ahmon
Registered User
Vey has very pedestrian skill. Just because he's slow, soft, and weak doesn't make him skilled by default.
McCann was drafted with skill. Traded him away.
Forsling was drafted with skill. Traded him away.
Shinkaruk had skill. Traded him away.
Bonino had skill (not speed though). Traded him away.
Look at his other acquisitions. Dorsett, Prust, Sutter, Granlund, Gudbranson, Sbisa, Pedan. There is a notable dearth of skill in that group.
It is what it is. You can argue he's prioritizing character, or depth, or defensive prowess or whatever you want but you are flat out being dishonest if you characterize the majority of Benning's acquisitions as being focussed on speed and skill. It's just not there.
Vey is a skill-first player. He didn't score a ton of points in junior and score ppg in the Ahl because of his character, or defensive prowess.
I would argue even Granlund is more of a skill based player. He's not making the NHL because he's stronger, more physical or better defensively than other players.
He was drafted because teams thought he had a chance to be a top 6 forward.
And while Pedan fits the category of big and physical. He's anything from "defensive prowess", that's probably his biggest hurdle from being a regular in the NHL. He struggles with defensive consistency.