he can do.

Benning's the guy who scouted Zach Hamill...you know, the rock star from Coquitlam who probably needs re-constructive surgery for his nose septum and that amounted to being a big zero in the NHL.

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Benning on Brisebois- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

Benning on Sbisa- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

That kind of scares the sh*t out of me. JB's got a good track record of identifying forward talent, but he's not been very good at drafting D.

That would scare me if we'd drafted a toolsy but questionable IQ prospect like Kylington. Considering Brisebois is lauded for how well he thinks the game defensively and isn't "good in scrums" like Sbisa, I'm not sure one makes me any more wary of the other. It's like thinking Tanev must be a crummy defender because Benning thinks he is a top 4 guy just like Sbisa.

Being wrong about Sbisa doesn't mean he is automatically wrong about everything else.

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The only thing that I'm remotely right about is tempering expectations with a little dose of reality...other than that, I'm most likely talking out of my @$$, because honestly, I'm not a hockey insider so all I can base my comments on are historical stats.

We all have high hopes that Benning is going to recreate some of the drafting magic he showed when he was with Buffalo (where he built his reputation), but as you say we gotta give the man a chance to show what he can do.

Benning's the guy who scouted Zach Hamill...you know, the rock star from Coquitlam who probably needs re-constructive surgery for his nose septum and that amounted to being a big zero in the NHL.

Oh geez... Zach Hamill...

I think you're more right than you think, in that like you mentioned, there is nothing concrete about his draft record.

Anyways... where did Zach Hamill go wrong? What were the holes in his game? What is the story behind his nose?

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Oh geez... Zach Hamill...

I think you're more right than you think, in that like you mentioned, there is nothing concrete about his draft record.

Anyways... where did Zach Hamill go wrong? What were the holes in his game? What is the story behind his nose?

Too much partying. That apparently was the knock on him. Anecdotal evidence that he was living large in the off-season in the lower mainland when he should have been training.

I think he's somewhere in Europe now where he as a small, perimeter player with average skating skills is being fully exploited.

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Benning on Brisebois- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

Benning on Sbisa- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

That kind of scares the sh*t out of me. JB's got a good track record of identifying forward talent, but he's not been very good at drafting D.

Which is bizarre really,because Benning was an NHL defence man ...You would think he would know a thing or two about identifying defensive talent...Its also worth mentioning that he was selected 6th overall,and was rushed into the NHL,never really reaching his perceived potential.

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Some idiot on the radio said that this kid was going to be who the Canucks picked up in round two if they had that pick, and I wanted to slap him through the radio. Where did he get this tidbit? The Canucks? If that's honestly the case, then the Canucks should fire who makes their picklists immediately.

The thing is we've constantly been hearing this bs upsell job for years and years. "Anton Rodin (feather-duster) was going to be who we picked in round one, but Jordan Schroeder (Oompa-Loompa) was available." LOL! Frack me.

It's enough to drive you insane!

I think you're already there IMO.

Edited by Jägermeister
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There's no doubt that Benning is a hard working, humble guy with strong roots in scouting. But IMO, his ability as a "talent" evaluator is over-rated.

We all agree that Benning was the de-facto head of scouting while wearing the AGM hat during his tenure with the Bruins. Do you know how many of those players drafted while Benning was with the Bruins have played over 50 NHL games? Six. Count 'em...six. That's six in the 6 years that he was fully engaged with the Bruins.

Got any proof Benning actually made those picks? His responsibility for drafting began in 2014.

Benning on Sbisa- "we see him as a top 4 d-man for us"

Actually, as I recall he said that Sbisa "could be a top-4 defenceman for us in a couple years." Likewise he said he felt Pedan could be a player for them in a couple years at the time he made the trade. The latter will likely play some games with the Canucks this year, so could well be ahead of projection.

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Oh geez... Zach Hamill...

I think you're more right than you think, in that like you mentioned, there is nothing concrete about his draft record.

Anyways... where did Zach Hamill go wrong? What were the holes in his game? What is the story behind his nose?

Hamill did enough "partying" every week to satisfy a normal persons lifetime. Guy was real scuzzy.

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Everyone's entitled to their opinions even if they have no clue about evaluating talent. I find all these comments about tempering expectations of raw 17 year olds, obviously goes without saying.

JB is evidently passionate about scouting young talent and I trust he's better at it than most armchair critics, so even though we're years away from any reasonable estimate of his Canuck drafting record, we're in good hands, of that there's little doubt.

Criticizing his past record whether in Buffalo or Boston including certain picks in hindsight, is a fools errand since no one knows the specific details of his involvement, whether they were his recommendation or who made the final decisions, and I'm sure JB like every scout has been wrong more often than they've been right.

More Importantly, as JB realizes, these kids are so young that it's near impossible to get it right beyond a very low balance of probabilities and a team on average is very fortunate if a couple of players from each draft crop end up playing for that team.

The know it all critics cherry pick stats to bash JB with, but it would be interesting to hear them name scouts now or in the past that have dramatically better reputations as consistently correct evaluators of talent, than our own JB.

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While QD of low offensive impact and with size to gain at draft age have a very little chance of becoming top-4 NHL defensemen, I think Benning an Co. will somehow buck the trend with this pick. It might take years of development, but the fans should be confident that Benning the drafting genius knows what he is doing. After all, he scouts all these kids personally, and nobody here really does to the same degree, nor do they have the responsibility that comes along with an NHL GM job. It's in his best interest to get all these picks right, whereas fans and youtube scouts here have no real vested interest.

That being said, somebody needed to draft Brisebois at around this pick, and as it turns out, that was going to be the Canucks. I think he has about as fair a chance as any late rounder to surprise, and nobody at this point can honestly prove otherwise. It's not as if all teams can just stop drafting QD because of the lack of overall success they've had in the NHL as of late, Letang and a few others notwithstanding.

The Canucks have always been a team that has gone to the Q for D. Luc Bourdon RIP being the most notable, lately. They've always gone for low-upside tough WHL defensemen as well. As I've said, a team HAS to pick these guys up.

Edited by BanTSN
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There's no doubt that Benning is a hard working, humble guy with strong roots in scouting. But IMO, his ability as a "talent" evaluator is over-rated.

We all agree that Benning was the de-facto head of scouting while wearing the AGM hat during his tenure with the Bruins. Do you know how many of those players drafted while Benning was with the Bruins have played over 50 NHL games? Six. Count 'em...six. That's six in the 6 years that he was fully engaged with the Bruins.

One was a no brainer (Tyler vs. Taylor).

The others are Dougie Hamilton (178 games), Jordan Caron (159 games), Joe Colborne (160 games), Ryan Spooner (60 games) and Craig Cunningham (59 games). It can be argued that there is a decent stable of young players playing in Providence (Camara, Ferlin, Khoklachev, Subban to name a few), but until they play in the NHL, all they are are promising prospects.

You know what else five of the guys that were drafted under Benning's watch have in common? They all ply their trade in a city other than Boston.

Though I'm optimistic about what Benning brings to the table as far as talent analysis and accumulation, let's be a little realistic about the man and the circumstances that dictate whether he is as good as you make him out to be.

While I agree with what you've said, I think what people also fail to see is on the other side. People like to act or seem like Benning was the GM of the Bruins. He was a talent evaluator working for Chiarelli. Chiarelli was still the one calling the shots and making the final decisions. Benning comes to him with guys he likes, and Chiarelli is the one that ultimately chooses who he is going to draft, and especially who he's going to trade. ie) Tyler Seguin.

Still, based on the fact that the entire league sees Benning as a great scout, I trust that he is. Now he is the head GM, so he does get to make the final shots. Now we get to see the scouting prowess for sure. Before he was putting in input, even if heavy input, but now he is the boss making the decision. So far, I've liked his scouting so far. I honestly think his job this year was better than what he did last year.

I also think Guilliame Brisebois has major steal potential. I don't know if you can consider character to be an elite skill, like that kid has an elite shot, or elite skating ability, but Brisebois is like Bo Horvat in the fact that he has elite character. I'm confident he's going to make it to the big club, and he's going to be an impact player.

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