The quote from Weisbrod about wanting to go up if it's Quinn, the fist-pump when Detroit selected the third-overall ranked player, etc., suggests that Weisbrod's prior relationship with the Hughes family was out there and an issue to some extent actually gives me a bit of a worried feeling that maybe they weren't looking at it 100% objectively. The fact that they had Hughes ranked ahead of Zadina, when pretty much no one else did, also makes me wonder. I mean no question he is a huge talent, but it's just little stuff like that from this group that puts me a little less at ease.
The question posed was Zadina or Hughes and Brackett quickly said Hughes. That suggests to me that the that's the order the Canucks have those two players ranked. This wasn't Weisbrod saying I want Hughes. As for doing a fist pump, well why not? The Canucks get the player they want and that also appeals to him on a personal level. As for having Zadina over Hughes. I don't know if anyone can say "pretty much no one else" had Hughes ahead of Zadina. I had Zadina ahead, but Zadina was clearly the faller in the draft. This wasn't some secret. Bob McKenzie said that multiple scouts have told him that Zadina would fall out of the top 5 prior to the draft. For whatever reason, NHL scouts didn't see Zadina as in the same league as the top 2 picks.
You have to wonder what value Benning even brings to this process, his supposed strength, when he basically just defers to everyone else the entire time. And I also agree that Brackett comes off looking maybe a little less enlightened than we had originally hoped, but he could also be playing to his audience a bit.
It seems to me that he is letting Brackett run the draft and pretty much delegated. For a former director of amateur scouting, you would think that's the way he wants things to be done. What I do expect is for him to be able to evaluate his scouting staff. He sees Brackett as a rising star in the scouting business and promoted him from a part time scout all the way to the Director of Amateur Scouting. To me that's what I expect a GM whose strength is drafting to do. Improve the scouting staff and drafting process and deliver better and more consistent results at the draft table.
There's a pretty consistent theme in Brackett's interviews is that Jim provides the general direction, does do some scouting, and is heavily involved in terms of being in the meetings (which is not a given for NHL GMs). I don't know where the Brackett comes off looking maybe a little less enlightened comes from. He's pretty emotionless but he seems prepared and know the draft list and where the separation is among players on his list.
This has been my point time and again. The only thing this administration has done a halfway decent job of is drafting. The thing is.....this really has nothing to do with Dim. This is the work of Bracket and perhaps to a lesser extend the Broad.
He promoted a guy he trusts to run the draft but he gets no credit for being a manager and delegating? I don't know about you, but I do see his influence in the draft. In terms of skillset and even position, you can see the Canucks drafting the types of players Benning is looking to add to the team. He also can and does make calls like whether or not to draft a goalie. And if the videos suggesting anything, there seems to quite a bit of agreement between the guys most responsible for the draft.
