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

['NucK™]

1 minute ago, BCNate said:

Chose to keep/acquire Demko, Schmidt, and Virtanen over Toffolli, Markstrom Tanev. 

More accurately: Holtby, Schmidt and Virtanen ($12.8M) over Toffolli, Tanev (~$8.5M) + a cheap backup & ~$2M of cap space to work with 

[CanuckFan1123]

I think the hate towards Benning is pathetic. First of all, he drafted a lot of great talent. No one could have predicted a 30 goal scorer in Player Name would become awful. No one could have predicted that Juolevi would get injury after injury and have his development completely stunted. He took a chance on Virtanen becoming the next elite power forward and it didn’t work out, but what GM hasn’t tried to swing for the fences on a high ceiling prospect? He took chances on guys who needed a change of scenery, like Baertschi. Did it work out as well as we hoped, no. But if that worked out like taking a chance on JT Miller did, we’re having a different conversation right now. He brought in veterans like Beagle and Roussel to play with the young guns and try to field a competitive team. He traded for Toffoli and weeks later ended up having to deal with a global pandemic that ended up causing the cap not to go up which ultimately left us in a more difficult position of trying to salvage our free agent class. I think Benning has made a lot of good moves and has been the beneficiary of some unlucky events. Maybe Green should have been gone sooner but after the bubble playoffs, can you really blame Benning for having a sense of optimism that Green was the guy? 
 

Go ahead, Rip me apart, but I don’t think Benning was all that bad. 

[Tre Mac]

Odd way to say he's one of the worst GM's ever.

[PhillipBlunt]

Just now, CanuckFan1123 said:

I think the hate towards Benning is pathetic. First of all, he drafted a lot of great talent. No one could have predicted a 30 goal scorer in Player Name would become awful. No one could have predicted that Juolevi would get injury after injury and have his development completely stunted. He took a chance on Virtanen becoming the next elite power forward and it didn’t work out, but what GM hasn’t tried to swing for the fences on a high ceiling prospect? He took chances on guys who needed a change of scenery, like Baertschi. Did it work out as well as we hoped, no. But if that worked out like taking a chance on JT Miller did, we’re having a different conversation right now. He brought in veterans like Beagle and Roussel to play with the young guns and try to field a competitive team. He traded for Toffoli and weeks later ended up having to deal with a global pandemic that ended up causing the cap not to go up which ultimately left us in a more difficult position of trying to salvage our free agent class. I think Benning has made a lot of good moves and has been the beneficiary of some unlucky events. Maybe Green should have been gone sooner but after the bubble playoffs, can you really blame Benning for having a sense of optimism that Green was the guy? 
 

Go ahead, Rip me apart, but I don’t think Benning was all that bad. 

Benning did make some pretty obvious gaffes and definitely earned the dismissal. That being said, anyone who hates the guy is a fool. I never understand people having such strong personal feelings against someone they've never met. Supposedly people who've met both Benning and Green said they were really friendly folks. I wish them nothing but the best.

['NucK™]

3 minutes ago, CanuckFan1123 said:

No one could have predicted that Juolevi would get injury after injury and have his development completely stunted.

This is a prime example of you guys making excuses for Benning... no one is asking anyone to have known that Juolevi would end up dealing with so many injuries.. we simply wanted him to take the BPA, who was without question, Tkachuk. 

 

3 minutes ago, CanuckFan1123 said:

He traded for Toffoli and weeks later ended up having to deal with a global pandemic that ended up causing the cap not to go up which ultimately left us in a more difficult position of trying to salvage our free agent class.

Can you explain this? We added Holtby and Schmidt, who cost more than Tanev, Toffoli + a ~$2M backup would've cost..

[BPA]

6 minutes ago, 'NucK™ said:

This is a prime example of you guys making excuses for Benning... no one is asking anyone to have known that Juolevi would end up dealing with so many injuries.. we simply wanted him to take the BPA, who was without question, Tkachuk. 

 

Can you explain this? We added Holtby and Schmidt, who cost more than Tanev, Toffoli + a ~$2M backup would've cost..

Holtby was a head scratcher.  I wanted them to keep Domingue as the back up.  Cheap and serviceable. Then they could have kept both Tanev and Toffoli. 

[JeremyCuddles]

Shoulda kept Torts imo. But lets be real. Benning died a death of a thousand cuts. For every good move he made he also made 2-4 real headscratchers that were sorta defendable but sorta "why would you do that?" Hindsight it's easy to say all his bad moves were stupid, but at the time you could look at it and say "well, it makes sense for XY reasons." Bad coaching hires is definitely one of the bigger blunders.

 

There is a saying a few former athletes use, including my personal fav Shannon Sharpe. It goes "a coach can't win you games, but they can lose you games" and I feel that is embodied in Willie D and Travis Green. Obviously we'll see if that rings true with Boudreau. If this team is still absolute cheeks on the ice then we have a very clear player personnel issue that'll take blowing up the roster to fix. Boudreau is a proven NHL coach. If 3 seperate coaches, one of which that consistently gets to the playoffs, can't make this team function it's for sure a player issue.

['NucK™]

9 minutes ago, BPA said:

Holtby was a head scratcher.  I wanted them to keep Domingue as the back up.  Cheap and serviceable. Then they could have kept both Tanev and Toffoli. 

But that's what I mean.. how can you defend that? Two players who played a part in getting the team to the 2nd round of the playoffs sitting right in front of you, one of whom is the D-partner of one of the best d-men who has ever put on a Canucks uniform, and you're distracted by some shiny new toys in the shop window? Just screams of incompetence to me. 

[Caboose]

1 hour ago, VegasCanuck said:

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

 

Yeah he could make some more slam dunk picks like Jake Virtanen and Olli Juolevi

[D-Money]

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?

Then I’d think you were either a moron, on drugs, or some combination of the two.

 

[erkayloomeh]

1 hour ago, Crabby said:

 

 

Hughes

Miller

Petey

Demko

Boeser

Podkolzin

Rathbone

Garland

Hoglander

 

 

 

That is a pretty strong list and I would say we'll done JB on these picks. However it's notable that out of that list we only have 1 nhl ready defenseman.  Which is another mistake given its 8 yrs. 

Another comment I have is that JB wasn't fired by his employer, he was fired by the fans. 

[Down by the River]

The problem with Benning is that even some of his good moves were bad moves. Getting JT Miller for a 1st round pick was a steal... except getting JT Miller when you're miles away from competing is not as useful as a 1st round pick. Miller will likely be better than the vast majority of guys picked after 20th overall. However, a guy at 20th overall will be far more useful to this team five years from now than Miller will be (not to mention cap control). 

 

This is not meant as a slight to Miller. He's been everything the Canucks could ask for (save some sometimes poor body language). It is a slight against a GM that was so patient in his belief that he could be impatient and try to speed up the rebuild. 

 

That said, it is hopefully a new era. I'm not against a rebuild. I just hope that whomever comes in as Pres/GM has a vision that isn't based on instant gratification. 

[Down by the River]

5 minutes ago, erkayloomeh said:

That is a pretty strong list and I would say we'll done JB on these picks. However it's notable that out of that list we only have 1 nhl ready defenseman.  Which is another mistake given its 8 yrs. 

Another comment I have is that JB wasn't fired by his employer, he was fired by the fans. 

This team has failed to develop a defenceman in like a decade. 

 

I exclude Hughes from this list because (a) he basically never played in the Canucks' farm system and (b) he's so naturally talented I don't think AHL coaches could take credit for his development. 

 

Re: the bolded part. Maybe. But maybe it is also just a coincidence. The Canucks, once again, looked horrible Saturday. It wasn't as if the team played well, the fans booed anyway, and the owner decided to clean house. It is just as possible that the owner, like the fans (but not because of the fans) viewed this as the last straw. 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Down by the River

[Hairy Kneel]

If I had to pick one

 

Letting Tchuk go. 

 

[timberz21]

Always like what Benning has done overall, but always said that he wouldn’t be the GMs once this team was ready to contend.

 

He could’ve save himself a little time if he would’ve changed coach this summer, but ultimately I’m glad there will be a new voice in management.  I think he took this team as far as he could and I still think we have a good foundation.

 

The next two draft will be crucial if this team can turn it around and contend and be able to sustain it.

[VegasCanuck]

35 minutes ago, Caboose said:

Yeah he could make some more slam dunk picks like Jake Virtanen and Olli Juolevi

The only problem with Juolevi, was the injuries that he sustained in his first year after draft. He ran into a stream of them that stalled his development and required surgery. 

[timberz21]

8 minutes ago, Hairy Kneel said:

If I had to pick one

 

Letting Tchuk go. 

 

Agree that one hurts, but at the same time nobody bats 1,000 either.

 

would we be ahead or behind, if we had Tkatchuk instead of EP or QH?

[Hairy Kneel]

1 minute ago, timberz21 said:

Agree that one hurts, but at the same time nobody bats 1,000 either.

 

would we be ahead or behind, if we had Tkatchuk instead of EP or QH?

Green would have benched him and quelled his scoring probably. Maybe close to the same draft results. 

[SilentSam]

22 minutes ago, Hairy Kneel said:

If I had to pick one

 

Letting Tchuk go. 

 

Even his old man was shaking his head on that one .

[SilentSam]

12 minutes ago, timberz21 said:

Agree that one hurts, but at the same time nobody bats 1,000 either.

 

would we be ahead or behind, if we had Tkatchuk instead of EP or QH?

Wasn’t that pick Virtannen over Tuttlechuck?