Jim Benning's mid-season press conference

[Zhukini]

7 minutes ago, DarkIndianRises said:

1) Progression usually isn’t a linear process.   Look at Colorado since 2008 and Tampa since 2004.

 

2) Are we going to conveniently forget about our 2nd round playoff appearance last year?  650 sportsnet sure has.  

The year that Vancouver was out of a playoff spot and got in only because of Covid?

 

The team COLLAPSED if you need a memory rejog. If they had missed the playoffs like they were on pace to, Jim wouldn’t be the one holding the press conference today. 

[Patel Bure]

6 hours ago, SNuck said:

You mean the 9-year Rebuild Plan™?

For one, we made the 2nd round last year and got within a game of a 3rd round appearance.

 

Two - Rebuilds are never an easy process.   You think we are the only ones who are taking this long to rebuild?  Think again.   Look at teams like Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Toronto.   How many playoff series’ have they won in recent years?    
 

Colorado are elite now, but their journey began in 2008.   How many ups and down did Tampa Bay have since 2004?   Was their progression always linear?    What about teams like Carolina and Florida who are enjoying success now?   
 

People who think rebuilding is just a matter of “blowing it up” and trading every Tom, Dick, and Harry over the age of 25 for picks and prospects, really don’t understand hockey.   Period.   If rebuilding was that easy and that simple, then everyone would be doing it.   So then why don’t more GM’s do this if it’s that obvious?    Are fans on the internet and media members really smarter than NHL Managers and Owners?.......or, is it possible that a LOT more is involved in a rebuild?  
 

Do people really think that we brought in J.T Miller just so that we could “make a run” in 2019-2020?

 

Do people really think that we couldn’t have kept all of Tanev, Markstrom, and Toffoli had we truly wanted to?

 

Again - look at our projected cap situation in 2022-2023.    Look at the players that will be on and off our books and at what cap hits.  
 

still think management doesn’t have a plan?

[PhillipBlunt]

1 hour ago, spur1 said:

That’s because there are still more ingredients to put in the wok. Good cooking takes time. 
Smell what JB is cooking. 

[PhillipBlunt]

1 hour ago, ba;;isticsports said:

and for that he relies on how well his scouts have informed him, I think it is time

[Patel Bure]

2 minutes ago, Zhukini said:

The year that Vancouver was out of a playoff spot and got in only because of Covid?

 

The team COLLAPSED if you need a memory rejog. If they had missed the playoffs like they were on pace to, Jim wouldn’t be the one holding the press conference today. 

We were starting to trend back up.  We had won two of our last three games against two 2nd round playoff teams in NYI and Colorado respectively.   Demko was starting to find his stride and the Canucks were clearly playing tighter in front of him after having finished a ,onstrous road trip.....and you know what, sometimes teams put themselves in a position to get lucky.   We dominated in January and so who cares if Covid may have saved us?   We still beat out Minnesota to qualify for the playoffs, and then took out the defending champs in the first round.

[4petesake]

I have to admit when Jim said (paraphrasing) that the team should be good in two years it felt a lot like seeing a glitch in the matrix. But if this team starts playing with passion and a high level of compete they will win their share of games. If I’m entertained I’ll be content with the time frame. 

[gameburn]

11 hours ago, hammertime said:

While I agree. It would totally send the wrong message to the team. 

It would only send the wrong message to the team (i.e., young core) if there was a good chance they could still make the playoffs.  Do we really believe that's possible now, with half the season gone?  You would agree that if the team doesn't go on a huge winning streak over the next 2 weeks then they would be wise to be a seller? 

[4petesake]

3 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

 

[gameburn]

10 hours ago, oldnews said:

Obvious counterpoint = I'll take Tyler Motte over a longshot draft pick 100% of the time.

 

I think folks like yourself might benefit from forming a straight story.

 

Are the veterans we have not overpaid junk?  as typically suggested? in which case there's a whole lot of noise over prospective small returns....or is that storyline rife with contradiction - as if there is so much at stake this deadline?   What are you expecting this deadline?  

The reality is that the marketplace will dictate whether folks here like it or not.

I find the suggestion that Benning is 'lazy' or unprepared ironic = as I posted in another thread - "blame is the lazy person's way of making sense of chaos".

Benning himself said that he ran out of time to sign Stecher, which suggests if not laziness then poor management skills. Stecher vs. Chatfield or Benn... that's what Benning did to the D.  Not sending Eriksson to Utica to save some money (as the team did with Baertschi)... suggests something similar.  For that matter we all thought Eriksson should have been sent to Utica last year.  (It might have inspired him to move on somewhere else, maybe Europe.  That was a discussion point last year here on the forums.) 

[24K PureCool]

37 minutes ago, mll said:

He didn’t have to say they are looking to extend him if not true.  

 

He says like for players he doesn’t comment on contract negotiations with coaches - he could have left it at that if the plan is really to let Green walk.  I think he was truthful and looking to bring him back.  

 

Fair.

Personally I'm more concerned about the assistants more than Green.

[Drakrami]

1 hour ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Benning blew an opportunity. Pure and simple. He’s drafted amazingly well, but every other aspect of his performance has been lackluster. 

His draft is actually overrated a bit. It is very good, but no where near a homerun. 

Let's just look at 1st rounders only. 

2014 (#4) Virtanen (bust)

2014 (#24) Mccann (so-so; ended up being Pearson, lol) 

2015 (#23) Boeser (overachieving, very good)

2016 (#5) Juolevi (bust)

2017 (#5) Pettersson (very good for #5)

2018 (#7) Hughes (very good for #7)

 

That's 2 busts to cancel out the Pettersson + Hughes draft. You should have get some amazing players at #4 and #5. 

[24K PureCool]

8 minutes ago, gameburn said:

Benning himself said that he ran out of time to sign Stecher, which suggests if not laziness then poor management skills. Stecher vs. Chatfield or Benn... that's what Benning did to the D.  Not sending Eriksson to Utica to save some money (as the team did with Baertschi)... suggests something similar.  For that matter we all thought Eriksson should have been sent to Utica last year.  (It might have inspired him to move on somewhere else, maybe Europe.  That was a discussion point last year here on the forums.) 

Uhh Erickson on taxi squad save exactly the same amount in cap as we would if he is in Utica.

 

If we get hit with the injury bug probably better to have him slot in than have lind or Gadjovich sitting on the squad and not playing. 

Edited March 6, 2021 by 24K PureCool

[24K PureCool]

5 minutes ago, Drakrami said:

His draft is actually overrated a bit. It is very good, but no where near a homerun. 

Let's just look at 1st rounders only. 

2014 (#4) Virtanen (bust)

2014 (#24) Mccann (so-so; ended up being Pearson, lol) 

2015 (#23) Boeser (overachieving, very good)

2016 (#5) Juolevi (bust)

2017 (#5) Pettersson (very good for #5)

2018 (#7) Hughes (very good for #7)

 

That's 2 busts to cancel out the Pettersson + Hughes draft. You should have get some amazing players at #4 and #5. 

In what world is Juolevi and Jake busts? Did you just wake up under a rock? 

 

Underwhelming, yes, bust, no.

Edited March 6, 2021 by 24K PureCool

[gameburn]

5 hours ago, kilgore said:

Great.

 

If this was what we were getting  from JB in 2016, that would work.  Fans here were ready for it. And would have given Jim a long rope, fans would have accepted being bottom feeders. Turns out we were bottom feeders anyways, despite abandoning the "build through the draft" approach. Management gave the Sedins another run in 2015, and we got smoked by Calgary.  This after trying and not winning a playoff round since our magical run in '11.   It should have been clear a year after that performance in 2015, that we had to start rebuilding and as you say, "not looking to find a quick fix", and "build through the draft". But  Benning consistently had even less picks than allotted each draft, because of trading them away, in part, for washed up vets that he predicted to be the foundational pieces to take us to the next level.

 

You are ecstatic for JB to go with that line of thinking in the present? ...with a young elite core coming off their ELCs?   Hate to break it to you but JB has already moved on from there, or more accurately, never was there.  Not long ago he traded a first for Miller, (and a goalie prospect + a third),  then a second rounder and Madden for Toffoli (even though we lost him).  Does that sound like he has much interest in collecting draft picks now?  That ship has sailed.

 

JB has never adhered to that philosophy, based on his history here.  He only got Hughes a Pettersson because his prediction of being a playoff team every off season failed miserably, and his team ended up with a high picking spot.  He accidentally had a rebuild despite banning the word in the office. And TBH, the quality of picks was mostly Judd Brackett.  Sure JB gave his stamp of approval, even though he had doubts about Pettersson. But the work was done by Brackett and his team. A team that Benning insisted HE get to hire and fire, if Brackett wanted a new contract. An easy way to rid himself of someone who was outshining him. But an awful decision for the team's amateur scouting dept. going forward. We teach and groom him for nine years and the Wild are now the beneficiaries. And yes, they even let him hire his own staff.

.

.

This seems like a pretty good summary of where we're at now.  

[Zhukini]

He’d be out of a job if there were fans in the stands it’s really as simple as that. 

[gameburn]

9 hours ago, smithers joe said:

and who decides that, the owners, the fans or the real hockey minds? i know my thoughts are only guesses.

I hope that circumstances decide this, that it will be obvious to everyone when we have gone from being a playoff team on the rise, to a dumpster fire with a 2-year put out date.  It's kind of obvious now.  And might be even more undeniable at the end of this season.

If you think things are bad now, wait til next year when Beagle, Roussel, Eriksson, Sutter (due for another injury) and Edler are all a year older.  They are all coming back.   

This circus will carry on exactly as it is, barring some kind of major change, which I think we have just been told is not going to occur.  Even if Podkolzin gets here and wins the Calder, we still will have the above names filling spots, taking up valuable opportunities and minutes.

I'm old enough to remember the Harold Ballard years in Toronto.  Stellick as GM lol, the players wanting out, Ballard not really caring much about winning.

[189lb enforcers?]

Lol

 

The herd has caught up... looks good on you. 

 

No Silver lining awards for the GM anymore???  

You don’t say... 

 

Years of unintentionally picking where EP’s come from, with cap teams, were acceptable for a while, but now it’s all about results.  Benning is a lame duck GM. 
 

 

 

[Davathor]

Wow 23 pages of arguing 

[Silky mitts]

1 hour ago, 24K PureCool said:

Give it a rest. Go cheer for Vegas. 

Lol . Enjoy being a pathetic fan who can’t view the team objectively I cheer for cups not playoffs .

[24K PureCool]

2 minutes ago, Silky mitts said:

Lol . Enjoy being a pathetic fan who can’t view the team objectively I cheer for cups not playoffs .

Well you definitely cheering for the wrong team then.