Has Benning Singlehandedly turned Calgary into a Cup Contender?

['NucK™]

7 hours 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)

the deals they signed weren't 1yr deals..

[UKNuck96]

On the short term will it help Calgary - yes likely however the issue with the contracts is term. Both are far to long for those players so while they may get a good year or two from them after that it’s likely to tail off. That means that they Realistically have a 2 year window. Out window probably starts after next season so at that point we trend up and they trend down. 

[Gurn]

9 hours ago, Quantum said:

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.

Agree, the last year, or so, of both those deals are very questionable.

1 hour ago, iinatcc said:

I mean Tax is one factor but that doesn't tell the whole story. Otherwise the Panthers could have signed Bobrovsky for less

Maybe the Panthers messed up and over paid him. If J.B. can over pay, as some allege, then other GMs can do the same.

1 hour ago, kanucks25 said:

Well you can have that impression all you want but there's no basis for it.

 

We're operating capped out, same as we have been for most of Benning's tenure. 

 

You can say a lot of things about the Aquilinis but not giving their GM the resources is not one of them.

Spending to the cap is one thing, but you did notice there were no buy outs, didn't you?

33 minutes ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Missing:

 

2015 - #24 McCann (marginal hit; but still a NHLer)  Granted we dealt him (along with a very high 2nd round pick) for blech.  blech was mitigated by dumping that pylon for Pearson.  Though we sure could use a C who can handle the defensive roles (upgrade over Gaudette).

 Imo, Sutter was supposed to end up as the third line C, but injuries slowed him down. He would be rounding back into form and then get struck by the injury bug again.

Now between the hip/groin problem and the ripped up shoulder, he is just a shadow of his former self.

Fortunately he's gone at the end of this year at the latest.

[Roger Neilsons Towel]

[mll]

1 hour ago, kanucks25 said:

Well you can have that impression all you want but there's no basis for it.

 

We're operating capped out, same as we have been for most of Benning's tenure. 

 

You can say a lot of things about the Aquilinis but not giving their GM the resources is not one of them.

 

It played a role according to Satiar Shah.   There are bad contracts on the team but cash flow and spending is also an issue.  Benning always said he wanted to keep Toffoli and that the trade cost was worth it as they had long term in mind.  He tried hard to move unwanted contracts but found no takers.  He then looked to create room by buying out contracts.  Ownership did not give the green light for a buyout.  With no Toffoli he then signed Virtanen.  

 

There’s been cash savings behind the scenes with layoffs and salary reductions.  Utica is now being shared with St Louis for the season.  

 

Several of the player contracts had low salaries for this season because it was projected to be a lockout year.  With how some contracts have been structured they are spending under the cap in actual salaries. Horvat 5.5M cap hit but only 3.5M in salary this year with last season and next season at 5.75M.  If they didn’t get that unforeseen help who knows if they would have even used up all their cap space.

 

Dhaliwal and Drance have also mentioned cash flow issues earlier in the off-season.  

 

[bree2]

4 hours ago, iinatcc said:

Don't buy it. Vancouver has used up the cap so money isn't the problem. It's plain old Cap management. If Vancouver had the cap room I think management would sign Toffoli and Markstrom on the deals they got from Montreal and Calgary respectively? 

I heard Toffoli wanted a couple more million from the Canucks to sign and Benning couldn't do it.  then Toffoli signed with Montreal for less!  also please, the Canucks are not the only team that was in cap hell, many teams were in the same position and most had to let good players go for almost nothing. The Canucks played horrible last night but i believe they will pick themselves up and start playing again. Just remember the Flames have only played 3 games and have only won 2. now they have 5 days off and it looks like oh wow Calgary is doing better,  Tanev last year played well next to no injuries, but the other years he was always injured and Markstrom can only plays a certain amount of games then he plays awful or he is injured.

[iinatcc]

59 minutes ago, gurn said:

Maybe the Panthers messed up and over paid him. If J.B. can over pay, as some allege, then other GMs can do the same.

Well sure GM's overpaying isn't exclusively a Benning problem but it's one of his glaring weaknesses. So perhaps getting someone whose expertise is managing the cap could help the team. As I see it there's no one in the Canucks organization that has that ability.

[c00kies]

Toffoli is the only one I really wanted to keep around since 4 years at just over 4M is a great contract for a top-6 player in their prime, and if you don't overpay too many bottom 6 players, you could even have him slide down the lineup.

[Gurn]

11 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

Well sure GM's overpaying isn't exclusively a Benning problem

Agreed

 

11 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

but it's one of his glaring weaknesses.

His "overpayments" were mostly from when he had to pay more to get people to come to a non play off team. 

I'd say his signings are getting "better" as the team gets better.

Nobody thought E.P. and Hughes would be so good so fast. The next 2 years see a lot of cap space recovered with a bunch of older guys leaving.

[iinatcc]

34 minutes ago, bree2 said:

I heard Toffoli wanted a couple more million from the Canucks to sign and Benning couldn't do it.  then Toffoli signed with Montreal for less!  also please, the Canucks are not the only team that was in cap hell, many teams were in the same position and most had to let good players go for almost nothing. 

Sure that's true there are other teams with Cap problems but other teams have also done better with managing their cap. Chicago did it after their 2010 Cup win and made the right moves to become an elite team for another 7 to 8 years and, of course, Tampa did the same as well.

[Gurn]

9 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

Sure that's true there are other teams with Cap problems but other teams have also done better with managing their cap. Chicago did it after their 2010 Cup win and made the right moves to become an elite team for another 7 to 8 years and, of course, Tampa did the same as well.

10 year is a long time ago, in a changing league, with a flat cap.

[The Lock]

This thread is comedy gold.

 

Short answer is no. Calgary took advantage of the free agent market. Those free agents just happened to be mostly Canucks last season. You can't blame our GM for that (well you can but you wouldn't be all that truthful in doing so).

[nergish]

Talk about kneejerk reaction..

Listen, everybody wants Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom on their team this year, next year, maybe even the one after.

But beyond that... these are older players. One of them with a ton of miles whose game had really fallen off until Quinn Hughes came into the picture, and the other a hot mess of a goaltender until 28 years of age.

 

Markstrom is an elite goaltender, but he is not a career goaltender. It's a big fella riding a nice hot streak.

He was honestly pretty mediocre in the bubble as well. 

 

 

[ruilin96]

Calgary would still fold it when it comes to the playoffs. No true No. 1 C. Monahan is the most overrated player in the league. Little Johnny gets pushed around when the games gets tough. Calgary will continue to disappoint as long as those 2 are still their main driving force.

 

Speaking of Tkachuk, he is going to have a target on his back, I predict Weber will lay him out for good once they play the Habs in either the first or second round.

Edited January 22, 2021 by ruilin96

[ruilin96]

53 minutes ago, nergish said:

Talk about kneejerk reaction..

Listen, everybody wants Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom on their team this year, next year, maybe even the one after.

But beyond that... these are older players. One of them with a ton of miles whose game had really fallen off until Quinn Hughes came into the picture, and the other a hot mess of a goaltender until 28 years of age.

 

Markstrom is an elite goaltender, but he is not a career goaltender. It's a big fella riding a nice hot streak.

He was honestly pretty mediocre in the bubble as well. 

 

 

No, he had maybe 1 bad game against Minnesota. He was phenomenal in the St. Louis series. Then he was basically too hurt to play in the Vegas series which why he had a poor Game 1 and Game 4. He was still lights out in Game 2.

 

There is no need to slant our former players just because they join a divisional rival. I still believe we made the right choice by keeping Demko. It could be as soon as next season that Calgary starts to see the a decline of Marky and Demko start to emerge as a true No 1 goalie.

[The Lock]

For the record, I'm not taking this season seriously. What's the point in that? It's not a normal season but it gives us hockey during the pandemic. That's it.

 

Therefore, if our team plays well, that's an added bonus for me, especially given the chaos that's going to ensue over the season. Why expect more at this point?

[CanucksForever2]

I rather have Flames as cup contender than Oilers/Leafs.

[the grinder]

14 hours 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.

traded marky in 2019 ? what gm trades a no# 1 goalie while fighting for a playoff spot, lmao, so we would of been in the same boat with no playoff experience for the core ,with a  late round pick and then go out sign a veteran back up.  pick or experience ?  yep traded   for a  top 4 dman for 5.95 till 2024 for a 3 rd round  pick , 

Edited January 22, 2021 by the grinder

[Toyotasfan]

I think the Flames have some Major shortcomings at forward.

but they did address their previously terrible goaltending and upgraded their right defence , going from Hamonic to Tanev .

Dallas showed us Calgary is nothing without Tkachuk in their lineup.  

[Dirtman]

1 hour ago, Toyotasfan said:

I think the Flames have some Major shortcomings at forward.

but they did address their previously terrible goaltending and upgraded their right defence , going from Hamonic to Tanev .

Dallas showed us Calgary is nothing without Tkachuk in their lineup.  

Tkachuk is the driving force in Calgary's lineup, and he's not making any friends this year (or previous years). He's going to get hammered this season. Not wishing an injury on the guy, but if he goes down Calgary is in trouble. 

 

A lot of you guys are panicking like we have the NHL's worst lineup and we'll never win a game again. We have a ton of talent and I have no doubt we'll figure it out. We're probably looking at middle of the pack for the next couple of years due to some bad signings. It sucks, but it is what it is. The good news is that there is a ton of compete in this team. 

 

Tanev and Marky are gone. It's time to get over it. Whether it be bad previous signings or too much attention on other possible signings, they are no longer Canucks.