A realistic analysis of Jim Benning's tenure so far

[canucksnihilist]

Well... Hate to say that I told you so.

 

But all these expensive contracts for bottom 6 players cost us.  Tofoli would look good as a canuck right now.  and losing Tanev... painful.  Sure he is on the downward side of his career - but the team could sure use him now.

 

All those posters who went on and on about the plan and assuring us all there would be money available.... well that just wasn't so.  Not their fault - they didn't make those dumb contracts.   not a big deal.  but i do find it humorous ;)

 

The future:  Well the team is holding onto its core.  but we lost some really valuable support players because we overspent on players anyone could pick up for fairly cheap (or we got them in their prime as defensive forwards, but we didn't need them at that time).  Anyways, we have to wait until the dead wood is off the books before we can compete again.  this year is a write-off.  don't tell me that every team has players on the books chewing up millions that are equally worthless to the scoresheet - those teams don't win cups.  Anyways, i believe next year LE is off the books.  and then we can consider actually winning again.  And JB isn't making dumb contracts anymore.  Its just too bad he couldn't have learned that lesson with another team... but thats what you get when you hire a rookie GM.  you get the ups and downs.

 

Window opens again next season without LE!   looking forward to it!

[IBatch]

On 1/29/2021 at 3:32 PM, The Lock said:

All this is fine and all, but it's also a little narrow vision in my opinion. This is only focusing on us, the Canucks. This isn't taking into account how Benning's been compared with other GM's. So many people just focus on what Benning's done; yet, you hardly hear someone ask themselves this while also asking what are other GM's doing around the league doing.

 

And this goes both way. To claim Benning's the best GM. What makes the other GMs worse? To claim Benning's the worst GM. What makes the other GMs better?

 

Is Benning the only good drafter in the league? Short answer: no. Look at how good Tampa Bay is if you need proof of that. Some GMs have a better record than Benning on the draft floor. Others are downright terrible on the draft floor.

 

Is Benning the only GM that signs people like Eriksson? Also no. In fact, look at who else was signed when we signed Eriksson: Lucic, Okposo, Backes, etc. There are a TON of bad contracts signed in even that very same day we signed Eriksson.

 

The truth is, you can paint all of this whatever shade of positive or negative you want, but when you start comparing all of these with the outside world that is the actual NHL and not just our team, the good and bad get diminished. It's for this reason I really think Benning's more in the middle of the pack in terms of GMs. He's not terrible. He's not the best. He has his good and bad, just like with any other GM.

Good post.   For me JB has started to make some separation from the middle of the pack the last couple of years.  Myers, Miller and Schmidt were all great moves for the club - and the last two ... well 30 other GMs haven't done that the last decade as far as i re-call.   Myers because rarely does that happen too (RHDs like him come to market).    Drafting wise he's top 10 based on average draft position, we've drafted 8-9 the past 5 years on average, yet have a top 1-3 group of 21 and unders in the league and still in the pool.    So despite not drafting an average of 1-3, we still managed about as good as one can.   Exactly what a rebuilding team tries to do.    

 

Don't have any issue with the "placeholders", that's another thing all GMs do.   LE, Luongo and Bear sting the most.   Without those, he'd be a top five GM, as a result he is not.   

 

The only thing that worries me next is who will replace the Beagles and Sutters.   We lack C and RHD depth in our pool...and what happens cap wise once it clears up.     I'd say overall he's created a team that has a chance.    More then i expected at the start of all of this,  figured at best parts of this core and the next would be our next great team.   For sure that's still a possibility - JB was put in a bad spot.   Somehow he's come out - partially scathed no doubt - but he did it. 

[IBatch]

On 2/6/2021 at 8:27 PM, canucksnihilist said:

Well... Hate to say that I told you so.

 

But all these expensive contracts for bottom 6 players cost us.  Tofoli would look good as a canuck right now.  and losing Tanev... painful.  Sure he is on the downward side of his career - but the team could sure use him now.

 

All those posters who went on and on about the plan and assuring us all there would be money available.... well that just wasn't so.  Not their fault - they didn't make those dumb contracts.   not a big deal.  but i do find it humorous

 

The future:  Well the team is holding onto its core.  but we lost some really valuable support players because we overspent on players anyone could pick up for fairly cheap (or we got them in their prime as defensive forwards, but we didn't need them at that time).  Anyways, we have to wait until the dead wood is off the books before we can compete again.  this year is a write-off.  don't tell me that every team has players on the books chewing up millions that are equally worthless to the scoresheet - those teams don't win cups.  Anyways, i believe next year LE is off the books.  and then we can consider actually winning again.  And JB isn't making dumb contracts anymore.  Its just too bad he couldn't have learned that lesson with another team... but thats what you get when you hire a rookie GM.  you get the ups and downs.

 

Window opens again next season without LE!   looking forward to it!

Your post contradicts itself.   If we signed TT, Tanev, Markstrom it would be cap hell, AND we'd be committing to a team that looked completely outgunned by Vegas last year.   Plus we'd lose valuable assets/prospects to make the space.

 

Hate seeing Tanev as flame - couldn't care less we didn't sign TT.  13ish games...rental is just that.   Marskstrom ... not at that contract.   Tanev is the only guy id have kept - but Schmidt more then makes up for that statistically at least, plus injury history.   LE, Luongo and Bear for sure suck.   Bear all goes to one of QHs or EP, same with spooner.   Same with Pearson...still need some more for Demko, (who i see getting a deal just like Markstrom just had with us), i'm sure you know this already.  

 

Bottom line our fate would have been sealed if we signed these guys - and not in a good way.   The team now has a chance at breaking through the mediocrity cycle .... that's it.   Was the hard road - but the right one.