Jim Benning Review?

[kloubek]

I think his vision for the team is dead-on.  Of course, that has to do with Linden and ownership as well.

 

How he's done in drafting and developing somewhat remains to be seen, but it looks pretty good.

 

His trades have been where he falls flat, in my opinion.  We tend to give up the extra bit to all trades we make, and that gets tiresome. 

[nux_win]

10 hours ago, Bertuzzi44ever said:

3/10.

 

we have to rate on results not potential and even if we did that there isn't much to go on.

 

this team has absolutely no future elite talent unless demko, juolevi and boeser all go to plan and then better then expected but what are the chances of that happening.

 

his trades are not very good.

 

and for all the praise of his drafting skills it remains to be seen.

 

 

Well, he's won zero cups so far, so I guess by your logic that means that he should get 0/10?  You say there is "absolutely no future elite talent" and then you go on to contradict yourself.  Nothing is guaranteed.  His trades have been very good.  Real Gud.  Don't forget that there are 29 other GMs out there all trying to out do each other.  We're not going to land every top UFA and get a steal on every trade.  The real NHL doesn't work that way.  But Jim has been doing better than average.  The results are that we have a better team now and better prospects on the way. 

 

You do make at least one good point though, it has to translate into wins on the ice.  And I think it will.  I think the "experts" that picked the Canucks to come in dead last this year are dead wrong and in for a big surprise.  I think that we can even compete for a playoff spot right now with this current team if everybody can buy into a winning attitude.  And I think that Jim and Trev are going to add at least one more NHL caliber player before camp starts as well.  It's not always about having the biggest names anyway, it's about guys wanting to play for each other.  I like that we have lots of "fringe" players competing for jobs, that's what makes the players hungry and we need that.  GCG!

[Fred65]

First of all the previous administration also recognized the need for a major chnage too. Unfortunately  Aqualinni wanted to try and solve it his way first ( enter Tortorella ) it was only after it became apparent that this wouldn't work plus the fact that Tortorella said as much himself when he left did Aquallini accept this route.

 

This provided JB with a much better opportunity and scope to make the changes needed. Some have worked and some have failed miserably. But all in all JB is starting to sort the chaff from the seed ...but there's still lots of sorting needed and some of this is JB's own making. The teams younger and yet still has no clear picture of who fills the Sedin void when they leave. He wants youth but it has to be the right youth. There's not a lot of benefit to the Etems, Veys, Megna & Granlunds of the world, in fact I'd go as far as to say Zalewski is better than any of them.  IMO Virtanen ( who will be an NHL player ) was a waste of the highest pick Vcr has had in decades. Baertschi on the other hand has a chance to become a quality player. That's 1 out of 4 ie a 25% success rate. Not some thing to write home about. I think his management of Desjardine is questionable. PLus some of his choices can be questioned. I remember a short video they made early in his Vcr days in which he stated " I see Sbisa as a top 4 defenseman"  Oh yeah   .only you and Santa Claus see it that way. He would have done better to have taken Bonino + a 1st + a 2nd round pick. Let Sbisa screw up or sit in the press box in Ducksville.

 

His scouting ability is getting mixed up with his management abilities and Linden is not exactly any thing other than a shoulder to lean on and a PR man.

 

We need a GM much like Lou Lamoriello plus JB as head of scouting. It would have been nice to have retained some intellect by keeping Laurence Gillman IMO if for no other reason than to question and debate trades but it seems one of JB's flaws is he doesn't take kindly to friendly dissent. Wisebrod who's claim to fame is a BA in English speaks well but frankly IMHO doesn't add much more he waxes poetically at the scouting meetings but his choices are not good.

 

So if we're going to give him a mark liked a essay in high school I'd certainly never give him a gold start and would mark him 5/5. You can argue about picks like Boeser but that's as much about who fell to him at that draft position ie 23rd O/A. Other Gm's failure rather than his insightfulness. When he stepped up at the #6 pick 2 years previously he selected Virtanen which is a much better review of his scouting acumen, He left Nylander, Larkin and Robby Fabri to others.

 

here's an interesting article

 

http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2016/2/23/10813822/history-of-canucks-gm-jim-bennings-trades-signings-draft-picks 

 

His scouting days in Boston in my mind will always be drafting Zack Hamill in the first and trading Seguin for Ericksson.

 

He certainly doesn't have the ability to walk on water 

[Inge34]

JB has done exactly what he said he was going to do. He has made the team younger and faster.

 

Yes, he has done exactly what every one of us wanted, maybe not the way we wanted but what we wanted....a teardown, a rebuild, a retool.... He inherited a team that just finished 36 35 11 for 83 points -27 goals difference. A team that just traded Lou; a team that had Kesler force himself out; a team that was too slow and the core was "stale". 

 

We are 2 seasons into the process and there are only 6 hold overs from the end of the MGTorts Era, Sedins, Hansen, Burrows, Edler, and Tanev. JB has brought in Erickson, Virtanen, Baertschi, Etem, Dorsett, Granlund, Sutter, Sbisa, Gudbranson, Tryamkin and Miller to the starting lineup. 

 

He has drafted quite well, though we won't really know for a few years. But he has added Pedan, Larson, Demko, Boesner, Joilevi, Briesbous, Stetcher, Gaudette, Olsen to the prospect pool. MGTorts had prospects too, Markstrom, Hutton, Horvat, Gaunce, Grenier, Subban, Cassels, Rodin. Some are on the team now.

 

He has kept his three first rounders and added another in the Kesler trade but has traded away 3 2nd rounders. He has signed talent but has let some slip away. He has moved players young and old, He has traded picks but has received young prospects.

 

We finished 31 38 13 for 75 points -53 goal difference last season but even though we had a worse season then the Torts season, I feel hope. We are younger, we are faster, we are tougher to play against, we still have veteran core and we have better prospects. Though we still are looking for some replacements for the Sedins.

 

Has JB been perfect...no way, but has JB been a Milbury....not even close. He has done everything he said he was going to do but has made some mistakes along the way. I feel far more confident with JB then I ever did with MG. 

 

So with that been said, the OP wanted to know how I would rate him. 8/10

[LaBamba]

4/10

[Toews]

His drafting seems promising but it's far too early to judge how he has done.

 

I think the pro-scouting has really let the Canucks down. 

 

Contracts are a mixed bag. The Dorsett, Sbisa and Miller contracts were not good ones. Vrbata is a wash as he was good one year, bad the other. Tanev was his best signing but he should have been extended the year JB was hired.

 

Overall: 4/10.

 

Drafting and a couple of decent trades don't compensate for some rather poor trades and signings.

[Fred65]

1 minute ago, Toews said:

His drafting seems promising but it's far too early to judge how he has done.

 

I think the pro-scouting has really let the Canucks down. 

 

Contracts are a mixed bag. The Dorsett, Sbisa and Miller contracts were not good ones. Vrbata is a wash as he was good one year, bad the other. Tanev was his best signing but he should have been extended the year JB was hired.

 

Overall: 4/10.

 

Drafting and a couple of decent trades don't compensate for some rather poor trades and signings.

Keep in mind it was Gillis ( the bad boy ) who signed Tanev as a FA but JB did re-sign him. I agree wholeheartedly about the Pro scouting badly in need of a review

[Toews]

50 minutes ago, Fred65 said:

Keep in mind it was Gillis ( the bad boy ) who signed Tanev as a FA but JB did re-sign him. I agree wholeheartedly about the Pro scouting badly in need of a review

Yeah was referring to the extension. Credit to JB as well as Tanev, he could have received 5.5-6M on the open market especially considering the contracts that Staal and Girardi got.

[Adarsh Sant]

9 hours ago, shattenkirk8 said:

OP's favorite trade was the Gud trade, but the least favorite with the Kesler? You realize that the Gudbranson trade wouldn't have happened if we didn't acquire the pick we used on McCann in the Kesler trade right? Your favorite trade was a building block off your least favorite trade... Funny how that works

 

The Gudbranson trade still would have happened, just with different prospect. Anyways that wasn't the part I didn't like. Getting the 1st rounder was good, but I would have preferred one 2nd liner instead of Sbisa and Bonino.

[Kevin Biestra]

Maybe 7 / 10.

 

People are really giving him a pass on giving up on Bonino, who just achieved more than we can really ever hope for from Sutter in the years to come.

 

He's a little free-spending with his contract signings.  Always feels like he gives $200-500K more than he has to.

 

Grabbing Gudbranson is genius when you look at the Taylor Hall trade.

 

He did a good job to get anything at all for Jensen.

 

For someone who got a 3rd rounder for a quality player like Lack, he tosses away 2nd rounders in trades somewhat liberally.

 

Some decent drafting.  Some VERY questionable and unnecessary trades like Shinkaruk.

 

All in all, he seems to be rebuilding effectively but his record is far from perfect.

[CeeBee51]

7/10  Next year it might be higher or it might be lower. Hard to judge so soon with young players and draft picks.

[Kevin Biestra]

10 hours ago, shattenkirk8 said:

OP's favorite trade was the Gud trade, but the least favorite with the Kesler? You realize that the Gudbranson trade wouldn't have happened if we didn't acquire the pick we used on McCann in the Kesler trade right? Your favorite trade was a building block off your least favorite trade... Funny how that works

The trades still have to be evaluated separately.

 

You can trade Gretzky for a bag of pucks.  If you later trade that bag of pucks for Steve Yzerman, the Gretzky trade still sucked.

[leomessi]

22 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

Maybe 7 / 10.

 

People are really giving him a pass on giving up on Bonino, who just achieved more than we can really ever hope for from Sutter in the years to come.

 

He's a little free-spending with his contract signings.  Always feels like he gives $200-500K more than he has to.

 

Grabbing Gudbranson is genius when you look at the Taylor Hall trade.

 

He did a good job to get anything at all for Jensen.

 

For someone who got a 3rd rounder for a quality player like Lack, he tosses away 2nd rounders in trades somewhat liberally.

 

Some decent drafting.  Some VERY questionable and unnecessary trades like Shinkaruk.

 

All in all, he seems to be rebuilding effectively but his record is far from perfect.

I am sure Bonino could've achieved the same here if he was playing with Kessel and Hagelin. 

 

 

What are you basing is 200-500k off of? how do you know he is overpaying them by that much? sometimes to avoid a NTC or NMC  you've got to throw in some money - one of many reasons for people to get a little bit more. 

 

[Kevin Biestra]

19 minutes ago, leomessi said:

I am sure Bonino could've achieved the same here if he was playing with Kessel and Hagelin. 

 

What are you basing is 200-500k off of? how do you know he is overpaying them by that much? sometimes to avoid a NTC or NMC  you've got to throw in some money - one of many reasons for people to get a little bit more. 

 

 

I don't think Benning saw Bonino as capable of what he just achieved, with Kessel or not.  If he did, he wouldn't have made the trade for Sutter at a higher salary.  Are you confident that Sutter would have achieved what Bonino just did in his position?

 

Canuck fans just put on the homer glasses and start discrediting Bonino's great playoffs.  Had he done so in a Canuck uniform, it would be regarded as "what an amazing steal for Kesler."

 

We got Ronning and others for Dan Quinn.  When Ronning lit it up in the playoffs, we weren't collectively saying that Dan Quinn would have done the same playing with Linden.  Or that Alek Stojanov would have done the same as Markus Naslund playing with Todd Bertzzi.  They were good trades on our part.

 

We have to equally recognize when we underestimated what we gave away.

 

I obviously can't scientifically prove that Benning is overpaying.  It just feels that way relative to the contracts that get announced around the league.  Remember when we signed Burrows for $2M and you knew it was a great deal?  I don't feel like Benning is going to be announcing those kinds of deals, ever.

 

Benning contracts just feel like he gets into the right ballpark with the player's agent, but then settles there and doesn't whittle away to get to the middle or cheap end of that ballpark.

[Big Time]

2/10.

 

He has lost virtually every trade he has made, and has failed to understand basic NHL economics by overpaying for lower end talent (Dorsett, Sbisa, Sutter), or failing to monetize assets that he ended up losing for nothing (Vrbata, Hamhuis).  It cannot be overstated how big a failure this year's trade deadline was, and this is solely the responsibility of the GM.  With Hamhuis signing in Dallas, you could effectively say the Canucks traded Hamhuis to Dallas but sent all the proceeds to Calgary! His signing of Miller cost us Eddie Lack and the team still finished third last overall.  I read here someone here said would you rather have Eddie Lack and 10 million in cap space, or Miller/Sbisa and no cap space?  Because JB chose the latter.  He has consistently traded players who have goal scoring talent (Shinkaruk, McCann) and replaced them with players who can't (Granlund, Gudbrandson although that's not his role).  For a scout, he seems to give up on young talent and draft picks a lot sooner than you would think.

 

I've heard many people offer that JB's scouting abilities offset his incredibly inept fumbling of asset management.  To this, I say nonsense.  While it's still early, I'm not nearly as high on Virtanen as others seem to be here.  If his ceiling is to be the next Hansen, that represents a huge failure for drafting sixth overall, especially when there were better players still on the board.  Benning is decent at finding value in later rounds (Demko, Tryamkin, Brisebois perhaps) but his tendency to prefer meat and potatoes players, or players who are good in scrums, reminds me so much of the darkest era in Canucks history during the Kennan years. Who needs talent when you've got face washers, right?  At some point there needs to be some goal scoring talent.

 

I think the general concern is that Benning does not appear to be very bright, as evidenced by his most recent tampering fine, or really any time he gives an interview. As such, he seems to routinely be taken advantage of by other GM's in trades.

 

Overall, I think JB is one more bad year away from being considered the worst GM in Canucks history.  He won a lucky cup in 2011 with a far less talented team than the Canucks, but if you take a look at the current state of the Bruins, it provides a picture of what Benning's management brings to a team.  It ain't pretty.

[Ride the red Pony]

Maybe a bit early....Looks like he is building from the back end out...IMO the right way to do it. Hasn't pulled a rabbit outta the hat yet, but some solid moves.

He is making the team better while still making it younger. Seems like he is well respected around the league...What more can you ask for?

Not going to buy the t-shirt just yet...But solid guy.

[TimberWolf]

While I can see how some could make a case for patience with him (I don't agree but I can accept how some can come to the conclusion) I don't get how some feel he's doing an amazing job beyond question.

 

At the very best his feet should be held to the fire.

 

 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

Drafting - 9.5/10

Trading - 7.5/10

Signing - 6/10

[alfstonker]

I tend not to criticise Benning because I like his pragmatic approach. 

 

He doesn't hit it out the park every time but he is always looking for a deal and he keeps the bus moving forward. He's never phased and I always think he is always thinking of ways to get better.

 

Just think what he could have done if he had moved to Toronto or the Oilers with all their moveable pieces. If this is how good JB is when he has one hand tied behind his back, I can't wait till he gets this team fully loaded.

[HC20.0]

8/10. Big Benning supporter. He's doing a very good job of cleaning up the HUGE mess Gillis left him. Unfortunately, there's still lots of work to do. Like most of his trades. Huge fan of Gudbranson for McCann, and Sutter for Bonino. Only moves I'm not huge about are Shinkaruk for Granlund, and Dorsett's contract. Vey for a second wasn't great, but LA traded that pick, so it's a wash. Still saying Baertschi for a second might end up being one of the biggest steals in Canucks history. He's a late bloomer, like some other kid was. What was his name... Naslund? This season will really tell what we've got in Baertschi, but I'm high on him.