Louie Eriksson and Jake Virtanen and Jim Benning

[IBatch]

7 hours ago, ButterBean said:

Have to disagree about Pettersson. He may go to the dirty areas and play fearless but he by no means hits with purpose or plays fiesty.

And ButterBean should know.  Best 3 minute fighter ever.

[IBatch]

14 hours ago, erkayloomeh said:

Are you trying to say he signs players just for the sake of appearances......using up cap space. That's what it sounds like. 

And even with LE where did we end up ?  Gotta sign those high price ufas so we don't end up bottom 5 right.  Uh.  We did 

All I'm saying is that I don't like signing high priced ufas when they are aging and to linger terms.   Even if we got a couple good years out of Loui surely one could see that the balance of that contract would not be good.  

This is the danger of signing any UFA that’s not a high caliber star.  Patches looks to be finding his groove in Vegas, but how is going to be three years from now?  Neal is just starting his contract and is sinking...and he’s supposedly the types you want come playoff time.  Personally I’d rather pay the extra two or three million and go for it, with guys like Stone, Panarin or Duchene then a guy that’s had some good years (Okposo, Ladd, Foligno, LE, Neal etc) and will command a heavy contract.  Given our RHD issues Myers’s looks ok, but he could end up playing like a third pairing guy half way into his contract too.  

 

Everyone knows you pay a premium for UFAs for past blue chip production, can’t avoid that...what you want to avoid is an albatross contract and practically every team has one.   And most of those are UFA or third contracts.  

 

Adding a top six winger this summer via free agency will come with the same risks, same with a RHD...

 

Ideally we trade Hutton for a similar aged RHD with equal abilities, and play JV in the top six and he takes a big step.   That could blow up in our faces too though.  

 

There is no right or wrong way to do it if things work out...sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.  Personally I’d welcome a high end free agent with open arms, a tier down guy with a lot of skepticism.  Know how close this team is to making the playoffs as is, and how tempting it might be for management to do what they did when they first arrived (Miller and Vrbata).  Definitely not sure if the timing is right yet, the best move might be just doing nothing at all and either making a modest step next year or picking 9-10 again....

[Ghostsof1915]

19 hours ago, Tomatoes11 said:

I think Dim Jim is the worse GM we had in ages but it’s not because of Eriksson or JV. Far from it. I actually have very little issue with Eriksson besides the same reason I had issue with Miller. I don’t think we need these guys in a rebuilding team that hasn’t completely tore down yet. They do nothing except ruin how high our pick is. Thankfully Eriksson hasn’t actually won us games or given us unnecessary loser points like Miller did. How much Miller helped demko or markstrom is either non-existent or completely unnoticeable so that 6 million was a waste just like Eriksson is.

 

That said, Its just cap space though, so it’s not the end of the world. 

 

How he handles the rest of our assets is absolutely horrible though but it shouldn’t come as any surprise considering who his mentor/teacher was, Peter Chirelli.

 

We seriously need to move him before what happened in Edmonton happens. 

Go back to Calgary Puck. 

[vannuck59]

Two choices really sign a big name free agent on D and left wing . Or stay the course draft and trade extra players for picks. I for one would like to see us draft and trade for picks, I would trade for another first rounder, Give all our young players a chance to develop . Another year at sucking than see whats available .Scoring should  be our focus in the first round  No to drafting anymore small D. If you look at the playoffs to date you will see that size and speed maters. Lavoie, Kaliyev , Broberg and Seider would be my targets. Move as many vets as posable for picks next year at the trade deadline. Than see what you got .

[NHL'er]

My friend's life is crappier therefore my life is not so crappy? 

[CaptainLinden16]

11 hours ago, ButterBean said:

Have to disagree about Pettersson. He may go to the dirty areas and play fearless but he by no means hits with purpose or plays fiesty.

lets not take things out of context.  I by no means mean he is a power forward or even consistent physical player.  I expected 0 physicality out of a 112 pound 19 year old offensive wizard.  The fact that he does those things now makes me think when he adds 2.5 pounds it will only increase.  Can you honestly say you expected to see any hits from Pettersson this year?  Or his willingness to go in the corners, block shots and dive on the ice.  I cringe sometimes when he does those things as its not worth him getting hurt on a team thats going nowhere, but he doesnt have a lot fear and wants to win badly.  He reminds me a lot of Peter Forsberg.  As he adds some muscle, I think you will see a lot more fiesty.

Edited April 16, 2019 by CaptainLinden16

[189lb enforcers?]

17 hours ago, IBatch said:

Remember this genius picked EP, and if we got a guy that could make a difference that wouldn’t have happened as we’d be picking a lot later.  Genius by abstraction.  Everything worked out ok.

It did and Tanktards are still rocking their smiles. 

 

Do you recall the thread in here that was named, The genius of Jim Benning, or something like that? That’s where I actually got the Genious Jim moniker from. 

 

 

 

JB gets all the credit, and all of the criticism, for being some kind of a drafting guru, when it should belong to the Director of Amateur Scouting and his staff.

 

When you take away amateur operations like EP, Brock, QH, etc, you’re looking at Benning’s work, which will never be mistaken as genius. 

 

Everything did not work out ok.

 

It most definitely did not, unless accidental tanks were truely stealth tanks, then maybe you can credit the man’s execution of a stealth-vision. His IR roster, for instance, pure genius? Only if it was a Stealth Tank Plan. 

 

What has worked out here is what’s commonly referred to as, silver linings. 

 

I’m not about to fault him for the sluggish start to the rebuild because it was supposedly being mandated by Aquaman. Also, since both he and PR-man Linden issued several statements to fans which undermined their integrity in those early days, I find little genius in. I justifiably retain my reservations about his word after his willingness to stand in front of fans and say what he/they did. 

 

The Triangle of Death is a thing of beauty. I liked every second of what I saw there, but I won’t forget how we got those picks, BB excluded, of course. Even I could’ve mismanaged the team into perennial lotto contention and Brackett would still have broght you fans the EP and QHs of the draft. Nobody would be calling me a genius though. 

 

The draft is around the corner. If JB manages to acquire some more quality picks, I will be satisfied with the year. Admittedly, it’s just my own preferences which I’m pandering to here as I weigh in on things, on a meaningless message board, but whatever.

 

#10 in the draft has been a lucky spot for us. Let’s hope that continues. I’d rather see the Diamond of Death next year. 

 

Go Brackett and staff! 

Edited April 16, 2019 by 189lb enforcers?

[thrago]

All I can say is that over the last year and a half to 2 years Benning has been almost flawless IMO.  So his previous moves while they matter don't make want me too replace Benning.  If he keeps things heading in the direction they are going all is good.

[vannuck59]

4 minutes ago, 189lb enforcers? said:

Go Brackett and staff! 

Precisely, If Brackett would have come on board at the start of JBs tenure where would we be now ? Hopefully Brackett gets us a goal scorer, D can be picked later.

[The Great Canucks]

6 minutes ago, 189lb enforcers? said:

It did and Tanktards are still rocking their smiles. 

 

Do you recall the thread in here that was named, The genius of Jim Benning, or something like that? That’s where I actually got the Genious Jim moniker from. 

 

 

 

JB gets all the credit, and all of the criticism, for being some kind of a drafting guru, when it should belong to the Director of Amateur Scouting and his staff.

 

When you take away amateur operations like EP, Brock, QH, etc, you’re looking at Benning’s work, which will never be mistaken as genius. 

 

Everything did not work out ok.

 

It most definitely did not, unless accidental tanks were truely stealth tanks, then maybe you can credit the man’s execution of a stealth-vision. His IR roster, for instance, pure genius? Only if it was a Stealth Tank Plan. 

 

What has worked out here is what’s commonly referred to as, silver linings. 

 

I’m not about to fault him for the sluggish start to the rebuild because it was supposedly being mandated by Aquaman. Also, since both he and PR-man Linden issued several statements to fans which undermined their integrity in those early days, I also find little genius in. I justifiably retain my reservations about his word after his willingness to stand in front of fans and say what he/they did. 

 

The Triangle of Death is a thing of beauty. I liked every second of what I saw there, but I won’t forget how we got those picks, BB excluded, of course. Even I could mismanaged the team into lotto contention and Brackett would still bring you the EP and QHs of the draft. Nobody would be calling me a genius though. 

 

The draft is around the corner. If JB manages to acquire some more quality picks, I will be satisfied with the year. Admittedly, it’s just my own preferences which I’m pandering to here as I weigh in on things, on a meaningless message board, but whatever.

 

#10 in the draft has been a lucky spot for us. Let’s hope that continues. I’d rather see the Diamond of Death next year. 

 

Go Brackett and staff! 

Except Benning did have input in us choosing Pettersson, Hughes and Boeser. He also is the one who gives direction to the scouting staff. He certainly is a genius compared to you and his detractors. Nice try, but you fail again.

[189lb enforcers?]

5 minutes ago, The Great Canucks said:

Except Benning did have input in us choosing Pettersson, Hughes and Boeser. He also is the one who gives direction to the scouting staff. He certainly is a genius compared to you and his detractors. Nice try, but you fail again.

Ricky,

 

In grade 10 they will teach you what big words like, input, actually mean. 

Hang in there, bud. 

 

Mr. Lahey

 

 

[The Great Canucks]

2 minutes ago, 189lb enforcers? said:

Ricky,

 

In grade 10 they will teach you what big words like, input, actually mean. 

Hang in there, bud. 

 

Mr. Lahey

 

 

Are you talking about yourself? You must be if you think Benning has little to no input for first round picks. Maybe if you'd stop being a child people would take you seriously.

[RogersTowell]

17 hours ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

 

The two prime examples of losing culture, Edmonton and Buffalo, got stuck in a rut due to poor management. Toronto deliberately tanked hard in 2016 but were able to turn it around quickly because they had/have competent management. If Edmonton specifically had any decent GM, they'd be in a much better position now. 

Other than a one year anomaly during the lockout year, Toronto sucked for a decade before hitting the lottery and making changes.  Their new management did make the best of that situation, but they had terrible management for years before that to get them to the point where it could 'all of a sudden' turn around. 

 

As to Louie, terrible contract, but I suspect it wasn't Benning's idea to sign a big FA that summer.  Someone behind the scenes wanted that playoff revenue, but it didn't pan out.  Next year we make the playoffs and the year after we might start making noise, but we'll need a line up that's a bit harder than it is currently.

[Tomatoes11]

3 hours ago, IBatch said:

Man you can’t see the forest for the trees.  Yes he drafted high because we sucked, and have to suck to get a new core...and the lottery screwed him every step of the way.  But based on ADP, he still out drafted 22 GMS in the league if all things were equal.  So that remark is naive and ignorant.  Not anyone can build, there are a lot of examples out there of teams that have and have not and maybe he’d be one of them if he batted .500 with his firsts and found nobody outside of the first round.    Quin was loved and rightly so, go back and see how well he did with his first picks, some big misses, even back to back.  Bure was a coupe no doubt, Linden an obvious pick at the time...Nedved was ok too.   Would you throw rotten tomatoes at him too?

 

 

Not questioning his drafting. Every other factor of his managing sucks completely though but if you fanboys want to ignore it, go nuts. I know what I see and would fire him instantly.

[CaptainLinden16]

1 minute ago, Tomatoes11 said:

Not questioning his drafting. Every other factor of his managing sucks completely though but if you fanboys want to ignore it, go nuts. I know what I see and would fire him instantly.

You have unrealistic expectations of what was possible with the roster he inherited.  You can roll all the Gaunce, Jensens, Higgins, Hansens, Beiksas, etc... into a giant ball and you still don't get Nathan McKinnon.  Adding 4th round picks doesn't get you Jamie Benn.  Cash paid out to Eriksson, Vrbata, Miller, Schaller, and Roussel only effects the owner's pocket book.  Did nothing to hurt the cap as the team didn't have worthy players to pay more.

 

I know its hard to believer because it is easy to do EA's NHL game, but in real life being a GM is kind of hard.  Other professional GM's don't want to take your old less effective players and give you young stud up and coming players.  Picking Kucherov's in the 7th round happens once a decade so 1/3000 or .0003% of the time.  

 

Its not about being a fan boy or not.  It's about having a realistic perspective of the work done and what was possible.  You seem to think some unreasonable path was available that Jim simply missed because he wasn't good enough to see it.  

 

He is an unbelievable talent evaluator especially with younger players.  Where I see him lacking is in his team building, but even there he has tried with meager resources.  This team needs a RHD with offensive upside badly.  They are very difficult to trade for draft or sign in free agency.  They come at a massive premium.  He took some low risk swings with Larsen and Weber.  They didn't pan out.  Stecher was another low risk attempt at filling that void.  He panned out sort of.  I mean he is much better defensively than anyone expected, but he is also someone who plays within himself in the offensive zone and doesn't rush the puck with speed like he could transitioning from the defensive zone.  I would have liked to have seen a trade for a high quality offensive RHD years ago.    Bo was missing a winger and now he has one in Pearson.  What a great trade that has been so far.  

 

He brought in a lot of defensive forwards to create a competitive culture.  This team lost a lot of one goal games this year.  It is great for development to be competitive even if you ultimately end up loosing.  Tension is what creates growth.  Getting blown out 7-3 and having both teams playing half speed half of the game isn't creating any kind of growth.

 

The results suck absolutely.  Your expectations that they could be dramatically different are misguided.  Scott Bowman and Lou Lamoriello weren't going to be able to do anything with that roster sorry.  Most teams are bad for a long time unless they hit Malkin and Crosby in back to back drafts.  That is an incredibly lucky thing to have happen.  Requires zero skill.

[hlinkas wrister]

1 hour ago, 189lb enforcers? said:

The Triangle of Death is a thing of beauty. I liked every second of what I saw there, but I won’t forget how we got those picks, BB excluded, of course. Even I could’ve mismanaged the team into perennial lotto contention and Brackett would still have broght you fans the EP and QHs of the draft. Nobody would be calling me a genius though. 

 

The draft is around the corner. If JB manages to acquire some more quality picks, I will be satisfied with the year. Admittedly, it’s just my own preferences which I’m pandering to here as I weigh in on things, on a meaningless message board, but whatever.

 

#10 in the draft has been a lucky spot for us. Let’s hope that continues. I’d rather see the Diamond of Death next year. 

 

Go Brackett and staff! 

Like it or not, Benning gets credit for draft successes (and failures) by virtue of hiring Brackett and assembling the amateur staff. However, I fully agree that even you could have mismanaged the team into lottery contention and nobody would call you a genius  

[AlwaysACanuckFan]

1 hour ago, 189lb enforcers? said:

Ricky,

 

In grade 10 they will teach you what big words like, input, actually mean. 

Hang in there, bud. 

 

Mr. Lahey

 

 

Ricky,

was a young boy
He had a heart of stone
Lived 9 to 5 and he worked
His fingers to the bone

 

Skidrow

[wildwood12]

23 hours ago, Tomatoes11 said:

 l think Dim Jim

I stopped reading right there!

It says more about you than it does about Jim.

[oldnews]

21 hours ago, CanadianRugby said:

That's not true.  Majority of hate for Benning was his insistence of making another Cup run with the Sedins.

in other words, hate based on a fantasy/myth of your own inception.

[WeneedLumme]

5 hours ago, 189lb enforcers? said:

Ricky,

 

In grade 10 they will teach you what big words like, input, actually mean. 

Hang in there, bud. 

 

Mr. Lahey

 

 

Actually Mr Lahey, rather than providing input, JB considers the input he receives and makes the actual decisions. Like the decisions to draft Brock and Petey. Which a number of GMs drafting ahead of him wish they had done. Have you ever heard the phrase, "the buck stops here"? And yes, we understand that nobody will ever call you a genius. Except sarcastically.