Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

Can Benning nail the pick?


Recommended Posts

There's little doubt that Benning has mastered the draft, as we've been able to witness firsthand some unbelievable talents surpassing expectations. 
Without a doubt it will be Boeser and Pettersson that can protect Benning's draft reputation for a very long time, with other players such as Demko, Virtanen, Gaudette, Lind, and Gadjovich potentially adding to his legacy. 

 

One thing that you may have noticed though, is that none of these players are defensemen. Sure, you could argue that Juolevi is young and still has potential to be a top 4 d-man. But I don't think there's any doubt that he hasn't lived up to the expectations that come with being the first defenseman taken in a draft. Especially with Sergachev and McAvoy being taken after him. 
I'm not bashing Benning, but I wonder if him and our scouting team are able to properly assess defensemen as they are forwards.
Since Benning has taken over, we've seen 4 of the forwards he picked play in the NHL (Virtanen, Boeser, Mccann, and Gaudette) and others with big potential.
We've only seen 2 defensemen (Tyramkin, Forsling) enter the NHL. Neither of which are on the Canucks current roster, with really only Juolevi being a potential to be a regular in the NHL, while Rathbone may be a long shot.

Of our top 10 prospects, Juolevi is our only defenseman (ranked a staggering #8).

I bring this up because there's a significant chance that Benning will select a defenseman in the draft and from looking at rankings and mock drafts, it seems that we could potentially pick any one of Boqvist, Bouchard, Hughes, Dobson, or Smith. It's a scary thing to have so many D-men rated so high, especially for a GM. Because if you pick the wrong guy, the results could be catastrophic. No matter which defenseman Benning takes, that D-man will always be compared to the 2-3 other guys taken below him (much like Juolevi is now). 

So do you think that, given his history, we can trust Benning to make the right pick for a defenseman for our future?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have complete confidence the player JB takes at #7 will end up (like Pettersson last year) the best player in that draft class.  It's just going to take 3 or 4 years (like with Jake) for that player to pass the other losers drafted ahead of him. 

 

Go Bo Go!!!!

Cheer for our team, and crap on the others!!!!!

There is only one team that matters, CANUCKS!!!!!!:towel:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Alflives said:

I have complete confidence the player JB takes at #7 will end up (like Pettersson last year) the best player in that draft class.  It's just going to take 3 or 4 years (like with Jake) for that player to pass the other losers drafted ahead of him. 

 

Go Bo Go!!!!

Cheer for our team, and crap on the others!!!!!

There is only one team that matters, CANUCKS!!!!!!:towel:

Is that you Apollo?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Top Sven Baercheese said:

So do you think that, given his history, we can trust Benning to make the right pick for a defenseman for our future?

I trust Benning to take the best player available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boqvist > Hughes > Dobson > Bouchard. 

 

That's the order I'd take a defenceman in. 

 

If Benning wants a forward (which he shouldn't), he should be aiming for Wahlstrom.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Top Sven Baercheese said:

There's little doubt that Benning has mastered the draft, as we've been able to witness firsthand some unbelievable talents surpassing expectations
Without a doubt it will be Boeser and Pettersson that can protect Benning's draft reputation for a very long time, with other players such as Demko, Virtanen, Gaudette, Lind, and Gadjovich potentially adding to his legacy. 

 

One thing that you may have noticed though, is that none of these players are defensemen. Sure, you could argue that Juolevi is young and still has potential to be a top 4 d-man. But I don't think there's any doubt that he hasn't lived up to the expectations that come with being the first defenseman taken in a draft. Especially with Sergachev and McAvoy being taken after him. 
I'm not bashing Benning, but I wonder if him and our scouting team are able to properly assess defensemen as they are forwards.
Since Benning has taken over, we've seen 4 of the forwards he picked play in the NHL (Virtanen, Boeser, Mccann, and Gaudette) and others with big potential.
We've only seen 2 defensemen (Tyramkin, Forsling) enter the NHL. Neither of which are on the Canucks current roster, with really only Juolevi being a potential to be a regular in the NHL, while Rathbone may be a long shot.

Of our top 10 prospects, Juolevi is our only defenseman (ranked a staggering #8).

I bring this up because there's a significant chance that Benning will select a defenseman in the draft and from looking at rankings and mock drafts, it seems that we could potentially pick any one of Boqvist, Bouchard, Hughes, Dobson, or Smith. It's a scary thing to have so many D-men rated so high, especially for a GM. Because if you pick the wrong guy, the results could be catastrophic. No matter which defenseman Benning takes, that D-man will always be compared to the 2-3 other guys taken below him (much like Juolevi is now). 

So do you think that, given his history, we can trust Benning to make the right pick for a defenseman for our future?

 

I kind of stopped reading after this first sentence.

Given that the 5th and 6th overall draft picks of Juolevi didn't make Finland's national team and how Virtanen is still very much a work in progress and considering that many players drafted after both of these guys are already making meaningful contributions to their teams this season and into the playoffs, these guys may well cost Benning his job in a couple of years. 

 

So trusting Benning to make the right picks is a bold statement and one I'm not yet ready to hang my hat on given none of these players (except Virtanen) are full time NHL players or have even played an NHL game.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, 189lb enforcers? said:

Boeser - nailed it

Virtanen - not

OJ -  maybe

EP - &^@#ing nailed it 

2018 - ?

 

2/4 or 50% chance of ‘nailing’ picks so far. 

 

Flip a coin this year. 

 

 

 

you need to toss in McCann too then if you are naming 1st rounders lol so 2/5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, thejazz97 said:

Yes. And it's Dobson or Bouchard. If both get taken, then we get Wahlstrom.

Kotkaniemi is now ranked above Wahlstrom and maybe even Tkachuk.  He's the best cman and third best fwd in the draft, if not the second behind Svech.  It's him or Bouchard for me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only concern I have with this pick is that we're going to pick a D with a clear proclivity for offense (an area of weakness, sure), where what we truly need is a number 1 D-man who plays... elite defence.

That simply may not be available at 7OA, so we have to work with what's on the board.

I just don't know how a smallish OFD helps this team dramatically. We traded away Jordan Subban because he couldn't play defence! 

 

I still have a ton of faith in Olli Juolevi as well. For somebody projected to be a safe defensive player, I see his strength truly being his passing ability/vision which will allow him to set up Brock and Elias quite regularly. He's smart and subtle, but without other skilled guys he'll go almost completely unnoticed. Fortunately, we have some of those for him to dish the puck to...

 

So sure, we probably want another guy to line up with Olli on the powerplay with a bomb (OJ has a decent wrister from the point, I just don't think it's enough)... I could see Boqvist being that guy, but is he strong enough defensively? 

 

I think if it comes down to it, we'll likely end up with Bouchard. Provided he's available.

He's sort of the happy medium for all of it. He's got size, he's got some puck skills and can bring offense, and he's decent enough defensively. Dobson would be a solid option too, maybe a bit more defensively responsible.

 

I don't think we're getting a gamechanger at 7th OA, but potentially a final piece to our powerplay puzzle.

 

Boeser - Horvat - Pettersson
Juolevi - Bouchard 

could be hell for opposing teams... 

 

 

 

If it's BPA, it's still pretty hard to discount Wahlstrom... I'd hate to be the team to pass on that guy. But with Boeser and Pettersson both playing RW (and the hope that Virtanen has turned a corner) you gotta think it's a Dman we take.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JB's done alright with drafting D, although, it hasn't worked out great (yet).

 

Tryamkin

Brisebois

Juolevi

Rathbone

Brassard

 

Tryamkin is a beast, and hopefully he comes back. I guess he has up to 3-4 years to decide? Juolevi, Brisebois and Rathbone stand a good chance of making the NHL. Yes, Juolevi was Benning's BPA at #5 in 2016, but Juolevi hasn't played an NHL game yet, so the jury is out on him. He may take a bit longer to get to the show, but he could be outstanding in a few years.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, stawns said:

Kotkaniemi is now ranked above Wahlstrom and maybe even Tkachuk.  He's the best cman and third best fwd in the draft, if not the second behind Svech.  It's him or Bouchard for me

Ranked by who? The highest I see him ranked in around #10 (MacKenzie).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...