Has Benning Singlehandedly turned Calgary into a Cup Contender?

[*Buzzsaw*]

With the best % record in their division, Jacob Markstrom sitting at a goals against of 1.99 and Chris Tanev playing solidly you have to think Calgary has significantly improved their team defense... one of the weaker points on last year's team.

 

Even Josh Leivo looks not too bad as a secondary player who can slot in where needed.

 

Goaltending was a problem with all their previous playoff appearances, but with Markstrom signed for the longterm, you have to wonder if this team can take its next step.

 

All thanks to Jim Bennings decisions.

Edited January 22, 2021 by *Buzzsaw*

[NickTheGreek]

Of course he has

 

Benning needs to be canned ASAP. What an absolutely terrible GM

 

Decent scout sure, but GM? He's a hack

[ImConfused]

7 minutes ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

Jacob Markstrom sitting at a save percentage of 1.99

Wow, that's pretty impressive, he's stopped 199% of his shots?

 

I knew he was good but not THAT good.

 

No wonder they gave him the 6 million!

[*Buzzsaw*]

Last season Benning had more than a full year to understand it would be tough to sign Markstrom... so why didn't he act?

 

The last result you want is for your elite goalie to be signed by a divisional opponent... yet Benning sat on his hands and that was exactly what came about.

[TNucks1]

think it might be a little premature too have a thread like this....

[*Buzzsaw*]

2 minutes ago, ImConfused said:

Wow, that's pretty impressive, he's stopped 199% of his shots?

 

I knew he was good but not THAT good.

 

No wonder they gave him the 6 million!

fixed... obviously I meant GAA.

[kanucks25]

Just unfortunate that two of our best players went to a division rival, hard to blame him for that. If one went to Florida and one with to Columbus it wouldn't have been a big deal, just worked out weird.

 

Now, having to let go of two of our best players when we're supposed to be on the upward trajectory, that's definitely something that falls squarely on Benning and his lack of astute cap/asset management.

[Shekky]

analysts predicted the Canucks may have a down year losing Markstrom is a huge loss Holtby given more time with Ian Clark will come around. I'm still convinced the Canucks will improve seems like players are still developing some chemistry with there lines.

[Quantum]

No. This is stupid.

 

The Canucks are victims of the fact that there were no training camps or preseason games this season. This team added a lot of new guys, some vets left, and they need time to gel. It's early in the season.

 

Besides, year 4 of that Markstrom deal and year 3 of that Tanev... things are gonna turn and it's not gonna be fun for Calgary fans.

 

The season is still young, so I'm not panicking yet. And neither should anyone else.

[the grinder]

2 minutes ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

Last season Benning had more than a full year to understand it would be tough to sign Markstrom... so why didn't he act?

 

The last result you want is for your elite goalie to be signed by a divisional opponent... yet Benning sat on his hands and that was exactly what came about.

so you wanted to sign marky for 6mil till he is 36 ? and tanev for 4.5 for 4 years ,10.5 for 4 years  ? if Benning did that you would be complaining about signing longterm deals for overpriced free agents lol

[*Buzzsaw*]

5 minutes ago, the grinder said:

so you wanted to sign marky for 6mil till he is 36 ? and tanev for 4.5 for 4 years ,10.5 for 4 years  ? if Benning did that you would be complaining about signing longterm deals for overpriced free agents lol

Benning either should have signed Marky to an extension in 2019 or traded him for assets.

 

One or the other.  He didn't... and the result was where we are now.

 

Same with Tanev.  In fact, as I mentioned, he is paying more now for Nate Schmidt than Tanev is being paid by Calgary.  6 million vs 4.5.  And Benning had to throw in a 3rd rounder to boot.  Complete failure on Bennings part.

Edited January 22, 2021 by *Buzzsaw*

[DeltaSwede]

39 minutes ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

Last season Benning had more than a full year to understand it would be tough to sign Markstrom... so why didn't he act?

 

The last result you want is for your elite goalie to be signed by a divisional opponent... yet Benning sat on his hands and that was exactly what came about.

Are you suggesting that Benning should have traded Markstrom?

19 minutes ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

Benning either should have signed Marky to an extension in 2019 or traded him for assets.

 

One or the other.  He didn't... and the result was where we are now.

 

Same with Tanev.  In fact, as I mentioned, he is paying more now for Nate Schmidt than Tanev is being paid by Calgary.  6 million vs 4.5.  And Benning had to throw in a 3rd rounder to boot.  Complete failure on Bennings part.

 

He is paying more for Nate Schmidt because he's better than Tanev and also younger. He got a top pairing defender for a third round pick and you call it a complete failure. I don't mean to be disrespectful but that might be one of the wildest takes I've read on these forums. 

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by DeltaSwede

[TNucks1]

21 minutes ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

Benning either should have signed Marky to an extension in 2019 or traded him for assets.

 

One or the other.  He didn't... and the result was where we are now.

 

Same with Tanev.  In fact, as I mentioned, he is paying more now for Nate Schmidt than Tanev is being paid by Calgary.  6 million vs 4.5.  And Benning had to throw in a 3rd rounder to boot.  Complete failure on Bennings part.

you realize its been 6 games, this could easily backfire in the future.

[iinatcc]

37 minutes ago, TNucks1 said:

you realize its been 6 games, this could easily backfire in the future.

that's around 10% of the season already. I think it's a pretty good sample set of what the team is for better (Calgary) or worse (Vancouver)

[Goat James]

1 hour ago, ImConfused said:

Wow, that's pretty impressive, he's stopped 199% of his shots?

 

I knew he was good but not THAT good.

 

No wonder they gave him the 6 million!

 

I think it means that he stops 100 % of the shots against, and for 99 % of those shots the save results in a goal for his team, pretty pretty good...

[iinatcc]

Benning is good at scouting that is his strength but it's obvious his off season moves (either via trade or Free Agent signings) have been horrible.

Even so his track record in later rounds have spotty at best. 

 

I think after this season it's time to move on from Benning. The core is fine but I don't think he's the right GM to build a core around with. 

 

I would even argue that once Steve Yzerman was available maybe Aquilini should have hired him as president. Or made Steve Yzerman GM and promoted Benning to president.

 

Yzerman could get sign FA and re-sign players in great deals instead of throwing crazy money on Free Agents like what Benning does.

Edited January 22, 2021 by iinatcc

[TNucks1]

4 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

that's around 10% of the season already. I think it's a pretty good sample set of what the team is for better (Calgary) or worse (Vancouver)

well like ive said in previous gdt/pgts ima wait mid season too start calling out people.

[khay]

No. Their GM, Brad Treliving made Calgary good.

 

Also, it's too soon to give the cup to Calgary. There's still about 50 regular season games to be played, let alone playoffs.

 

We should have kept our UFAs if possible but it wasn't. Part of that is due to poor cap management (Eriksson, Baer and to some degree, Roussel), and part of it is just unfortunate circumstances (Luongo cap recapture and COVID).

 

We will see how the rest of the season goes. 

 

 

[Where's Wellwood]

1 hour ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

Benning either should have signed Marky to an extension in 2019 or traded him for assets.

 

One or the other.  He didn't... and the result was where we are now.

Were you calling for Benning to do that then? Or are you just piling on the hindsight now?

 

If Markstrom had signed in Arizona, would you be saying the same? He ended up in the worst possible place for us but thats on Treliving and Markstroms agent on enticing him there. Calgary doesn't have a Demko or a DiPietro that may be the starter in the future so they could give Markstrom the 6x6 with full NMC he wanted. And Markstrom is good friends with Lindholm

[DownUndaCanuck]

It's not like he traded them to Calgary - we wouls have at least gotten some value back but that would have been stupid.

 

A top-4 D and Vezina goalie make any team much better but those deals will drag Calgary down in 2-3 years. Especially with the ED coming up, stupid time to commit to players like Calgary did. Of course they look good now but watch this age.