Big time disappointment this off-season so far?

[iceman64]

10 hours ago, DSVII said:

Pretty funny that $&!# team reached 100+  points and playoffs the year he inherited it. Something Benning has been failing to replicate since losing the D core Gillis leftovers he inherited ( Tanev, Hamhuis, Edler, Markstrom).

 

Locked in long term? The Sedins contracts expired in 2017. Bennings tenure had another 4 offseasons after that.  And he traded ntcs like Burrows, bieksa, Garrison. He chose not to move on from that team. That's on Benning. 

 

Also NTCs on a cap friendly deal are not as locked in as you'd think. You know what's locked in for the salary cap era? Defensemen and 3/4th liners overpaid by $1-2 million.

 

Benning should be thanking Gillis for the parts he inherited that hid his deficient signings. 

 

As soon as these guys left. Bennings contracts couldn't last a season without being bought out or exposed as overpaid and under performing.

 

I'm always puzzled why a segment of this fanbase is going to bat for someone who did so much long term harm to the culture and performance of this org that even a Calgary Flames fan can appreciate it. And crapping on the GM who almost had his name on the cup and never had a chance to properly rebuild.

 

 

 

 

The shi t team I mean is a team like that, with next to no depth and we always get banged up and did then too..

Banged up in the head was worse, the team was emotionally broken and we always have to overpay, this is small market Canada remember. 

 If JB did so bad then we should have placed 30th place or worse BUT we almost took down the defending cup champs as in the blues in 2020 so how is that doing damage exactly??? 

And last year after a coaching change the roster goes on 2 long winning streaks and if it was such a terrible team that wouldn't have been even anywhere near possible yet it happened. Again how is that damaging the team exactly?  

 

 

[canuck73_3]

That god awful johnny canuck jersey 

[DSVII]

On 7/25/2022 at 12:05 AM, iceman64 said:

The shi t team I mean is a team like that, with next to no depth and we always get banged up and did then too..

Banged up in the head was worse, the team was emotionally broken and we always have to overpay, this is small market Canada remember. 

 If JB did so bad then we should have placed 30th place or worse BUT we almost took down the defending cup champs as in the blues in 2020 so how is that doing damage exactly??? 

 

 

 

We were ranked 20th in the league playing barely 0.500 hockey prior to the 2020 shutdown. After blowing our 2nd round pick on a rental with an injured Tanev, Markstrom Toffoli. We were on our way there. Luckily for Benning covid stopped everything.

 

Quote

And last year after a coaching change the roster goes on 2 long winning streaks and if it was such a terrible team that wouldn't have been even anywhere near possible yet it happened. Again how is that damaging the team exactly?  

The culture of this team was damaged on the front office and locker room. Long respected high performers were let go and scooped up by other teams because Weisbrod and Benning didn't like dissent. The loss of locker room guys like Edler, Tanev, Markstrom, Lack, Stetcher, and just how they were disrespected and ignored come free agency. The losing culture of finishing at the bottom for eight years.

 

The value loss and diminished prospect pool (Benning inherited a 24th ranked prospect pool from Gillis, Rutherford got a 27th ranked prospect pool) from years of trading 2nds and 3rds for overpaid 4th liners and passengers. 

 

Trading for a 30 year old defensemen giving up 12 million of cap flexibility plus a top 10 pick. Having all the leverage in trades yet ending up being the loser in them (Tampa -> JT, Pittsburgh -> Sutter, Sbisa contract extension, Arizona being desperate to offload OEL).

 

There was an underlying rot in this team that was window dressed by the good parts that slowly left until it all came to a head in 2021-2022.

 

Hopefully Bruce and JR can turn it around. It'll take time.

 

 

[King Loui]

It's big time disappointment after every off-season, I've become apathetic thanks to Benning.  But like, are these guys going to put their stamp on this team or what?  Imagine firing your GM and then rolling into the next season with the exact same team that he built + Mikheyev

[-DLC-]

25 minutes ago, King Loui said:

It's big time disappointment after every off-season, I've become apathetic thanks to Benning.  But like, are these guys going to put their stamp on this team or what?  Imagine firing your GM and then rolling into the next season with the exact same team that he built + Mikheyev

Uh, under a new coach the team fared pretty well. So there's that.

[CanadianRugby]

It is a disappointing offseason, but the market for forwards sucks right now and the there's no cap flexibility.  So what can they do. 

 

The task is daunting as rebuilding the D core is one of the tougher things to do in hockey, and there the prospect pool is mediocre .  The team is in the worst spot possible, not good enough to compete and not bad enough to get good picks.  Thank you Jim.

 

Yet this new group seems to have a long term plan and I'm going to be patient for them to ice the team they want.  Im optimistic, as this leadership group is smart and has hired a lot of talented people around them.  Anyways, it can't be any worse than the last 8 years. 

[DownUndaCanuck]

I don't think the off-season is done yet, management may not be able to add the defenceman or 3C we desperately needed (and instead focussed on wingers and replacing our 4th line), but we're still around 2-3M over the cap so surely something is going to have to give.

 

Right now I think we've had an average off-season. We signed a potential star in Kuzmenko which rarely happens for next to nothing and maybe over paid a bit on Mikheyev but add some real quality to our lineup with these two wingers. We replace Highmore and Lammikko with Joshua and Lazar which is a fairly lateral move but gives us a bit more grit and size which is what everyone on these boards have wanted for years so is a small victory.

 

Basically we've fixed the least-important things on this team IMO (size and grit) but haven't addressed the big ticket issues - 3rd line center, top young right handed defenceman and what to do with Miller. I'll argue that the Miller decision can be made next year but we've still got a big gaping hole at RD next to Hughes and we know Schenn is only going to be older and slower, Poolman is not a top pairing RD and Dermott won't be able to hack it either. As for 3C, I can let that slide if Bruce plans on running 3 lines with Horvat as our 3rd line center, but if Petey and Miller play on the top line and Bo as 2C, that leaves Dickinson or Lazar as our 3rd line center which is a massive mess - you can't be taken seriously if they're your 3C.

 

My ideal off-season was something along the lines of Garland + pick for Marino or similar trade then sign one of the many 3Cs out there (Tierney, Janmark, Jarnkrok, Rodrigues). We have done pretty much the opposite to that so far but the off-season is still young. I doubt management will be able to free up 3M in cap space AND add a top RD so we might be just looking at a cap dump coming up and then go into the season status quo with one of the best forward/winger depth in the league, pretty good center depth, good LDs and dreadful RD depth.