Mattrek Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Now I'm not one of those people who believes every trade Benning does is a home run, but he seriously does not get enough credit for what he's done to the team in just a couple short years. This is what we looked like at the start of 2014 for our opening line-up: Daniel-Henrik-Vrbata Higgins-Bonino-Burrows Richardson-Vey-Kassian Dorsett-Matthias-Hansen Sestito Tanev-Edler Hamhuis-Sbisa Stanton-Bieksa Weber Miller Lack Fast forward to today and our likely line-up goes to this (assuming Hamhuis isn't re-signed): Daniel-Henrik-Hansen Baertschi-Sutter-Virtanen/Rodin Etem-Horvat-Rodin/Virtanen Burrows/Gaunce-Granlund-Dorsett Vey or Burrows Tanev-Edler Hutton-Gudbranson Sbisa-Tryamkin Pedan or Biega Miller Markstrom This is of course without anymore signings or trades in the off-season, which I highly doubt to be the case. Benning has literally been able to upgrade almost our entire line-up in 2 years. Our second, third and fourth lines are vastly improved. Add one FA for the Sedins and he'll have upgraded our entire roster. The fact Vey is no longer 3C and is instead our 13th forward and Burrows went from the 2nd line to 4th/extra says it all about the new depth we have in our team. Defence is night and day compared to where we were. We have 3 lines of legitimate top-end defence with scary size that won't allow our offensive guys to be pushed around anymore. As much as I liked Lack even goal-tending has been improved with our new tandem. All the while managing to deepen our prospect pool from practically nothing to a prospect/call-up pool that looks like this, which we'll add at least another couple pieces during this upcoming draft: Forwards: Cassels Gaunce Zalewski Kenins Valk Zhukenov Gaudette Higgins Boeser Friesen Grenier Defencemen: Pedan Subban Sautner Stecher Biega Brisebois Larsen Olsen Neil Goalies: Cannata Bachman Demko Garteig He's made our team younger (by a mile), faster and bigger. Now of course not all of these prospects will work out, most won't, but the fact that we've managed to solidify our roster and still have decent call-ups in case of injuries speaks volumes about just how much Benning has done to improve this team in such a short period of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SvenBae Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Agreed. Few teams are as lucky enough to have a GM with a clear direction and vision of what he wants his team to be. Though some are convinced the direction is down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronic.Canuck Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Olsen and Neill are defensemen, and it's Garteig but otherwise I agree with your points. We're definitely in much better shape going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd. Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I agree with majority, but Kenins didnt start the season in 2014, and Blomstrand is gone. But yeah, I have nothing against Benning for what he's done to this team. The only puzzling trade for me was the Shinkaruk/Granlund trade which IMO was the worst trade he's done so far in his tenure. Obviously it's still too early to judge any trade he's done for bad or good. I love how he's signing depth players such as Nilsson, Pavel Laplante, getting back Rodin, signing another depth goalie with potential in Gartieg etc (who are all younger than 23) and is bolstering the depth for Utica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Building Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Mostly agree, although "3 lines of legitimate top end defense" is a bit sunny for where some of them are in their respective careers. Unfortunately a fairly vocal cross section of "fans" believe that the only way to win a trade is to move assets for picks, then pile up the losses during the regular season. Benning is doing exactly what I wanted him to do, re-shape the team. Looking forward yet again to seeing the new faces in Canuck jerseys come October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattrek Posted May 28, 2016 Author Share Posted May 28, 2016 Apologies if I made any mistakes, just quickly went off by memory. Fixed the errors pointed out. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronic.Canuck Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Just now, Mattrek said: Thanks for the heads up, fixed! No problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apollo Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Not a damn thing wrong with that 2014 roster... Bonino was a gamer, Richardson was big time, Mathias guaranteed goals vs eastern teams.... Even Sestito was a beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattrek Posted May 28, 2016 Author Share Posted May 28, 2016 14 minutes ago, Green Building said: Mostly agree, although "3 lines of legitimate top end defense" is a bit sunny for where some of them are in their respective careers. Unfortunately a fairly vocal cross section of "fans" believe that the only way to win a trade is to move assets for picks, then pile up the losses during the regular season. Benning is doing exactly what I wanted him to do, re-shape the team. Looking forward yet again to seeing the new faces in Canuck jerseys come October. Well the reason I say that is Sbisa is still young he definitely has the potential to reach the top 4. Tryamkin if he plays as he did at the end of last year would definitely be a top 4 and Hutton, Gudbranson, Tanev and Edler are most definitely already a top 4. When was the last time we actually had 4 legitimate top 4 defencemen? It's been a while and we have it now thanks to Benning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Building Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Just now, Mattrek said: Well the reason I say that is Sbisa is still young he definitely has the potential to reach the top 4. Tryamkin if he plays as he did at the end of last year would definitely be a top 4 and Hutton, Gudbranson, Tamev and Edler are most definitely already a top 4. When was the last time we actually had 4 legitimate top 4 defencemen? It's been a while and we have it now thanks to Benning. I think I know what you intended to convey, but when I read "top end" I think top 2 quality so that's where my comment came from. I share your enthusiasm about the blue line for next year. Tryamkin has a bit of work to do, making smart plays a bit quicker under pressure, that should come with experience. His conditioning he's probably (hopefully) working on right now so he isn't completely gassed after every shift late in the game. He clears the crease with reckless abandon though, I swear I yelled "&^@# Yeah!" when he first did it. It's been a long while since we've had someone willing, or able, to do it. I like Sbisa for the same reason people are going to love Gudbranson, big time hits, just more of them. Gud and Try are going to make this team tough to play against again, and if we're lucky teams are going to absolutely hate us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanky Legs Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 You guys are so easy to please. That lineup is nothing compared to most teams in the west. That prospect pools is inferior compared to most teams in the NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey Stache Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 3 minutes ago, Stanky Legs said: You guys are so easy to please. That lineup is nothing compared to most teams in the west. That prospect pools is inferior compared to most teams in the NHL. Unfortunately, you have totally missed the meaning of the entire post. The OP is comparing the two teams and showing how the roster has changed for the better with a much better prospect pool. Not once did he ever compare either team to any other team in the NHL. It is so tiring to come on these boards and read about how negative so many people are about this team. Sure everyone can have their own opinion but it must be so hard being so negative all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintPatrick33 Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 You forgot to mention that Benning comes across as an honest and likeable guy in his interviews, you can sense his passion for the game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoolander Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 He really doesn't get enough credit for what he's done. His vision specifically is very underrated. Imagine how tough we'll be to play against in the future with guys like Tryamkin, Gudbranson, Virtanen, Horvat, and Dubois/Tkachuk just to name the cornerstones. Oh? You think the smaller, high IQ forwards like McDavid/Marner will skate around them? They'll run into Tanev and company! Not to mention Demko! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honky Cat Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 2 minutes ago, Zoolander said: He really doesn't get enough credit for what he's done. His vision specifically is very underrated. Imagine how tough we'll be to play against in the future with guys like Tryamkin, Gudbranson, Virtanen, Horvat, and Dubois/Tkachuk just to name the cornerstones. Oh? You think the smaller, high IQ forwards like McDavid/Marner will skate around them? They'll run into Tanev and company! Not to mention Demko! Benning and the Canucks organization as a whole,get completely skewered,judging from the comments of other fanbases (and the eastern media)..There is still a disdain for the Canucks out there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCNate Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 50 minutes ago, Mattrek said: Now I'm not one of those people who believes every trade Benning does is a home run, but he seriously does not get enough credit for what he's done to the team in just a couple short years. This is what we looked like at the start of 2014 for our opening line-up: Daniel-Henrik-Vrbata Higgins-Bonino-Burrows Richardson-Vey-Kassian Dorsett-Matthias-Hansen Sestito Tanev-Edler Hamhuis-Sbisa Stanton-Bieksa Weber Miller Lack Fast forward to today and our likely line-up goes to this (assuming Hamhuis isn't re-signed): Daniel-Henrik-Hansen Baertschi-Sutter-Virtanen/Rodin Etem-Horvat-Rodin/Virtanen Burrows/Gaunce-Granlund-Dorsett Vey or Burrows Tanev-Edler Hutton-Gudbranson Sbisa-Tryamkin Pedan or Biega Miller Markstrom This is of course without anymore signings or trades in the off-season, which I highly doubt to be the case. Benning has literally been able to upgrade almost our entire line-up in 2 years. Our second, third and fourth lines are vastly improved. Add one FA for the Sedins and he'll have upgraded our entire roster. The fact Vey is no longer 3C and is instead our 13th forward and Burrows went from the 2nd line to 4th/extra says it all about the new depth we have in our team. Defence is night and day compared to where we were. We have 3 lines of legitimate top-end defence with scary size that won't allow our offensive guys to be pushed around anymore. As much as I liked Lack even goal-tending has been improved with our new tandem. All the while managing to deepen our prospect pool from practically nothing to a prospect/call-up pool that looks like this, which we'll add at least another couple pieces during this upcoming draft: Forwards: Cassels Gaunce Zalewski Kenins Valk Zhukenov Gaudette Higgins Boeser Friesen Grenier Defencemen: Pedan Subban Sautner Stecher Biega Brisebois Larsen Olsen Neil Goalies: Cannata Bachman Demko Garteig He's made our team younger (by a mile), faster and bigger. Now of course not all of these prospects will work out, most won't, but the fact that we've managed to solidify our roster and still have decent call-ups in case of injuries speaks volumes about just how much Benning has done to improve this team in such a short period of time. The Canucks are nowhere near as bad a team as everyone would like to make them out to be. Benning has done a great job of restocking our prospect pool, while getting bigger, younger, and faster. Everyone complains how he gets hammered in trades, but has he lost at this point in time? Almost all of the trades people complain about are for futures in which we received NHL roster players. If Shink and McCann don't pan out to be top 9 forwards, we win these trades by a landslide. You don't get a player like Gudbranson for McCann without a significant add. The jury is still out on the Sutter deal, as we really have no idea what he can do over a full season. Vey and Baer are the type of players that you hope to get with 2nd round picks. I don't understand all of the hate towards Benning, when at this point in time, we have no idea whether or not many of his deals are wins or losses. Lots of people were up in arms when he drafted Brock and were wrong about that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanky Legs Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 19 minutes ago, Hockey Stache said: Unfortunately, you have totally missed the meaning of the entire post. The OP is comparing the two teams and showing how the roster has changed for the better with a much better prospect pool. Not once did he ever compare either team to any other team in the NHL. It is so tiring to come on these boards and read about how negative so many people are about this team. Sure everyone can have their own opinion but it must be so hard being so negative all the time. I didn't see any significant upgrade from the before and after. It will still be a bottom 10 team this year. Prospects-wise, it isn't that much better either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCNate Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 2 minutes ago, Stanky Legs said: I didn't see any significant upgrade from the before and after. It will still be a bottom 10 team this year. Prospects-wise, it isn't that much better either. I truly feel that if this team stays relatively healthy throughout the year, and adds 1 or 2 key UFA's, that they will be in the mix for a playoff spot all year. Likely they would have been last year had they not lost Hamhuis, Edler and Sutter for huge portions of the year. They are much deeper going into next year than they were last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwags Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 While I'm not expecting much to change next season (bottom 10 finish), I do believe we'll be a lot more consistent and much harder to play against. Who knows? We could also surprise next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Blight Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 We need to keep in perspective that Benning has only been on board for two years and has made significant positive changes to the Canucks' line-up and to our prospect pool. It is hard to argue that the team, under his direction, has not gotten younger, faster and bigger and this is exactly what he said he was going to do when he came to the organization. Some fans and media will always question draft choices and trades and I am pretty sure Benning was well aware of this when he accepted the GM role. Benning has brought other intangibles to the role as well. He has been very decisive and quickly moves forward with the changes he deems need to be made (again he will have detractors that will not agree with these decisions). In my mind, this has helped to take away the circus atmosphere that previous management seemed to be embroiled in more often than not such as the Luongo/Schneider fiasco. There is a lot more that needs to be done but I certainly think we are headed in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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