If Not For 1 Fatal Mistake Jim Benning May Still Be Our GM

[Gator]

There seem to be a lot of Jim Benning critics among the Canuck fanbase, and even moreso outside it, but what if I told you he doesn't really deserve the negative feedback he gets?

 

When JB took over this team we were a mess. 2 years removed from a finals run, we had an aging core, and Torts essentially ran 2 of our main 4 guys out of town in Luongo and Kessler. It was an obvious time for a rebuild, and that is what JB was brought in to do. 8 years later he has been fired, and we are currently basement dwellers in the standings. Obviously Jim Benning has failed miserably, right? Well lets take a look shall we.

 

Benning has said he wanted a retool, because we know nobody wants to hear we are rebuilding and completely going tank mode. Especially a big canadian market like the Canucks. Plus we owed it to the Sedins to atleast make a push for them even though we lost Luongo, and Kessler was forcing a trade out of town. He could have easily just tore down the roster as it would have been best for the teams future, especially with a McDavid/Eichel draft looming, but decided to try and rebuild the prospect pool while trying to give the Sedins pieces to work with. You have to respect that, no? I mean its the Sedins.

 

So what happened..

 

Jim Benning was basically forced to trade Kessler to the Ducks. It is believed that Kessler would only be willing to go there. For a guy demanding a trade out of town that really hurt the haul Benning could get for him. Most GMs would have had big bidding wars on their hands there, but JB suffered from the Mike Gillis NMCs. However Benning managed to get Sbisa, Bonino, 1st, and a 3rd. That was a hell of a hall for a GM as handcuffed as JB was. Essentially 2 players to help make a push now, along with a 1st, and a 3rd that was moved for Dorsett. Dorsett was a fan favorite and the type of player that you love to have come playoff time. He also went out and signed Loui Player Name who was coming off a 30g season and had good history playing with the Sedins on the international stage. It was a match made in heaven, and none of us could have predicted how poorly that experiment played out. (That 1 fatal JB error probably led to this as well)

 

So a couple years later, obviously trying to give the Sedins a run or 2 not panning out, the Sedins retire, and the full youth movement begins. Now it is about injecting youth in the lineup, but you also need vets for these kids to learn from. People hate on JB for the Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, etc deals, but fail to realize that we knew we would be competitive, and needed to convince these vets to come into thay willing to teach these young kids. We wont get these guys on cheap deals like other teams that can offer them a cup run, we needed to pay up for that veteran leadership. Considering we were years away from really competing we could afford to give them 3-4 year deals. No1 could have predicted covid and the flat cap happening, but even with that we still managed to get Hughes locked up for 6 years, and it possibly prevented us from giving Petey an 8 year deal we may have regretted (whole other story). So imo it worked out.

 

Now JB has really done a great job forming a core here that should have great success if kept together. (Horvat is a MG guy)

 

Hughes

Miller

Petey

Demko

Boeser

Podkolzin

Rathbone

Garland

Hoglander

 

I mean that core is going to be something special very soon. Probably would have been this year if not for JBs fatal mistake....

 

So what was JBs fatal mistake? Inexperienced coaching hires. Yes, that's right. His 1 real downfall was giving these AHL coaches a look rather hire a guy that has already proven himself.

 

Now dont get me wrong, sometimes you find a diamond in the rough, but more times than not, it probably wont work out. JB hired WD the year he came in and eventually fired him and took on Travis Green. I have to wonder if a more established coach than WD could have made the Sedins + Player Name experiment work. However the team made a playoff run 2 years ago. That was the time to start thinking playoffs year after year. We made it to game 7 of round 2 vs Vegas, and it was all on the backs of our goaltending. We were horribly outplayed and outcoached in almost every game. Even against the Blues who we managed to beat.

 

It would be at this time JB should have realized the team is ready, but needs a more established coach to get them going come playoff time. However it had a different effect on JB. He felt Green was the reason they got there and that playoff run gave JB too much faith in Green imo. After a terrible season last year, it should have been even more clear, but again JB stuck with Green, and brought in OEL and Garland, to try and get us over the hump. Except we see more terrible play, and it feels lile the team just isnt clicking right. We have a defensively minded coach that lacks experience trying to coach a young offensively gifted team. If JB went into that meeting a couple weeks ago and said "I think a coaching change is needed and Boudreau would be the perfect guy for the gig" I think he is still our GM. However I think JB kept this false hope for Green, vouched for him, and when things kept going south, they both got canned.

 

I think JB is a great GM when it comes to roster building. However I think he needs to keep his emotions out of it when it comes to making a coaching change. I mean it was a very clear need imho since last season.

 

Personally I am saddened to see JB go, amd I just pray the new GM doesn't drastically break up this core, because I truly feel our man JB built us a future cup winning core. Jist unfortunate he had his Green glasses on

 

Go Canucks Go!

 

apologies for likely spelling errors 

[Chris12345]

I think he made a lot of mistakes but hindsight is easy.....PK for one was amateur hour.

[Mike Vanderhoek]

3 minutes ago, Crabby said:

There seem to be a lot of Jim Benning critics among the Canuck fanbase, and even moreso outside it, but what if I told you he doesn't really deserve the negative feedback he gets?

 

When JB took over this team we were a mess. 2 years removed from a finals run, we had an aging core, and Torts essentially ran 2 of our main 4 guys out of town in Luongo and Kessler. It was an obvious time for a rebuild, and that is what JB was brought in to do. 8 years later he has been fired, and we are currently basement dwellers in the standings. Obviously Jim Benning has failed miserably, right? Well lets take a look shall we.

 

Benning has said he wanted a retool, because we know nobody wants to hear we are rebuilding and completely going tank mode. Especially a big canadian market like the Canucks. Plus we owed it to the Sedins to atleast make a push for them even though we lost Luongo, and Kessler was forcing a trade out of town. He could have easily just tore down the roster as it would have been best for the teams future, especially with a McDavid/Eichel draft looming, but decided to try and rebuild the prospect pool while trying to give the Sedins pieces to work with. You have to respect that, no? I mean its the Sedins.

 

So what happened..

 

Jim Benning was basically forced to trade Kessler to the Ducks. It is believed that Kessler would only be willing to go there. For a guy demanding a trade out of town that really hurt the haul Benning could get for him. Most GMs would have had big bidding wars on their hands there, but JB suffered from the Mike Gillis NMCs. However Benning managed to get Sbisa, Bonino, 1st, and a 3rd. That was a hell of a hall for a GM as handcuffed as JB was. Essentially 2 players to help make a push now, along with a 1st, and a 3rd that was moved for Dorsett. Dorsett was a fan favorite and the type of player that you love to have come playoff time. He also went out and signed Loui Player Name who was coming off a 30g season and had good history playing with the Sedins on the international stage. It was a match made in heaven, and none of us could have predicted how poorly that experiment played out. (That 1 fatal JB error probably led to this as well)

 

So a couple years later, obviously trying to give the Sedins a run or 2 not panning out, the Sedins retire, and the full youth movement begins. Now it is about injecting youth in the lineup, but you also need vets for these kids to learn from. People hate on JB for the Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, etc deals, but fail to realize that we knew we would be competitive, and needed to convince these vets to come into thay willing to teach these young kids. We wont get these guys on cheap deals like other teams that can offer them a cup run, we needed to pay up for that veteran leadership. Considering we were years away from really competing we could afford to give them 3-4 year deals. No1 could have predicted covid and the flat cap happening, but even with that we still managed to get Hughes locked up for 6 years, and it possibly prevented us from giving Petey an 8 year deal we may have regretted (whole other story). So imo it worked out.

 

Now JB has really done a great job forming a core here that should have great success if kept together. (Horvat is a MG guy)

 

Hughes

Miller

Petey

Demko

Boeser

Podkolzin

Rathbone

Garland

Hoglander

 

I mean that core is going to be something special very soon. Probably would have been this year if not for JBs fatal mistake....

 

So what was JBs fatal mistake? Inexperienced coaching hires. Yes, that's right. His 1 real downfall was giving these AHL coaches a look rather hire a guy that has already proven himself.

 

Now dont get me wrong, sometimes you find a diamond in the rough, but more times than not, it probably wont work out. JB hired WD the year he came in and eventually fired him and took on Travis Green. I have to wonder if a more established coach than WD could have made the Sedins + Player Name experiment work. However the team made a playoff run 2 years ago. That was the time to start thinking playoffs year after year. We made it to game 7 of round 2 vs Vegas, and it was all on the backs of our goaltending. We were horribly outplayed and outcoached in almost every game. Even against the Blues who we managed to beat.

 

It would be at this time JB should have realized the team is ready, but needs a more established coach to get them going come playoff time. However it had a different effect on JB. He felt Green was the reason they got there and that playoff run gave JB too much faith in Green imo. After a terrible season last year, it should have been even more clear, but again JB stuck with Green, and brought in OEL and Garland, to try and get us over the hump. Except we see more terrible play, and it feels lile the team just isnt clicking right. We have a defensively minded coach that lacks experience trying to coach a young offensively gifted team. If JB went into that meeting a couple weeks ago and said "I think a coaching change is needed and Boudreau would be the perfect guy for the gig" I think he is still our GM. However I think JB kept this false hope for Green, vouched for him, and when things kept going south, they both got canned.

 

I think JB is a great GM when it comes to roster building. However I think he needs to keep his emotions out of it when it comes to making a coaching change. I mean it was a very clear need imho since last season.

 

Personally I am saddened to see JB go, amd I just pray the new GM doesn't drastically break up this core, because I truly feel our man JB built us a future cup winning core. Jist unfortunate he had his Green glasses on

 

Go Canucks Go!

 

apologies for likely spelling errors 

Benning chose to keep Green two weeks back during the ownership meeting, that was his final nail in the coffin and made yesterday's news possible.

[VegasCanuck]

6 minutes ago, Crabby said:

There seem to be a lot of Jim Benning critics among the Canuck fanbase, and even moreso outside it, but what if I told you he doesn't really deserve the negative feedback he gets?

 

When JB took over this team we were a mess. 2 years removed from a finals run, we had an aging core, and Torts essentially ran 2 of our main 4 guys out of town in Luongo and Kessler. It was an obvious time for a rebuild, and that is what JB was brought in to do. 8 years later he has been fired, and we are currently basement dwellers in the standings. Obviously Jim Benning has failed miserably, right? Well lets take a look shall we.

 

Benning has said he wanted a retool, because we know nobody wants to hear we are rebuilding and completely going tank mode. Especially a big canadian market like the Canucks. Plus we owed it to the Sedins to atleast make a push for them even though we lost Luongo, and Kessler was forcing a trade out of town. He could have easily just tore down the roster as it would have been best for the teams future, especially with a McDavid/Eichel draft looming, but decided to try and rebuild the prospect pool while trying to give the Sedins pieces to work with. You have to respect that, no? I mean its the Sedins.

 

So what happened..

 

Jim Benning was basically forced to trade Kessler to the Ducks. It is believed that Kessler would only be willing to go there. For a guy demanding a trade out of town that really hurt the haul Benning could get for him. Most GMs would have had big bidding wars on their hands there, but JB suffered from the Mike Gillis NMCs. However Benning managed to get Sbisa, Bonino, 1st, and a 3rd. That was a hell of a hall for a GM as handcuffed as JB was. Essentially 2 players to help make a push now, along with a 1st, and a 3rd that was moved for Dorsett. Dorsett was a fan favorite and the type of player that you love to have come playoff time. He also went out and signed Loui Player Name who was coming off a 30g season and had good history playing with the Sedins on the international stage. It was a match made in heaven, and none of us could have predicted how poorly that experiment played out. (That 1 fatal JB error probably led to this as well)

 

So a couple years later, obviously trying to give the Sedins a run or 2 not panning out, the Sedins retire, and the full youth movement begins. Now it is about injecting youth in the lineup, but you also need vets for these kids to learn from. People hate on JB for the Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, etc deals, but fail to realize that we knew we would be competitive, and needed to convince these vets to come into thay willing to teach these young kids. We wont get these guys on cheap deals like other teams that can offer them a cup run, we needed to pay up for that veteran leadership. Considering we were years away from really competing we could afford to give them 3-4 year deals. No1 could have predicted covid and the flat cap happening, but even with that we still managed to get Hughes locked up for 6 years, and it possibly prevented us from giving Petey an 8 year deal we may have regretted (whole other story). So imo it worked out.

 

Now JB has really done a great job forming a core here that should have great success if kept together. (Horvat is a MG guy)

 

Hughes

Miller

Petey

Demko

Boeser

Podkolzin

Rathbone

Garland

Hoglander

 

I mean that core is going to be something special very soon. Probably would have been this year if not for JBs fatal mistake....

 

So what was JBs fatal mistake? Inexperienced coaching hires. Yes, that's right. His 1 real downfall was giving these AHL coaches a look rather hire a guy that has already proven himself.

 

Now dont get me wrong, sometimes you find a diamond in the rough, but more times than not, it probably wont work out. JB hired WD the year he came in and eventually fired him and took on Travis Green. I have to wonder if a more established coach than WD could have made the Sedins + Player Name experiment work. However the team made a playoff run 2 years ago. That was the time to start thinking playoffs year after year. We made it to game 7 of round 2 vs Vegas, and it was all on the backs of our goaltending. We were horribly outplayed and outcoached in almost every game. Even against the Blues who we managed to beat.

 

It would be at this time JB should have realized the team is ready, but needs a more established coach to get them going come playoff time. However it had a different effect on JB. He felt Green was the reason they got there and that playoff run gave JB too much faith in Green imo. After a terrible season last year, it should have been even more clear, but again JB stuck with Green, and brought in OEL and Garland, to try and get us over the hump. Except we see more terrible play, and it feels lile the team just isnt clicking right. We have a defensively minded coach that lacks experience trying to coach a young offensively gifted team. If JB went into that meeting a couple weeks ago and said "I think a coaching change is needed and Boudreau would be the perfect guy for the gig" I think he is still our GM. However I think JB kept this false hope for Green, vouched for him, and when things kept going south, they both got canned.

 

I think JB is a great GM when it comes to roster building. However I think he needs to keep his emotions out of it when it comes to making a coaching change. I mean it was a very clear need imho since last season.

 

Personally I am saddened to see JB go, amd I just pray the new GM doesn't drastically break up this core, because I truly feel our man JB built us a future cup winning core. Jist unfortunate he had his Green glasses on

 

Go Canucks Go!

 

apologies for likely spelling errors 

I wish we could keep him around, just running our drafting department.

 

[khay]

7 minutes ago, Mike Vanderhoek said:

Benning chose to keep Green two weeks back during the ownership meeting, that was his final nail in the coffin and made yesterday's news possible.

He couldn't move on from his past mistakes. That is his single greatest flaw.

 

He could have moved on from Green in the offseason, and again two weeks ago. The owner now had to step in and do it himself, and since the GM was opposed carrying out the order and vouched for Green, he had to go when the team continued to suck.

 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by khay

[FaninMex]

16 minutes ago, Chris12345 said:

I think he made a lot of mistakes but hindsight is easy.....PK for one was amateur hour.

When it was found out that Sutter was out with Long Covid. He needed to be replaced asap. Dickinson was thought to be that player but it was lacking.

While everyone here called for Beagle's and Sutter's head for not scoring goals, they all forgot how important Defensive centers are. Without those two players ability at the FO% and D-side of the game the PK crashed and burned.

[Shekky]

Also have to think that losing Manny Maholtra to the Leafs as one of the coaches played a factor in how the defensive side of things played out also hurt this team. Manny was a heart and soul guy for this team.

[appleboy]

16 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

I wish we could keep him around, just running our drafting department.

 

The scouting department has been set on the right path and guys like Wall will do a good job without Jim.

[PhillipBlunt]

1 hour ago, Crabby said:

There seem to be a lot of Jim Benning critics among the Canuck fanbase, and even moreso outside it, but what if I told you he doesn't really deserve the negative feedback he gets?

Yeah, he had some it coming for sure. 

1 hour ago, Crabby said:

When JB took over this team we were a mess. 2 years removed from a finals run, we had an aging core, and Torts essentially ran 2 of our main 4 guys out of town in Luongo and Kessler. It was an obvious time for a rebuild, and that is what JB was brought in to do. 8 years later he has been fired, and we are currently basement dwellers in the standings. Obviously Jim Benning has failed miserably, right? Well lets take a look shall we.

Did he fail miserably? Not so much. He made some great moves at the draft table and some decent trades, but his free agency signings and other trades sealed his fate. That and only seeing the post season twice in 8 years. 

1 hour ago, Crabby said:

 

Benning has said he wanted a retool, because we know nobody wants to hear we are rebuilding and completely going tank mode. Especially a big canadian market like the Canucks.

How would anyone actually know if the fan base could "handle" a rebuild, when they never even approached it that way? I think fans, for the most part want to see that their team has a direction and an identity. If that involves a few years of drafting well and developing said players, most knowledgeable fans would be fine with that

1 hour ago, Crabby said:

Plus we owed it to the Sedins to atleast make a push for them even though we lost Luongo, and Kessler was forcing a trade out of town.

This I never agreed with. Why should the team be beholden to just two players specifically? It made no sense to prolong what needed to happen just because it wasn't considered fair to the Sedins. The push was an abject failure anyways. Tortorella going with Lack instead of Luongo was a huge mistake. Kesler wanted out because he saw that the team was stagnating, and he had the clauses that gave him the right to exercise them.

1 hour ago, Crabby said:

He could have easily just tore down the roster as it would have been best for the teams future, especially with a McDavid/Eichel draft looming, but decided to try and rebuild the prospect pool while trying to give the Sedins pieces to work with. You have to respect that, no? I mean its the Sedins.

So? It ended up being a horribly myopic move that served literally no purpose. 

1 hour ago, Crabby said:

So what happened..

 

Jim Benning was basically forced to trade Kessler to the Ducks. It is believed that Kessler would only be willing to go there. For a guy demanding a trade out of town that really hurt the haul Benning could get for him. Most GMs would have had big bidding wars on their hands there, but JB suffered from the Mike Gillis NMCs. However Benning managed to get Sbisa, Bonino, 1st, and a 3rd. That was a hell of a hall for a GM as handcuffed as JB was. Essentially 2 players to help make a push now, along with a 1st, and a 3rd that was moved for Dorsett. Dorsett was a fan favorite and the type of player that you love to have come playoff time. He also went out and signed Loui Player Name who was coming off a 30g season and had good history playing with the Sedins on the international stage. It was a match made in heaven, and none of us could have predicted how poorly that experiment played out. (That 1 fatal JB error probably led to this as well)

 

So a couple years later, obviously trying to give the Sedins a run or 2 not panning out, the Sedins retire, and the full youth movement begins. Now it is about injecting youth in the lineup, but you also need vets for these kids to learn from. People hate on JB for the Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, etc deals, but fail to realize that we knew we would be competitive, and needed to convince these vets to come into thay willing to teach these young kids. We wont get these guys on cheap deals like other teams that can offer them a cup run, we needed to pay up for that veteran leadership. Considering we were years away from really competing we could afford to give them 3-4 year deals. No1 could have predicted covid and the flat cap happening, but even with that we still managed to get Hughes locked up for 6 years, and it possibly prevented us from giving Petey an 8 year deal we may have regretted (whole other story). So imo it worked out.

 

Now JB has really done a great job forming a core here that should have great success if kept together. (Horvat is a MG guy)

 

Hughes

Miller

Petey

Demko

Boeser

Podkolzin

Rathbone

Garland

Hoglander

 

I mean that core is going to be something special very soon. Probably would have been this year if not for JBs fatal mistake....

 

So what was JBs fatal mistake? Inexperienced coaching hires. Yes, that's right. His 1 real downfall was giving these AHL coaches a look rather hire a guy that has already proven himself.

 

Now dont get me wrong, sometimes you find a diamond in the rough, but more times than not, it probably wont work out. JB hired WD the year he came in and eventually fired him and took on Travis Green. I have to wonder if a more established coach than WD could have made the Sedins + Player Name experiment work. However the team made a playoff run 2 years ago. That was the time to start thinking playoffs year after year. We made it to game 7 of round 2 vs Vegas, and it was all on the backs of our goaltending. We were horribly outplayed and outcoached in almost every game. Even against the Blues who we managed to beat.

 

It would be at this time JB should have realized the team is ready, but needs a more established coach to get them going come playoff time. However it had a different effect on JB. He felt Green was the reason they got there and that playoff run gave JB too much faith in Green imo. After a terrible season last year, it should have been even more clear, but again JB stuck with Green, and brought in OEL and Garland, to try and get us over the hump. Except we see more terrible play, and it feels lile the team just isnt clicking right. We have a defensively minded coach that lacks experience trying to coach a young offensively gifted team. If JB went into that meeting a couple weeks ago and said "I think a coaching change is needed and Boudreau would be the perfect guy for the gig" I think he is still our GM. However I think JB kept this false hope for Green, vouched for him, and when things kept going south, they both got canned.

 

I think JB is a great GM when it comes to roster building. However I think he needs to keep his emotions out of it when it comes to making a coaching change. I mean it was a very clear need imho since last season.

 

Personally I am saddened to see JB go, amd I just pray the new GM doesn't drastically break up this core, because I truly feel our man JB built us a future cup winning core. Jist unfortunate he had his Green glasses on

 

Go Canucks Go!

 

apologies for likely spelling errors 

Benning's most fatal mistake was building middling rosters that provided middling results. Desjardins clearly wasn't ready for the NHL, and may never be, as he returned to the AHL. Green had his share of issues, but if he had a better, stronger, roster maybe he could have pulled it off, or maybe he'll always be the type of coach that develops young players well but can't strategize to save his life. Both Benning and Green had run their course with the team. 

Edited December 6, 2021 by PhillipBlunt

['NucK™]

If he hadn't let Tanev & Toffoli both walk, I'd agree with you. Have a hard time not considering that a second huge blunder though. 

[kanucks25]

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

but what if I told you he doesn't really deserve the negative feedback he gets?

What if I told you the tooth fairy is real

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

When JB took over this team we were a mess. 2 years removed from a finals run, we had an aging core, and Torts essentially ran 2 of our main 4 guys out of town in Luongo and Kessler. It was an obvious time for a rebuild, and that is what JB was brought in to do. 8 years later he has been fired, and we are currently basement dwellers in the standings. Obviously Jim Benning has failed miserably, right?

yes

 

You laid it out pretty clearly here but you're going to mental gymnastics your way into some bad excuses anyway. Let's continue.

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

Benning has said he wanted a retool, because we know nobody wants to hear we are rebuilding and completely going tank mode. Especially a big canadian market like the Canucks.

Who is nobody?

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

Plus we owed it to the Sedins to atleast make a push for them

No we didn't.

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

He could have easily just tore down the roster as it would have been best for the teams future, especially with a McDavid/Eichel draft looming, but decided to try and rebuild the prospect pool while trying to give the Sedins pieces to work with. You have to respect that, no? I mean its the Sedins.

No, I don't respect idiocy.

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

Jim Benning was basically forced to trade Kessler to the Ducks. It is believed that Kessler would only be willing to go there. For a guy demanding a trade out of town that really hurt the haul Benning could get for him. Most GMs would have had big bidding wars on their hands there, but JB suffered from the Mike Gillis NMCs. However Benning managed to get Sbisa, Bonino, 1st, and a 3rd. That was a hell of a hall for a GM as handcuffed as JB was. Essentially 2 players to help make a push now, along with a 1st, and a 3rd that was moved for Dorsett. Dorsett was a fan favorite and the type of player that you love to have come playoff time. He also went out and signed Loui Player Name who was coming off a 30g season and had good history playing with the Sedins on the international stage.

There they are.

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

and none of us could have predicted how poorly that experiment played out. 

Not unless you actually watch and understand hockey.

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

People hate on JB for the Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, etc deals, but fail to realize that we knew we would be competitive

We were not competitive.

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

We wont get these guys on cheap deals like other teams that can offer them a cup run, we needed to pay up for that veteran leadership.

Why isn't Yzerman signing veteran crippling contracts right now?

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

There Considering we were years away from really competing we could afford to give them 3-4 year deals

There is never a good time to make stupid decisions.

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

No1 could have predicted covid and the flat cap happening

Every team dealt with the same issues.

 

32 minutes ago, Crabby said:

I think JB is a great GM when it comes to roster building.

Edited December 6, 2021 by kanucks25

[ken kaniff]

Bennings one fatal mistake was being awful at his job. The core we have is a result of being bad for 8 years. Every year Benning did something so bad that average fans were asking themselves wtf was he thinking. Only the JB apologists on here think he did a good job at all. The rest of the league was laughing at us for years

[iinatcc]

Benning didn't have one fatal mistake he had a lot of self inflicting wounds (as the people from Sportsnet just highlighted). Bad contracts, giving away draft picks, trading away young prospects for fringe NHL players, and not trading away players with expiring contracts.

 

The latter part, Imagine this in 7 years of players coming and going due to expiring contracts the only asset Canucks got out of it that helped the team was Tyler Motte. That's it. Edler, Vanek, Vrbata, Hamhius, Burrows, Hansen, Granlund, and Ryan Miller the only return Canucks got that Benefited the team was Motte.

 

Granted the Success rate would not have been high in the first place if Canucks got picks for each of these players but it's still a very low rate of return considering how many picks Benning gives up.

 

 

[aliboy]

7 minutes ago, 'NucK™ said:

If he hadn't let Tanev & Toffoli both walk, I'd agree with you. Have a hard time not considering that a second huge blunder though. 

Letting the team take such a big step backward last year was a huge mistake, no question! Too much loyalty to the coach was another! Then, some of his UFA signings were just horrible!! 

[Drakrami]

oh yes every poor performance not Benning's fault. Hes the Cindrella of the story written into a sad outcome. 8 years at the helm, lets all blame "Gillis!' (freaking new Disney villian name) 

 

You know who also demanded a trade? Duchene and Sakic waited like 1.5 years to finally trade him with the haul that he wanted. Wake up. 

[iinatcc]

2 minutes ago, ken kaniff said:

Bennings one fatal mistake was being awful at his job. The core we have is a result of being bad for 8 years. Every year Benning did something so bad that average fans were asking themselves wtf was he thinking. Only the JB apologists on here think he did a good job at all. The rest of the league was laughing at us for years

That is the truth.

I like Benning and I really wanted him to succeed for the team, not just for the team but for his sake. He seems like a generally nice guy.

 

Problem with Benning is that he was too old school for today's NHL. Some of his moves and comments (i.e. European skill with North American heart), suggest the league has passed him by (like his apparent dismissiveness of Analytics ). This is evident that the only good thing he did was drafting, which means he still has an eye for talent but the ability to manage a hockey team and it's day to day operations, he has not.     

 

And that's just it really. He's a good hockey guy but not not a good hockey executive. 

['NucK™]

2 minutes ago, aliboy said:

Letting the team take such a big step backward last year was a huge mistake, no question! Too much loyalty to the coach was another! Then, some of his UFA signings were just horrible!! 

To me it just goes to show that Benning actually has NO IDEA how to build a successful roster.. a guy who clicked on our PP.. and the other guy an anchor for our PK and basically Quinn's Van City dad... just mindboggling how you don't retain two guys like that. I can't believe I'm still bitching about it, but anyways, hopefully the last time now that he is gone. 

[BCNate]

39 minutes ago, Crabby said:

There seem to be a lot of Jim Benning critics among the Canuck fanbase, and even moreso outside it, but what if I told you he doesn't really deserve the negative feedback he gets?

 

When JB took over this team we were a mess. 2 years removed from a finals run, we had an aging core, and Torts essentially ran 2 of our main 4 guys out of town in Luongo and Kessler. It was an obvious time for a rebuild, and that is what JB was brought in to do. 8 years later he has been fired, and we are currently basement dwellers in the standings. Obviously Jim Benning has failed miserably, right? Well lets take a look shall we.

 

Benning has said he wanted a retool, because we know nobody wants to hear we are rebuilding and completely going tank mode. Especially a big canadian market like the Canucks. Plus we owed it to the Sedins to atleast make a push for them even though we lost Luongo, and Kessler was forcing a trade out of town. He could have easily just tore down the roster as it would have been best for the teams future, especially with a McDavid/Eichel draft looming, but decided to try and rebuild the prospect pool while trying to give the Sedins pieces to work with. You have to respect that, no? I mean its the Sedins.

 

So what happened..

 

Jim Benning was basically forced to trade Kessler to the Ducks. It is believed that Kessler would only be willing to go there. For a guy demanding a trade out of town that really hurt the haul Benning could get for him. Most GMs would have had big bidding wars on their hands there, but JB suffered from the Mike Gillis NMCs. However Benning managed to get Sbisa, Bonino, 1st, and a 3rd. That was a hell of a hall for a GM as handcuffed as JB was. Essentially 2 players to help make a push now, along with a 1st, and a 3rd that was moved for Dorsett. Dorsett was a fan favorite and the type of player that you love to have come playoff time. He also went out and signed Loui Player Name who was coming off a 30g season and had good history playing with the Sedins on the international stage. It was a match made in heaven, and none of us could have predicted how poorly that experiment played out. (That 1 fatal JB error probably led to this as well)

 

So a couple years later, obviously trying to give the Sedins a run or 2 not panning out, the Sedins retire, and the full youth movement begins. Now it is about injecting youth in the lineup, but you also need vets for these kids to learn from. People hate on JB for the Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, etc deals, but fail to realize that we knew we would be competitive, and needed to convince these vets to come into thay willing to teach these young kids. We wont get these guys on cheap deals like other teams that can offer them a cup run, we needed to pay up for that veteran leadership. Considering we were years away from really competing we could afford to give them 3-4 year deals. No1 could have predicted covid and the flat cap happening, but even with that we still managed to get Hughes locked up for 6 years, and it possibly prevented us from giving Petey an 8 year deal we may have regretted (whole other story). So imo it worked out.

 

Now JB has really done a great job forming a core here that should have great success if kept together. (Horvat is a MG guy)

 

Hughes

Miller

Petey

Demko

Boeser

Podkolzin

Rathbone

Garland

Hoglander

 

I mean that core is going to be something special very soon. Probably would have been this year if not for JBs fatal mistake....

 

So what was JBs fatal mistake? Inexperienced coaching hires. Yes, that's right. His 1 real downfall was giving these AHL coaches a look rather hire a guy that has already proven himself.

 

Now dont get me wrong, sometimes you find a diamond in the rough, but more times than not, it probably wont work out. JB hired WD the year he came in and eventually fired him and took on Travis Green. I have to wonder if a more established coach than WD could have made the Sedins + Player Name experiment work. However the team made a playoff run 2 years ago. That was the time to start thinking playoffs year after year. We made it to game 7 of round 2 vs Vegas, and it was all on the backs of our goaltending. We were horribly outplayed and outcoached in almost every game. Even against the Blues who we managed to beat.

 

It would be at this time JB should have realized the team is ready, but needs a more established coach to get them going come playoff time. However it had a different effect on JB. He felt Green was the reason they got there and that playoff run gave JB too much faith in Green imo. After a terrible season last year, it should have been even more clear, but again JB stuck with Green, and brought in OEL and Garland, to try and get us over the hump. Except we see more terrible play, and it feels lile the team just isnt clicking right. We have a defensively minded coach that lacks experience trying to coach a young offensively gifted team. If JB went into that meeting a couple weeks ago and said "I think a coaching change is needed and Boudreau would be the perfect guy for the gig" I think he is still our GM. However I think JB kept this false hope for Green, vouched for him, and when things kept going south, they both got canned.

 

I think JB is a great GM when it comes to roster building. However I think he needs to keep his emotions out of it when it comes to making a coaching change. I mean it was a very clear need imho since last season.

 

Personally I am saddened to see JB go, amd I just pray the new GM doesn't drastically break up this core, because I truly feel our man JB built us a future cup winning core. Jist unfortunate he had his Green glasses on

 

Go Canucks Go!

 

apologies for likely spelling errors 

Keeping Green after the Ducks game in Anaheim.  Going 0-3 and getting outscored 19-6 on the heals of a 2-4-1 homestand should have been it.  

 

In hindsight, the 2020 offseason was his worst.  Chose to keep/acquire Demko, Schmidt, and Virtanen over Toffolli, Markstrom Tanev.  

[kilgore]

20 minutes ago, Crabby said:

There seem to be a lot of Jim Benning critics among the Canuck fanbase, and even moreso outside it, but what if I told you he doesn't really deserve the negative feedback he gets?

 

When JB took over this team we were a mess. 2 years removed from a finals run, we had an aging core, and Torts essentially ran 2 of our main 4 guys out of town in Luongo and Kessler. It was an obvious time for a rebuild, and that is what JB was brought in to do. 8 years later he has been fired, and we are currently basement dwellers in the standings. Obviously Jim Benning has failed miserably, right? Well lets take a look shall we.

 

Benning has said he wanted a retool, because we know nobody wants to hear we are rebuilding and completely going tank mode. Especially a big canadian market like the Canucks. Plus we owed it to the Sedins to atleast make a push for them even though we lost Luongo, and Kessler was forcing a trade out of town. He could have easily just tore down the roster as it would have been best for the teams future, especially with a McDavid/Eichel draft looming, but decided to try and rebuild the prospect pool while trying to give the Sedins pieces to work with. You have to respect that, no? I mean its the Sedins.

 

So what happened..

 

Jim Benning was basically forced to trade Kessler to the Ducks. It is believed that Kessler would only be willing to go there. For a guy demanding a trade out of town that really hurt the haul Benning could get for him. Most GMs would have had big bidding wars on their hands there, but JB suffered from the Mike Gillis NMCs. However Benning managed to get Sbisa, Bonino, 1st, and a 3rd. That was a hell of a hall for a GM as handcuffed as JB was. Essentially 2 players to help make a push now, along with a 1st, and a 3rd that was moved for Dorsett. Dorsett was a fan favorite and the type of player that you love to have come playoff time. He also went out and signed Loui Player Name who was coming off a 30g season and had good history playing with the Sedins on the international stage. It was a match made in heaven, and none of us could have predicted how poorly that experiment played out. (That 1 fatal JB error probably led to this as well)

 

So a couple years later, obviously trying to give the Sedins a run or 2 not panning out, the Sedins retire, and the full youth movement begins. Now it is about injecting youth in the lineup, but you also need vets for these kids to learn from. People hate on JB for the Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, etc deals, but fail to realize that we knew we would be competitive, and needed to convince these vets to come into thay willing to teach these young kids. We wont get these guys on cheap deals like other teams that can offer them a cup run, we needed to pay up for that veteran leadership. Considering we were years away from really competing we could afford to give them 3-4 year deals. No1 could have predicted covid and the flat cap happening, but even with that we still managed to get Hughes locked up for 6 years, and it possibly prevented us from giving Petey an 8 year deal we may have regretted (whole other story). So imo it worked out.

 

Now JB has really done a great job forming a core here that should have great success if kept together. (Horvat is a MG guy)

 

Hughes

Miller

Petey

Demko

Boeser

Podkolzin

Rathbone

Garland

Hoglander

 

I mean that core is going to be something special very soon. Probably would have been this year if not for JBs fatal mistake....

 

So what was JBs fatal mistake? Inexperienced coaching hires. Yes, that's right. His 1 real downfall was giving these AHL coaches a look rather hire a guy that has already proven himself.

 

Now dont get me wrong, sometimes you find a diamond in the rough, but more times than not, it probably wont work out. JB hired WD the year he came in and eventually fired him and took on Travis Green. I have to wonder if a more established coach than WD could have made the Sedins + Player Name experiment work. However the team made a playoff run 2 years ago. That was the time to start thinking playoffs year after year. We made it to game 7 of round 2 vs Vegas, and it was all on the backs of our goaltending. We were horribly outplayed and outcoached in almost every game. Even against the Blues who we managed to beat.

 

It would be at this time JB should have realized the team is ready, but needs a more established coach to get them going come playoff time. However it had a different effect on JB. He felt Green was the reason they got there and that playoff run gave JB too much faith in Green imo. After a terrible season last year, it should have been even more clear, but again JB stuck with Green, and brought in OEL and Garland, to try and get us over the hump. Except we see more terrible play, and it feels lile the team just isnt clicking right. We have a defensively minded coach that lacks experience trying to coach a young offensively gifted team. If JB went into that meeting a couple weeks ago and said "I think a coaching change is needed and Boudreau would be the perfect guy for the gig" I think he is still our GM. However I think JB kept this false hope for Green, vouched for him, and when things kept going south, they both got canned.

 

I think JB is a great GM when it comes to roster building. However I think he needs to keep his emotions out of it when it comes to making a coaching change. I mean it was a very clear need imho since last season.

 

Personally I am saddened to see JB go, amd I just pray the new GM doesn't drastically break up this core, because I truly feel our man JB built us a future cup winning core. Jist unfortunate he had his Green glasses on

 

Go Canucks Go!

 

apologies for likely spelling errors 

 

"apologies for likely spelling errors"

 

What about the apologies for a failed GM?  I think have more of those in your post than spelling mistakes.

 

I take issue with your premise in such a savvy hockey market like Vancouver, who could see the Sedins, Bieksa, Kesler, even the beloved Burrows, start to decline,  to say that "nobody wants to hear we are rebuilding".   In fact it became a running joke how the organization was censored from even using the word. If New York fans could stomach their GM writing them a letter about going through some pain to get better, I'm sure Vancouver fans would have also accepted that. At least the Rangers had a clear plan and vision for their fans besides "day to day". 

 

I'm not saying Green was the least of their problems, but coaching is not the main issue with this team. Look how even after they DID make coaching changes with Shaw and King, and that did not do anything. In fact we are worse off.  I am still in favour of a head coach change, and was after about 15 games into this season, just for a new voice to wake up the team.  And I'm stoked that its Boudreau. But it was way more about the player mix, the communications and treatment of players, the living in a dream world about how close this team is to being a contender.

 

 

 

 

[250Integra]

7 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

Benning didn't have one fatal mistake he had a lot of self inflicting wounds (as the people from Sportsnet just highlighted). Bad contracts, giving away draft picks, trading away young prospects for fringe NHL players, and not trading away players with expiring contracts.

 

The latter part, Imagine this in 7 years of players coming and going due to expiring contracts the only asset Canucks got out of it that helped the team was Tyler Motte. That's it. Edler, Vanek, Vrbata, Hamhius, Burrows, Hansen, Granlund, and Ryan Miller the only return Canucks got that Benefited the team was Motte.

 

Granted the Success rate would not have been high in the first place if Canucks got picks for each of these players but it's still a very low rate of return considering how many picks Benning gives up.

 

 

Tanev, Markstrom...