[Article] Benning's remake of Canucks an uncluttered picture

[BanTSN]

There's nothing to criticize yet.

[BanTSN]

But I guess you can make preseason predictions based on what's on paper.

[DeNiro]

There's nothing to criticize yet.

Is that what you look forward to as a fan? To criticize?

I think some fans watch sports for different reasons than me.

[BanTSN]

Is that what you look forward to as a fan? To criticize?

I think some fans watch sports for different reasons than me.

I was actually responding to the post above, which went on and on about criticizing Benning this early. There's nothing to criticize yet, but I guess people can still make preseason predictions, as what is typical for this time of year.

To answer your question, no.

[bluesman60]

You're not serious are you?

Gillis was the king of arrogance. Nothing was ever his fault, and everything was by design or part of "the process".

He was right even when he was wrong. The guy deflected every ounce of blame to circumstances or onto someone else. It's the only way he was able to hold onto his job after two first round exits.

Can we please bring back the 'minus' button?

[bluesman60]

That commitment to knowing every player in the NHL is what allows him to make the volume of moves he did in short order, without the risk of shooting from the hip.

Had his homework done before going into free agency, the draft, and those times of high player movement - something he's no doubt been doing for years now in his roles in Boston and Buffalo. Just a good, fundamental grounding that's nice to see. I think Gillis was similarly prepared and calculated, but perhaps not quite as quick to the draw.

Would expect no less from a true professional (who makes the kind of money NHL GMs do), and yet, nevertheless, some simply do their homework better than others.

There may turn out to be a "mistake' or two in the mix that will only reveal itself with time, but that's part of the game. You can't win every move, but a good .600 (or whatever) batting average puts your team in a strong position moving forward, and I think the Canucks have been blessed with a couple consecutive GMs capable of coming out ahead on the majority of moves they make.

The result would seem to be a team with decent veteran depth, some added volume in the mid range of the roster, and more quality depth in the prospect pool than in a long time.

Find it pretty hard to relate to the nancies and nellies on these boards. Pretty easy to be excited about the future of the franchise imo.

Well said oldnews. MG did a lot of good things for the franchise that we can thank him for down the road. The team went to Game 7 of the SC finals and all people will remember is Tortorella and the Luongo contract. In hindsight, Tortorella's statement about this vet group being stale has been proven correct....and thus the moves that Benning has made. Luongo's gone and we have a new goalie, Garrison gone and we have a younger dman ready to step up in Corrado. Kesler echoed Tortorella's statement by saying that due to his age, he couldn't wait for another 4 years for the team to make another run.

So we have change, a younger team and a group of hungry vets hungry to prove that last year was an aberasion. Thanks to MG and Benning, we have some quality prospects to challenge for a place on the team. I agree and am also excited about the future.In a couple of years, when the prospects start to shine, we will be a tough team to play against and once again ready to take another run at the SC. If all those posters on Bennings wall can move that timetable up by being able to gain that upper hand in a few trades, give the man a bigger office with more wallspace.

[DeNiro]

Can we please bring back the 'minus' button?

Gillis did some good things here, but that doesn't mean he can't be criticized.

He inherited a great core that he helped take to the next level, but the moves he made after the run to the finals squandered what opportunity this team had to be contenders for more than a season.

His moves continually got worse and worse, as did his attitude until eventually he was canned. It sucks that he'll be remembered for the bad stuff, but that's the life of a GM. I'm still thankful for 2011, I just don't think it should have been a one and done year.

[aqua59]

First off Mike Gillis inherited some pretty good pieces too.

The one thing Uncle Jim has done is he's moved quickly and decisively with planned direction. Yes it is too early to judge, but judging by the moves some one steady is in charge.

Uncle Jim.

[bluesman60]

Re: MG came into a much tougher scenario

$20 MILLION for an overweight,uninspired Sundin comes to mind and pretty much sums up Gillis' tenure.

I disagree with your shallow claim. Getting Sundin helped both the Sedins' and Kesler take their game to another level (they have also stated that). Sundin wasn't brought in with the expectation that he was going to be a 100 pt man, he was brought in to mentor. MG did a lot of positive things for the franchise like getting a very good start at rebuilding the prospect pool plus the team went to the SC Game 7 under his watch. If all you see then you better look again.

[bluesman60]

Gillis did some good things here, but that doesn't mean he can't be criticized.

He inherited a great core that he helped take to the next level, but the moves he made after the run to the finals squandered what opportunity this team had to be contenders for more than a season.

His moves continually got worse and worse, as did his attitude until eventually he was canned. It sucks that he'll be remembered for the bad stuff, but that's the life of a GM. I'm still thankful for 2011, I just don't think it should have been a one and done year.

I agree partly but no one knew that the league was going to have such a drastic slash to the cap. MG made his moves when he had caproom but once that happened it was near impossible to move players when most teams were also trying to become cap compliant. Lou's contract was deemed terrible but now that the cap is up, it doesn't look that bad anymore. No GM is going to do everything right and MG made some good and some really bad ones....Booth, Garrison, Ballard etc but he also made some good ones too. When the cap went down, he was forced to deal a goalie, no one would touch Lou's contract (plus Lou made it near impossible by pretty much giving a shortlist of 1 or 2 teams), so he was forced to deal Schneider. When you are dealing from a weak position like that, I think he did a masterful job of getting the 9th overall pick which was Horvat. It could have just as well that GM's would wait until MG was forced to use a compliance buyout and get zilch for Luo or Schneider.

When you are stuck with players who are not getting the job done for you because you can't move them, you are pretty much in a stagnat situation waiting for the wheels to fall off the bus. Under those circumstances, after the cap dropped, I don't think too many GM's would be able to do much differently. It looks like Benning and Linden have learned from that and won't get burned by longterm contracts again. As it is, I do believe that this team now have the right management in place to bring a Cup to Vancouver. I am bit nrevous about our goaltending but will see how that sorts itself out.

[BanTSN]

Not using the Booth buyout sooner was silly.

[DeNiro]

I agree partly but no one knew that the league was going to have such a drastic slash to the cap. MG made his moves when he had caproom but once that happened it was near impossible to move players when most teams were also trying to become cap compliant. Lou's contract was deemed terrible but now that the cap is up, it doesn't look that bad anymore. No GM is going to do everything right and MG made some good and some really bad ones....Booth, Garrison, Ballard etc but he also made some good ones too. When the cap went down, he was forced to deal a goalie, no one would touch Lou's contract (plus Lou made it near impossible by pretty much giving a shortlist of 1 or 2 teams), so he was forced to deal Schneider. When you are dealing from a weak position like that, I think he did a masterful job of getting the 9th overall pick which was Horvat. It could have just as well that GM's would wait until MG was forced to use a compliance buyout and get zilch for Luo or Schneider.

When you are stuck with players who are not getting the job done for you because you can't move them, you are pretty much in a stagnat situation waiting for the wheels to fall off the bus. Under those circumstances, after the cap dropped, I don't think too many GM's would be able to do much differently. It looks like Benning and Linden have learned from that and won't get burned by longterm contracts again. As it is, I do believe that this team now have the right management in place to bring a Cup to Vancouver. I am bit nrevous about our goaltending but will see how that sorts itself out.

Good GMs don't make excuses.

Tallon didn't make excuses when he was forced to make moves after his team won the cup. Every GM of teams that are perrenial contenders didn't seem to have these problems.

Every corner that Gillis backed himself into was by his own doing. Saying he didn't know that cap would be changing with the new CBA shows a huge lack of foresight on his part. He should have been planning for this since end of the 2011-2012 season.

The NTC's he included in almost every contract gave him little to no flexibility with his roster. That was ultimately his downfall IMO.

[morrissex95]

I ran into Gillis at the Chevron on MacDonald and 16th in the middle of June. He still had that silly throatee. As he was filling his tank, I called out and said "Thanks for 2011!" Wasn't sure what else I should say.

He looked up and instead of smiling and returning the goodwill of a fan, he shot me a dirty look and got back into his car. Then he sped off heading east on 16th, cutting off a bus.

In hindsight, I think I probably should have thanked him for dealing so well with Luongo and Schneider, and told him to go frack his hat.

LOL

[Ossi Vaananen]

I'm actually curious about what kind of training camp Willie/Benning have in mind. In previous years we have seen huge rosters, upwards of 60+ players, a large chunk being walk on invites. I'm hoping this time around we limit it to around 50, basically the Canucks, Comets and top prospects only. First cuts being minor pro depth players, giving our young guys a chance to show case themselves in the preseason games Around 35 players, is what I hope we have by the 3rd preseason game, being exclusively Canucks property.

[bigbadcanucks]

Not using the Booth buyout sooner was silly.

MG couldn't have done squat with Booth...he was injured and injured players were exempt from comp buy outs.

I'm glad Gillis is out and Linden/Benning are in, and not to make any excuses for Gillis, timing and circumstances have a lot to do with moves that are made.

In the end, it was Gillis' misjudgement of the talent and depth of the club is what did him in. IMO, he moved the wrong guys or let the wrong guys walk (i.e., Schneider, Erhoff, Torres) and watched the team get older, slower and smaller over the past three seasons. He thought he could win with the same core that took us to Game 7, when it was clear that bold changes had to be made.

[Nucks-4-Life]

From everything we have seen and heard so far about Benning, he seems like a quality GM in the making.

However, his true test will come mid-season when our team is decimated with injuries and we have another goalie controversy on our hands. (just using that as an example)

I think he has the tools and connections throughout the league to help build us into a contender again.

[darkpoet]

I like the guy and the job he's doing but I find the statement hilarious:

"Benning is an active thinker. He writes down ideas, makes lists, charts"

Just about anybody with an office job responsible for themselves and at least one other person would consider this a base requirement for the job, not a set of strengths. It's like claiming that a person has the ability to write in cursive writing and has memorized single digit multiplication, as a set of strengths for being a university professor..

I love that he is this kind of guy but am I really seriously supposed to believe a logical and pragmatic approach is rare enough to justify such glowing commentary? He's a hockey guy, who happens to write things down. Anyone in any kind of business should expect no less from management, what does the author want, to give him a cookie and a sticker for having the rudimentary requirements for not being incompetent at management?.

It might say less about Benning, and more about his predecessor, if you know what I mean.

[oldnews]

That't TOML taking a big steaming dump on the front lawn of the thread as he often does, then laying back in the shade watching to see who sniffs it and barks at him. Dogs will be dogs.

A new manager with a world map of the nhl as wallpaper rather than bothering with interior design in his new office. Oh the horror!!

Priceless.

And what would a GM thread be without nucknit making multiple references to his contempt for 'lawyers'?

(Apparently, being a player agent is as dirty a job as being a...."lawyer.")

Anyway, hey nucknit, here's one for you....

Why do they bury lawyers 12 feet under?

Because deep down they're not so bad.

[oldnews]

His moves continually got worse and worse, as did his attitude until eventually he was canned. It sucks that he'll be remembered for the bad stuff, but that's the life of a GM. I'm still thankful for 2011, I just don't think it should have been a one and done year.

You may not like his "attitude", but what moves point to continually getting worse?

If that had any bearing on reality, then signing Richardson, Santorelli, stealing Stanton off waivers, and unloading the mopey Luongo's unmoveable contract for a decent return would be his worst (being his most recent) moves. That would indicate one hell of a tenure, if those were his worst moves.

[DeNiro]

You may not like his "attitude", but what moves point to continually getting worse?

If that had any bearing on reality, then signing Richardson, Santorelli, stealing Stanton off waivers, and unloading the mopey Luongo's unmoveable contract for a decent return would be his worst (being his most recent) moves. That would indicate one hell of a tenure, if those were his worst moves.

He moved Luongo after being forced to move Schneider. How is that a good move? We lost both of our star goalies. Not to mention the return he got was not decent considering Matthias only has one more year here, and it's likely we're going to have to dump Markstrom for nothing.

Santorelli and Richardson were good depth signings. He never had a problem with that. He did have a problem shoring up secondary scoring though, which plagued this team for years.

Stanton was also a good find, but again it failed to address the teams need of a puck moving defenseman.

Gillis was great at rounding out the bottom half of the team, there's no denying that. However, it's hard to have success with a team full of mostly third liners.