A realistic analysis of Jim Benning's tenure so far

[iinatcc]

27 minutes ago, Screw said:

What I see is a group of players who are making individual mistakes and poor plays and playing well below their capabilities.

 

My opinion is that this is a mental funk more than anything.  

 

.  

I think it's a morale issue. The team really like Toffoli, Markstrom, and Tanev. Even if Vancouver couldn't resign everyone it must be a blow to the teams morale to lose all these players.

 

Can you imagine Horvat waiting so long to finally return to the playoffs with a competitive team and roster only for that to be taken away in an instant. That must be very demoralizing and I wouldn't be surprised if Horvat tests Free Agency once his contract is up

[sassbs]

I’m 50/50 with moving on from Benning.   I truly believe it was the owner being a tight arse and ordered benning to let him walk.   
 

I don’t know

[iinatcc]

52 minutes ago, clutesi said:

If Podkolzin turns out as good as everyone says he is, Hoglander is the 200 ft. top six player he looks, and Demko keeps progressing, we're in pretty good shape. But we're hurting for a reliable defenseman or two. Hughes is going to be an all-star for a long time and he's still getting better. And this is only Jolevi's first year. We have a good young core, things will get better, have a beer. 

Or what if having Toffoli and Podkolzin would mean Vancouver has a deadly Top 9 like how the Pens won back in 2016 and 2017.  Heck imagine if  McCann was still with the team. 

 

Plus Toffoli is certainy that he's is a good player. Podkolzin right now we are as certain when Vancouver drafted Virtanen. Hopeful but that's it 

[CanadianRugby]

20 minutes ago, sassbs said:

I’m 50/50 with moving on from Benning.   I truly believe it was the owner being a tight arse and ordered benning to let him walk.   
 

I don’t know

Nope.

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, iinatcc said:

Well technically Holland did retool in the mid 2000's if I'm not mistaken and that got the team another cup. 

 

I say after their last playoff apperrance this was more a rebuild than a retool in yes it's going to be rough at first but that's what happens after 2 decades of success. Exhaustion of assets but I guess it was worth it considering the cups they accumulated.

 

Where's Vancouver's cup ? 

lol.  Technically he drafted Datsyuk and Zetterberg, both gems, and not early picks ... which sustained them after Yzermans team was done (although Lidstrom and Osgood were key parts  for both of those cores).    A big part of why Holland was the gold standard for so long.    

[sassbs]

20 minutes ago, CanadianRugby said:

Nope.

Well then, fire his ass!!!!  Letting toffoli walk was absolutely absurd!!   Other priorities my hairy arse!!! 

[Pickly]

33 minutes ago, CanadianRugby said:

Nope.

[philtbc829]

Great Post Aces, you should do more....personally I give JB a pass..he has made some good moves and NOT so good moves....and for someone that really had no prior GM experience before taking on the role for the Nucks....the franchise has had to deal with his growing pains....and this season is totally fracked up so can't really judge him ...except tor TT ...I was really disappointed in that......I guess we will all see what happens next season...unless the Aquas do something before hand....still hoping he fires TG at the end of the season and brings in Babs...

[24K PureCool]

7 minutes ago, philtbc829 said:

Great Post Aces, you should do more....personally I give JB a pass..he has made some good moves and NOT so good moves....and for someone that really had no prior GM experience before taking on the role for the Nucks....the franchise has had to deal with his growing pains....and this season is totally fracked up so can't really judge him ...except tor TT ...I was really disappointed in that......I guess we will all see what happens next season...unless the Aquas do something before hand....still hoping he fires TG at the end of the season and brings in Babs...

Oh hell no. JB definitely needs to be fired right after Babs sign that contract, and throw out Babs while they are at it.

[Butters Stoch]

2 hours ago, sassbs said:

I’m 50/50 with moving on from Benning.   I truly believe it was the owner being a tight arse and ordered benning to let him walk.   
 

I don’t know

Benning overpays in trades and signings for a bunch of scrubs... OwNerShIp MaDe HiM Do IT

 

Benning doesn't pay to keep good players... OwNerShIp MaDe HiM Do IT

 

There's no defending this guy anymore. He's made some good moves but manages to take 2 steps back for every step forward.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Butters Stoch
typo

[spur1]

2 hours ago, sassbs said:

Well then, fire his ass!!!!  Letting toffoli walk was absolutely absurd!!   Other priorities my HAIRY ASS!!! 

That is all your opinion is worth in the big picture of things. 

[iinatcc]

5 hours ago, sassbs said:

I’m 50/50 with moving on from Benning.   I truly believe it was the owner being a tight arse and ordered benning to let him walk.   
 

I don’t know

It's possible but who signed Eriksson, Beagle, Roussel, Sutter, etc in the first place ?

[iinatcc]

3 hours ago, Butters Stoch said:

There's no defending this guy anymore. He's made some good moves but manages to take 2 steps back for every step forward.

I would argue last season was one or two steps forward but took 5 steps back this season 

[vannuck59]

The difference between keeping Markstrom , Tanev and Toffoli ( $14.8 mil ) and Signing Schmidt , Holtby and Virtanen ( $12. 8 ) around 2 million. so cape space could have been found. Eriksson and Roussel in the Minors. Cap works they could have made room . Next year they then could have made moves to make room for the kids.

[NickTheGreek]

My analysis is that he's a bum!

 

Send him to Siberia for the love of god

[vannuck59]

6 hours ago, CanadianRugby said:

Nope.

Proof that Benning doesn't know how to build his D core. again Tanev is Calgary's second best D man. Toffoli and Tanev could made a big difference . I see no proof we got better on D.  

[DownUndaCanuck]

Everyone throwing Benning hate around but someone please give me a better option for this off-season? Expansiom draft and flat cap were everything.

 

1 - Markstrom. Simply couldn't have stayed. JB had to decide between Marky and Demko because of the ED and Marky wanted to be protected. Marky is a top-5 goalie right now, yes, but for how long, a couple more seasons? JB went with Demko (and rightly so, fits our young core better) so had to make the hard decision to let Markstrom walk. 6x6 contract will be brutal at the end of the contract which is likely when our players will be in their prime and JB knows he doesn't want another Eriksson contract. What's the other option, give Marky 6x6 and let Seattle take Demko? Much worse.

 

2 - Tanev. This hurts, sure, but 4.5x5 for a 30 year old often-injured defenceman is a big gamble. He's a top 5 shutdown defenceman in the league, no doubt about it, but again this contract will surely not age well. JB made a gamble and must have known about Schmidt, because Schmidt is younger, better offensively and more rounded than Tanev. Before the start of the season I'd have said Schmidt was the better defenceman (but has not played as he has in Washington and Vegas and Tanev has been brilliant). Again, the key here is longevity and common sense tells us that Schmidt will outlast Tanev (although you never know). Chris has looked good but he's one or two injuries away from really starting to slow down, JB is looking long-term here whereas none of the fans can seem to. That's why he's the GM, making the unpopular decisions for the team's future.

 

3 - Toffoli. Ouch, this one stings, but of course it does. Toffoli is in his prime and has a few good years of 30+ goal scoring to do. 4x4 contract is a bargain, he's a top line winger on any team. Yes, I wanted Toffoli back, but JB is right in saying that we don't need offence. We're scoring buckets of goals but our defence is the problem and Toffoli scoring a goal per game wouldn't have helped us out this season anyway. Fans argue we should have just "moved money out" as if that's the easiest thing in the world - not in a flat Covid cap where we're seeing all sorts of players waived. Personally I would have even tried trading Pearson for a pick to squeeze him in and swap Pearson for Toffoli, of course ideally Roussel/Virtanen would be replaced by Toffoli but clearly no one was biting (and why would they on 5M tied up by two 13th forwards). Regardless, we don't really need offence, as tasty as it looks. JB made the hard decision here (or was forced into it by not being able to clear cap) but in the scheme of our team it's not as important as it seems.

 

4 - Stecher and Leivo. Replaced easily by Hamonic and Hoglander.

 

Have to defend JB on all fronts here and if he had the off-season again, would do it all again. If anyone objects, tell me what he could have done differently? Yes, it's the GM's job to deal with contracts better and move money out, but how is he supposed to predict a pandemic that drops the cap and makes every team tighter? He did the best job he could have in his position and have full faith in his decisions. The team on paper is brilliant, the on-ice product is a mess right now but I think that's more down to preparation, fatigue, mistakes, coaching and the players, not the GM.

[vannuck59]

1 - Markstrom. Simply couldn't have stayed. JB had to decide between Marky and Demko because of the ED and Marky wanted to be protected. Marky is a top-5 goalie right now, yes, but for how long, a couple more seasons? JB went with Demko (and rightly so, fits our young core better) so had to make the hard decision to let Markstrom walk. 6x6 contract will be brutal at the end of the contract which is likely when our players will be in their prime and JB knows he doesn't want another Eriksson contract. What's the other option, give Marky 6x6 and let Seattle take Demko? Much worse.

No sign Markstrom and Trade Demko at the trade deadline  get a stud young Dman.  

 

45 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Tanev. This hurts, sure, but 4.5x5 for a 30 year old often-injured defenceman is a big gamble. He's a top 5 shutdown defenceman in the league, no doubt about it, but again this contract will surely not age well. JB made a gamble and must have known about Schmidt, because Schmidt is younger, better offensively and more rounded than Tanev. Before the start of the season I'd have said Schmidt was the better defenceman (but has not played as he has in Washington and Vegas and Tanev has been brilliant). Again, the key here is longevity and common sense tells us that Schmidt will outlast Tanev (although you never know). Chris has looked good but he's one or two injuries away from really starting to slow down, JB is looking long-term here whereas none of the fans can seem to. That's why he's the GM, making the unpopular decisions for the team's future.

 

Sorry Tanev was Hughes right hand man and would have been worth the tenure, Schmidt is been a tire fire.

 

48 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Have to defend JB on all fronts here and if he had the off-season again, would do it all again. If anyone objects, tell me what he could have done differently? Yes, it's the GM's job to deal with contracts better and move money out, but how is he supposed to predict a pandemic that drops the cap and makes every team tighter? He did the best job he could have in his position and have full faith in his decisions. The team on paper is brilliant, the on-ice product is a mess right now but I think that's more down to preparation, fatigue, mistakes, coaching and the players, not the GM.

Are you watching this . JB wrecked the chemistry on this team . Hughes is a train wreck , Toffoli if he wasn't playing for the Habs we could have won all those games. LOL

JB is the worst GM at managing a team Drafting yes building a winner no . He had a good start at the end of last year and screwed it up do not signing three players now we are headed for a lottery pick.

[vannuck59]

If Benning is so smart why does he have over 11 million in cap not playing?

Edited February 4, 2021 by vannuck59

[Silky mitts]

8 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Everyone throwing Benning hate around but someone please give me a better option for this off-season? Expansiom draft and flat cap were everything.

 

1 - Markstrom. Simply couldn't have stayed. JB had to decide between Marky and Demko because of the ED and Marky wanted to be protected. Marky is a top-5 goalie right now, yes, but for how long, a couple more seasons? JB went with Demko (and rightly so, fits our young core better) so had to make the hard decision to let Markstrom walk. 6x6 contract will be brutal at the end of the contract which is likely when our players will be in their prime and JB knows he doesn't want another Eriksson contract. What's the other option, give Marky 6x6 and let Seattle take Demko? Much worse.

 

2 - Tanev. This hurts, sure, but 4.5x5 for a 30 year old often-injured defenceman is a big gamble. He's a top 5 shutdown defenceman in the league, no doubt about it, but again this contract will surely not age well. JB made a gamble and must have known about Schmidt, because Schmidt is younger, better offensively and more rounded than Tanev. Before the start of the season I'd have said Schmidt was the better defenceman (but has not played as he has in Washington and Vegas and Tanev has been brilliant). Again, the key here is longevity and common sense tells us that Schmidt will outlast Tanev (although you never know). Chris has looked good but he's one or two injuries away from really starting to slow down, JB is looking long-term here whereas none of the fans can seem to. That's why he's the GM, making the unpopular decisions for the team's future.

 

3 - Toffoli. Ouch, this one stings, but of course it does. Toffoli is in his prime and has a few good years of 30+ goal scoring to do. 4x4 contract is a bargain, he's a top line winger on any team. Yes, I wanted Toffoli back, but JB is right in saying that we don't need offence. We're scoring buckets of goals but our defence is the problem and Toffoli scoring a goal per game wouldn't have helped us out this season anyway. Fans argue we should have just "moved money out" as if that's the easiest thing in the world - not in a flat Covid cap where we're seeing all sorts of players waived. Personally I would have even tried trading Pearson for a pick to squeeze him in and swap Pearson for Toffoli, of course ideally Roussel/Virtanen would be replaced by Toffoli but clearly no one was biting (and why would they on 5M tied up by two 13th forwards). Regardless, we don't really need offence, as tasty as it looks. JB made the hard decision here (or was forced into it by not being able to clear cap) but in the scheme of our team it's not as important as it seems.

 

4 - Stecher and Leivo. Replaced easily by Hamonic and Hoglander.

 

Have to defend JB on all fronts here and if he had the off-season again, would do it all again. If anyone objects, tell me what he could have done differently? Yes, it's the GM's job to deal with contracts better and move money out, but how is he supposed to predict a pandemic that drops the cap and makes every team tighter? He did the best job he could have in his position and have full faith in his decisions. The team on paper is brilliant, the on-ice product is a mess right now but I think that's more down to preparation, fatigue, mistakes, coaching and the players, not the GM.

delusional.