Benning rebuild on the fly.

[Jack Fig]

Never has been in the 40+ years I've followed the Canucks.

Yup, Trevor is so influential that the the sellout came to and end and a 5 to 7 year waiting list disappeared. That's after missing the playoffs once. What happens when we miss five years in a row?

The sellout streak ended some time ago; I believe it was Trevor who came in and called for an end to that joke of a claim.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Long-time fans should well know that without the star power we acquired through the draft, the Sedins, the team would not have enjoyed it's successes, both on the ice and financially, that they did over the past 15yrs. So i'm surprised that these same fans fret over what attendance would be like if the team missed the playoffs for 5 years (an arbitrary amount of years, based on nothing factual).

I'd more more concerned about attendance if the team didn't address the star power issue and instead pulled off some insane trades and signings in order to maintain it's pretender status while declining. Like signing Messier. Or TO trading for Kessel. These are the brutal decisions that need to be avoided here at all costs.

Further, what makes people think a 5yr tanking effort is needed? Is that number just pulled out to scare everyone? Realistically, 2-3 years should be enough, given the pieces already in place. And considering the path the team is already on, they are better served getting those years out of the way now. There is no written rule in place saying that we cannot. Get it done, come undone for Chychrun as a start, and move on as a vastly-improved team. This is the action we should have taken last off-season instead of this inflated regular season performance followed by a lacklustre playoff round in which we lost to the worst team in the playoffs. I'm not impressed. And neither are the majority of the paying fans, those who declined to sell out the place in the playoffs because, hey, they're not freakin' blind sheep like TO fans.

If we don't start taking steps soon, the Linden honeymoon will end quickly and Benning along with his coach will be out on his behind, I'll tell you this.

[Honky Cat]

  

You got it !

Not a bad column by Gallagher ( I know I know it's Gallagher but he does raise some good points) today in the Province. A fear of bias creeping in to compound the concern over jobs. WD in some way has reason he's waited a long time to get his shot in the NHL and if he's to continue he must estabilish his credential he has to show his skill, so he wants success now. JB wants to show his acumen as a GM so he wants to show his abilities to select and guide a club in the future, other selections made by Gillis do little to float his boat. Trevor I think is in the enviable position of owning a his own company and regardless if he's President of Vcr or not he's OK and he can arrange his personel life better away from the NHL.

I'm not saying this is all true, but as Gallagher pointed out when it comes to Vcr prospects the 3 names JB brought up were Beartschi, McCann and Virtanin. No mention of Cassel, Shinkaruk, Hutton or Gaunce. Lack was replaced basically by Miller. When it comes to Beartschi apart from two opportunistic goals against Edmonton he hasn't stood out, if he's to be a top 6 Forward, like Monahan/Bennett ( who are both younger than Sven) I've seen little to show he's in the same class.

As to Grenier and Corrado it's not looking good

I don't know about all of the bias stuff...Listening to JB after he got hired,I don't think anybody was more enthusiastic about Bo Horvat than Benning...Horvat was a Gillis pick.

Shinkaruk and Gaunce are good prospects,but they're not ready for the NHL.(they could be come September)...Bo Horvat making the squad as a 19 year old is the exception..not the rule.

Possibly the fact the players Benning usually mentions have a higher pedigree ,and are projected to have more of an impact than the Gillis era picks.

[desiboynux4lifee*******]

If we don't start taking steps soon, the Linden honeymoon will end quickly and Benning along with his coach will be out on his behind, I'll tell you this.

The thing lots of fans forget is: we sucked before we got the Sedins'. The time to rebuild is now, I don't see how some of the fans on here continue to deny this. No such thing as retooling, go look at the past champions. We need real 1st line studs and at the moment we don't have that. Sedins' were our studs and they tried, gave some memories, failed to capture the cup and now it is time to move on. If Benning thinks we will be fine with drafting 15th and up every year, goodluck with that. I keep saying it get rid as many as vets you can and insert younger players in who will make mistakes but will have far more potential than the veterans. Ps I'm not saying trade the Sedins' but trade the rest of the cores guys.

The key thing I'm trying to say is: give the guys in Utica who have paid their dues a chance at the NHL and please get rid of the stale core.

[DIBdaQUIB]

Like Babcock said...inserting youth isn't enough. The youth have to be stars and in key positions.

We have lots of prospects that will play important roles going forward but do we have any true top line prospects or all-start D men in the system? Not that I'm aware of. This is what Babcock was referring to...How do you replace Datsyuk, Zetterberg? You have to draft stars! No-one is going to trade these kind of guys away.

Yes you need a mix but it starts with the most talented prospects. Hanging on to this core to support the twins for another 2-3 years will be a disaster. Benning has to convert some core players into fresh blood and low picks.

I don't expect the twins to leave until they retire but there is no one else on this team aside from Bo Horvat that has shown they should be guaranteed as spot on this roster.

[desiboynux4lifee*******]

Like Babcock said...inserting youth isn't enough. The youth have to be stars and in key positions.

We have lots of prospects that will play important roles going forward but do we have any true top line prospects or all-start D men in the system? Not that I'm aware of. This is what Babcock was referring to...How do you replace Datsyuk, Zetterberg? You have to draft stars! No-one is going to trade these kind of guys away.

Yes you need a mix but it starts with the most talented prospects. Hanging on to this core to support the twins for another 2-3 years will be a disaster. Benning has to convert some core players into fresh blood and low picks.

I don't expect the twins to leave until they retire but there is no one else on this team aside from Bo Horvat that has shown they should be guaranteed as spot on this roster.

Horvat is a huge positive for all the young guys. He is the perfect role model for them, his work ethic and off ice training shows us he wants to be the best. I hope more players show similar work ethic to Horvat.

[DIBdaQUIB]

Horvat is a huge positive for all the young guys. He is the perfect role model for them, his work ethic and off ice training shows us he wants to be the best. I hope more players show similar work ethic to Horvat.

Agreed. I think he is a leader and role model the young guys will want to follow more so than some of the vets. I personally would prefer that after seeing those same vets consistently underestimate lesser opponents (arrogance) and fail to raise their compete level in the playoffs. To me, they send the wrong message and set the wrong standard for our young guys coming in.

[awalk]

Why are people surprised? This was the plan since day one. Keep the core together, bring in young players into a semi-winning environment. Like it or not, it's been pretty clear this was the plan since day 1, and you do not want a GM who changes his plan after one year. Look what happened when Gillis tried altering his plan, whole thing fell apart because it became confused and lost.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Yeah, and then Gillis got us Horvat. And all that further 'confusion' the season after landed us Virtanen.

Maybe he wasn't confused.

[Fred65]

 

I don't know about all of the bias stuff...Listening to JB after he got hired,I don't think anybody was more enthusiastic about Bo Horvat than Benning...Horvat was a Gillis pick.

Shinkaruk and Gaunce are good prospects,but they're not ready for the NHL.(they could be come September)...Bo Horvat making the squad as a 19 year old is the exception..not the rule.

Possibly the fact the players Benning usually mentions have a higher pedigree ,and are projected to have more of an impact than the Gillis era picks.

Debatable but to be honest WD wasn't crasy about giving Horvat the keys to the cars.He admitted as much, really reluctant and yet you see what the kid could do and Horvat has been a positive for sure. Now Willys already saying that "well Horvat was an exception, don't expect others to follow the same route" Mein Gott we haven't even made it to camp and he's betting against further youth at very least hedging his bets. Look and learn Willy, Calgary has gone as far as it has ( including kicking your butt Willy ) with youth

To argue against myself I see JB signed Labate ( Gillis pick ) today, lets see if or when he signs Subban.

[Jack Fig]

Why are people surprised? This was the plan since day one. Keep the core together, bring in young players into a semi-winning environment. Like it or not, it's been pretty clear this was the plan since day 1, and you do not want a GM who changes his plan after one year. Look what happened when Gillis tried altering his plan, whole thing fell apart because it became confused and lost.

Ah yes....the semi-winning environment. Let's just throw in a new descriptor to further confuse the already-confused.

[wallstreetamigo]

Benning has done a good job filling the prospect gap with those 20-24 year old almost ready guys.

Unfortunately a top 5 draft pick or two in order to get a future stud dman and a dynamic offensive talent are pretty necessary to really kick start this team for the future. Following the hang onto the vets and bring in depth players is not really a winning environment no matter what spin the Canucks put on it. Playoff choke jobs won't instill confidence just like young players getting buried behind inferior core vets won't.

Accountability only works when it applies to all. Young players and vets alike. That culture clearly does not exist on this team. Vets always get the benefit of the doubt but few teams give it to them indefinitely like the Canucks do. The truly exceptional teams are never afraid to bring in young guys and let them learn and shine.

People fear an all youth team but that isn't going to happen. I fear an all core vet team with a couple of young players buried on the depth chart because history shows that it is a model that rarely if ever works the way teams want.

The Detroit model is over stated. They could afford to do it that way because they had a lot of vets who could actually still play at a high level. They won cups too so could afford to be far more patient in subsequent years.

The Canucks will not get over that hump with the status quo. There is just too much evidence showing it doesn't work.

When they fired Gillis I really hoped his vision would have gone with him. But the vision is the same other than a higher focus on drafting by Benning.

[jmahyoung]

Kind of wanted to start my own thread on this but it seems relevant to post it in here.

I see where you're coming from OP. I agree I don't want to have our franchise modelled after Boston or Detroit; like most fans I want to see us win a cup and be a threat year after year. Neither Boston or Detroit are considered contenders regularly. Chicago's and LAs (aside from this year) have been considered contenders each year for the past 2,3,4+ years. Even Pittsburgh tanked and won a cup (albeit only one). People love to bring up Edmonton but for all we know they could turn into the next Chicago Blackhawks.

That being said, I disagree about Benning, I think he's done a terrific job thus far.

"All our forwards are old and he wants to draft 20th overall every year and thinks were gonna be like Anahiem in 5 years. Change isn't coming, same old same old."

Change has come.

Just look at where our prospects are ranked.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/team-rankings/fall-team-rankings-2014-15/page/2

We're 18th overall. That may not seem high but when in the past 15+ years have we ever had the amount of young talent we currently have? I can't remember a time. In just a year Benning has improved our prospect pool drastically (granted MG gets a little credit). Now back to our 18th overall rank, they have our top 5 prospects as:

"Jake Virtanen, RW; 2. Thatcher Demko, G; 3. Bo Horvat, C; 4. Nikita Tryamkin, D; 5. Hunter Shinkaruk, LW."

Calgary is ranked 2nd overall and guess who's on their list at number 3? Sven Baertschi.

Chicago is ranked 7th and guess who is their number 4 ranked prospect? Adam Clendening.

So the Canucks are ranked 18th overall NOT including our pickups of Baertschi and Clendening. That could potentially move us into the top 10 for prospects. And what did we give up for these 2? A 2nd for Baertschi and Forsling for Clendening.

"Does benning think he is just gonna replicate this and be like Detroit and get total studs in the later rounds. I don't know but it seems to me that he is trying to get into the first round every year and just see how it goes and get lucky"

No Benning clearly isn't trying to replicate this and draft studs in the later rounds. Look at the Baertschi trade as an example. He traded away a 2nd for a former 13th overall pick in Baertschi. Benning is quietly pulling off some nice steals and our prospect strength is improving drastically.

The Canucks have something I haven't seen in the past 15 years. A GM commited to building our prospect pool. After only a year at the helm, we have the strongest group of young players I can remember in a long time. A group that will transition nicely into our current core. Exciting times are ahead for us with Jim Benning guiding this team.

Somewhat surprised they left Clendenning off the D prospects list. He's a reasonable enough prospect. And he has to play for us next year or needs to clear waivers right?

[Nathancanuck]

Most People here think (or pretend) that Calgary is a bad team and that they

will get swept against Anaheim... I don't! I think it will be a hard fought series...

And what IF Calgary beats Anaheim??? I think this would actually make it a

good season for us... losing to the divisional Champion because of some bad

luck (refs) and Weber... I have to agree games 3 and 4 were brutal tough...

I'm just sick of people just bashing our team and give no credit to Calgary..

(I know it's tough to do so)

[awalk]

Ah yes....the semi-winning environment. Let's just throw in a new descriptor to further confuse the already-confused.

What's confusing about it? I originally wrote winning environment, but the team lost in round one. But they made the playoffs and have 101 points. Semi-winning.

If that's confusing to you....

[awalk]

Yeah, and then Gillis got us Horvat. And all that further 'confusion' the season after landed us Virtanen.

Maybe he wasn't confused.

I think he got confused when he tried to switch from skill and puck control to bash and bruise Boston model.

And Boston isn't doing so hot these days either.

He did realize the Canucks needed youth though and made a good move to bring Horvat.

[Jack Fig]

What's confusing about it? I originally wrote winning environment, but the team lost in round one. But they made the playoffs and have 101 points. Semi-winning.

If that's confusing to you....

As long as you understand what it means, then I guess we're all good.

Semi-winning it is!

[DIBdaQUIB]

Ah yes....the semi-winning environment. Let's just throw in a new descriptor to further confuse the already-confused.

Let's add "semi-hard working" and semi-energetic". WE could bring the new guys up in a "Semi-hockey environment". Sounds like a recipe for success alright.

[DIBdaQUIB]

What's confusing about it? I originally wrote winning environment, but the team lost in round one. But they made the playoffs and have 101 points. Semi-winning.

If that's confusing to you....

It sounds like being "half pregnant". You either have a winning culture or you don't. Every team in the league could say they have a winning culture because they have won games. What does that mean? WHo do you think feel more like winners...Nucks or Flames? Therefore who is bringing their youth up in a winning environment?

[Jack Fig]

Let's add "semi-hard working" and semi-energetic". WE could bring the new guys up in a "Semi-hockey environment". Sounds like a recipe for success alright.

You got it, Dib. The team could also act Semi-Tough and hang pictures of Burt Reynolds in the locker room.