Jim Benning's mid-season press conference

[Sean Monahan]

4 hours ago, SNuck said:

 

To be fair, he kind of did turn it around in a hurry. If I’m not mistaken they had 103 points the next season after he said that?

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

I just hope JB’s plan isn’t as passive as it sounds. I chalk some of this up to him just not being the best public speaker, and just his general “aw shucks” kind of style. But man, did Benning ever talk a lot about planning to “wait and see.” Waiting on the market to reveal itself, waiting to see what other teams do, waiting for teams to be willing to make trades, just waiting, waiting, waiting. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Hopefully, the internal plan is much more detailed and far less passive than the cards he’s showing in public. The best returns on rentals always happen with the players sold ahead of the deadline. The market rarely improves from waiting. So, if Benning hopes to sell off any assets, he needs to be out in front, and starting those trade negotiations now, not waiting around for another GM to call him with an offer of a sweetheart of a deal, and certainly not waiting for other teams to set the schedule and define the market.

[GetFocht]

So 7 years in to Bennings 5 year plan he wants us to wait a few more years to become Elite? 

 

If I was an owner, I turf this guy.

 

He's incompetent and his presser today confirmed what we already knew. This guy is winging it. 

[kanucks25]

3 minutes ago, Sean Monahan said:

To be fair, he kind of did turn it around in a hurry. If I’m not mistaken they had 103 points the next season after he said that?

90% of that team was inherited and on their last legs.

 

The team he said he'd turn around quickly was a dumpster fire two years after he took it over and has been since save for one play-in bubble tourney.

Edited March 6, 2021 by kanucks25

[xereau]

1 minute ago, Provost said:

The messaging didn’t seem like he is planning on jumping early.  There will be some trades... but maybe the early birds are the only ones who make moves before the market dries up (due to Covid).

 

I actually think the last 6 months were the start of the most important period for. (This iteration) of the organization.  Being able to shed bad contracts and re-sign the right players in order to not take a big step back was really important last offseason.

He messed the offseason up pretty badly.  If he thought he wanted to keep Markstrom... then sign the deal and then use Demko as leverage to get rid of bad money.  If Markstrom’s ask was too high, then move on and don’t “run out of time”.  

No one ever airs their laundry in public, including Jim.

 

'Ran out of time', was just a nice way at the time of ending that particular line of discussion, which got badly taken out of context.

 

He knew what he was doing, he knows what he has in Thatcher, and he made a hard choice.

 

Jacob got good too late, it's plain and simple. Grats to him and his family for fleecing Calgary, just glad it wasn't here.

[appleboy]

A GM's job is to follow the direction given to them by the ownership. When he first came in the owners would not allow them to even say the word rebuild. They even had Linden stand up and say that it wouldn't be fair to the twins. As long as the Sedins were here there was never going to be a rebuild. This year and next are going to be a reset time for the salary cap. Plus they will be working on getting their young core signed up.

 

This rebuild started 3years back.

Edited March 6, 2021 by appleboy

[Sean Monahan]

4 minutes ago, kanucks25 said:

90% of that team was inherited and on their last legs.

 

The team he said he'd turn around quickly was a dumpster fire two years after he took it over and has been since save for one play-in bubble tourney.

Added key pieces in Vrbata and Miller. He turned it around in a hurry I guess, for better or for worse. 

[Silky mitts]

Jimbo has let’s see backup goalie 4.3 million, bottom six 14.8 million, third pairing 8 mill , buried players 7.2 million . Pandemic though!

[appleboy]

I am ecstatic that they are not looking to find a quick fix. They will build through the draft.  

[Honky Cat]

10 minutes ago, Sean Monahan said:

To be fair, he kind of did turn it around in a hurry. If I’m not mistaken they had 103 points the next season after he said that?

 Correct, he was talking about the 2013-14 squad, That 2014 quote is always taken out context.

[DeNiro]

34 minutes ago, Provost said:

Who?  We are doing ok on first round picks... but who else throughout the draft?  Gaudette?

Demko? Hoglander?

 

Not mention Lind, Rathbone, Jasek, Gadjovich, and Woo all seem to be a season or two away.

 

Drafting a core like he has all under the age of 25 takes good drafting. Just look at other teams who also had high picks in that time frame and I would say we’re doing pretty damn good.

[Canuckfanforlife82]

4 hours ago, kanucks25 said:

I'm no fan of Benning but it's not like he's going to admit it's a tire fire.

 

This is just standard lip service for the casual fan.

Ya lip service he has been giving almost every year.

[PhillipBlunt]

Re-signing Pearson isn’t a very good idea. I don’t see him as an integral piece of the core moving forward. He’s far more valuable as a trade chip. 

[Wilbur]

7 years in and this team has the high-end skill to turn it around.  I have to give Benning the credit for that.  I truly wonder if it has the size and speed to turn it around completely.  This team is simply too easy to play against and if they were bigger and faster, they wouldn't be. 

 

It also needs more scoring depth.  No team can afford 2 lines being basically offensive blackholes.  Hopefully, as Horvat, Boeser, and Pettersson continue to mature they can take on even more of the hard matchups and that'll relax the need for next to zero offense of Beagle, Sutter, Roussel, etc.  I'd love to see this team in place where it could afford to have a penalty killing pair of Pettersson and Miller.  I wouldn't want them to be the primary penalty killers but I think they would definitely put a PP on it's toes.  But as it stands right now, this isn't a possibility because they need to saved for higher leverage scoring situations as it's hard to rely on the other lines to provide offense.

 

 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

37 minutes ago, Sean Monahan said:

To be fair, he kind of did turn it around in a hurry. If I’m not mistaken they had 103 points the next season after he said that?

Sedins both were in the top 10 in points that season.

 

They came back down to earth the following season (and so did the team).

[ItsAllOursBoys]

15 minutes ago, GetFocht said:

So 7 years in to Bennings 5 year plan he wants us to wait a few more years to become Elite? 

 

If I was an owner, I turf this guy.

 

He's incompetent and his presser today confirmed what we already knew. This guy is winging it. 

Tend to agree with you, with few exceptions, JB's mantra of "build from the draft" or "build from within" seems to be short-circuiting. That being said however, a lot of the blame for the current condition the team falls directly at the feet of ownership. Over the last 8 yrs, I've not seen or heard any fire-in-the-belly determination from ownership to quickly ice a legitimate, competitive, winning team. 

 

They seem to be content on waiting a decade or two in hopes of hitting the jackpot and having a one-hit Carolina moment. 

 

In many ways it's not unlike the Maple Leafs ownership during the Harold Ballard years.

 

 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

6 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

No team can afford 2 lines being basically offensive blackholes

They can if they can shut-down the offensive dynamos on the other team (I take my chances with our goaltending vs most other teams).  Problem is, the blueline can't do that.

[Down by the River]

31 minutes ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

I just hope JB’s plan isn’t as passive as it sounds. I chalk some of this up to him just not being the best public speaker, and just his general “aw shucks” kind of style. But man, did Benning ever talk a lot about planning to “wait and see.” Waiting on the market to reveal itself, waiting to see what other teams do, waiting for teams to be willing to make trades, just waiting, waiting, waiting. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Hopefully, the internal plan is much more detailed and far less passive than the cards he’s showing in public. The best returns on rentals always happen with the players sold ahead of the deadline. The market rarely improves from waiting. So, if Benning hopes to sell off any assets, he needs to be out in front, and starting those trade negotiations now, not waiting around for another GM to call him with an offer of a sweetheart of a deal, and certainly not waiting for other teams to set the schedule and define the market.

I used to believe that Benning was just nervous and a poor communicator of his vision. I think I was disillusioned by discussions of how great a scout he was. If he's a good scout, he must be a good thinker; someone that can look at things from multiple perspectives. 

 

I no longer hold this opinion. I think what we see on the surface is also what is going on underneath. What's worse, there are now far fewer hockey personnel within the organization. Linden is gone. Brackett is gone. Since the pandemic, there are even fewer staff. Fewer personnel to help Benning but also fewer personnel familiar with Benning's goals and thus fewer people to provide insight to the owner regarding whether Benning is competent. 

[oldnews]

3 hours ago, kilgore said:

So NOW JB brings out the "in two years time we will contend"?

 

edit: I just heard a quote on 650,  "we are just living day to day". 

 

3 hours ago, oldnews said:

I missed that quote.

Have you quoted it accurately or are you just taking paraphrase liberties / misreprenting?

 

3 hours ago, kilgore said:

I've been trying to find some place that has the quote in text for you.  Just heard them talking about that on 650.  I assume they got it right.  I may have paraphrased, but that's what was reported he basically said. 

 

2 hours ago, kilgore said:

 

 

 

There you go Oldie.  

 

Now you will never doubt me ever again!

 

 

So you believe that a irrelevent quote from 2014 - or a fake post - is an accurate quotation = "So NOW JB brings out the "in two years time we will contend"?

 

 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

Just now, Down by the River said:

I used to believe that Benning was just nervous and a poor communicator of his vision. I think I was disillusioned by discussions of how great a scout he was. If he's a good scout, he must be a good thinker; someone that can look at things from multiple perspectives. 

 

I no longer hold this opinion. I think what we see on the surface is also what is going on underneath. What's worse, there are now far fewer hockey personnel within the organization. Linden is gone. Brackett is gone. Since the pandemic, there are even fewer staff. Fewer personnel to help Benning but also fewer personnel familiar with Benning's goals and thus fewer people to provide insight to the owner regarding whether Benning is competent. 

I think this tends to get overstated.  I'm sure Weisbrod is a great schmoozer but I know who I'd rather have in charge (him or Benning).