Common Ground - Benning and where the team is at today

[Smashian Kassian]

I think your pretty much onto it. I'd add the feeling the old core wasn't getting it done was setting in as early as 2013, not just 2015. By that point everyone knew there was no chance of a cup.

 

The process has not been great, things could look better, but they've hit it out of the park on key high picks which have more than salvaged the process. He's assembled a really good core that has a chance to win a championship if the team around them is built correctly.

 

The pro-scouting record of this regime doesn't strike alot of confidence he can take it to the next level. But the key pieces are in place. Need a shrewd move or two and this team could really take off in a short period of time. 

[theo5789]

10 hours ago, NUCKER67 said:

When Benning came in, in 2014, he had an aging core and almost no top prospects. It's remarkable what he's done in 5 years. It's not his fault they were a bottom feeder for the last few years, that's just part of rebuilding. I believe he didn't have a very good first Draft (aside from Demko and Tryamkin), but he's gotten better every year and now the Canucks have some great top prospects developing and some will even be playing with the team this year. When I think about some other teams that have been flailing away with little success year after year, I believe Benning  may be one of the better GMs out there today. He's turned this team around in a hurry.

Aside from Demko and Tryamkin? That's like going to any draft and saying aside from two NHL level picks from each draft, they didn't do that well. They were our 2nd and 3rd round picks and were hits (I have no doubt Benning is doing everything he can to bring back Tryamkin), so that alone makes that draft successful.

 

Now the other elephant in the room is that you're clearly stating you didn't like the Virtanen and McCann picks because I can't imagine you are being critical on picks in round 4-7 who were always going to be longshots anyway (we didn't have a 4th round pick too). So say what you want about those guys, but they are both NHL players. There are other picks we could've made in that draft that are far worse and at the end of the day, they are both within "first round" in games played and points. We also added Forsling in that draft and he's becoming a bit of a journeyman, but sticking around getting NHL games.

 

If this was considered a not very good draft, then my goodness, it is indeed some incredible work Benning has done over his years.

[IBatch]

PIT won a cup with an average at best defense behind the strength of “gulp” Shultz and Dumoulin...ok it was probably below average - Crosby and Malkin were just too good and they had solid goaltending.   Second cup Letang was in the lineup but he’s not the Letang from five years before that either.   This was a cosmic shift from it all being about possession (CHI-LA) to speed speed speed.   Then WSH won (big skilled heavy team) and now St Louis (well rounded big heavy team).   Really don’t think there is any exact formula anymore and luck has quite a bit to do with it too - maybe Vegas would have won if they didn’t get killed by that Paveski call, or TO up two games but without Kadri, have to think they would have closed out Boston easily before game 7 if he was in the lineup.   Or TB - Bob looking for his big pay day - well he got it.  With league parity these days I think the more cracks at it the better - look at WSH they finally got theirs, and after years and years of coming up way short PIT got two in a row - long after they were no longer considered contenders anymore.   Even Dallas looked pretty good for it last year.

Nothing went as excepted last year.

 

Yes i do think we potentially have a team that could one day win it all - mostly because I think we will get our chances, not but because I think we will dominate like TB has.   I do like that we’ve added “playoff types” to me that’s bigger durable bodies - it’s a war of attrition and it looks like we can score by committee which is also crucial - EP goes down we need others that can score/make plays.   

[Googlie]

20 hours ago, Pears said:

I do agree we probably would be a little further ahead if Aquilini wasn’t greedy and held on to an aging core for too long. With that said you really have to be blind and/or clueless to not give credit for what Benning’s done. Only one legitimate NHL prospect when he started and now our future is looking brighter than ever. 

The Twins, and Edler weren't going anywhere.  Kesler, Burrows, Bieksa and Hansen were traded.  What "aging core" was the Aquilinis holding on to? 

[EdgarM]

5 hours ago, IBatch said:

PIT won a cup with an average at best defense behind the strength of “gulp” Shultz and Dumoulin...ok it was probably below average - Crosby and Malkin were just too good and they had solid goaltending.   Second cup Letang was in the lineup but he’s not the Letang from five years before that either.   This was a cosmic shift from it all being about possession (CHI-LA) to speed speed speed.   Then WSH won (big skilled heavy team) and now St Louis (well rounded big heavy team).   Really don’t think there is any exact formula anymore and luck has quite a bit to do with it too - maybe Vegas would have won if they didn’t get killed by that Paveski call, or TO up two games but without Kadri, have to think they would have closed out Boston easily before game 7 if he was in the lineup.   Or TB - Bob looking for his big pay day - well he got it.  With league parity these days I think the more cracks at it the better - look at WSH they finally got theirs, and after years and years of coming up way short PIT got two in a row - long after they were no longer considered contenders anymore.   Even Dallas looked pretty good for it last year.

Nothing went as excepted last year.

 

Yes i do think we potentially have a team that could one day win it all - mostly because I think we will get our chances, not but because I think we will dominate like TB has.   I do like that we’ve added “playoff types” to me that’s bigger durable bodies - it’s a war of attrition and it looks like we can score by committee which is also crucial - EP goes down we need others that can score/make plays.   

You bring up some great points but I think the main one is LUCK. How much did luck help us with the Draft over the past few years? Injuries too? Getting players who would give up their NTC to chase the Cup? We even got unlucky with the Luongo retirement and Tryamkin deciding to move back home.

With the bout of bad luck, this also put us on the wrong side of the parity in the league. Given if we were a bit lucky the last couple of years, things might be completely different then what they are now. 

Benning has done a great job considering what he has been dealt and we are not even privy to what he has been doing behind closed doors. A lot of things are not under his control and I am sure this has affected some of his decisions over the years.

The one thing that I am happy to see is that we now have core players with "character" and this will pay dividends for when we finally start playing in the post season. This is something he has been able to acquire over the years and is maybe a little under rated when looking at what he has been able to do so far.

All of the concerns with the team last year have been addressed and the overall "depth" has grown to where we are now going to be more competitive then recent years and will only get better as the prospects gain more experience.

I could only imagine what JB could do with a little "LUCK" on his side and hopefully we will see it in the next couple of seasons.