Benning, as suspected, seems totally indecisive. In reality, he seems reduced to a cheerleader and immediately seeks out Brackett's advise on most everything and then follows it..
The other point is that the Canucks seem to initiate nothing. Other teams are jockeying around and trying to make moves involving the Canucks, while the Canucks have seemingly little to no strategy and simply sit back and just let things unfold as they might. This view seems confirmed by the the management inaction in trying to use cap space or do anything that involves some creative or proactive thinking.
Benning seems very unsure of himself ( and probably rightfully so given his perceived lack of intelligence). This confirms the opinion that Benning is in over his head and is mostly reduced to hoping things somehow work out. I think his hope is that those around him will somehow bail him out. Linden seems in much the same position.
Another issue I have is the way management of this team simply takes time off. Seems like most of the management group has now simply gone on vacation. And last year Benning went off for a few weeks to see to family matters in the period prior to the trade deadline. In previous years, they started so late in the process of moving players at the deadline (such as with Hamhuis and Vrbata) that they ended with nothing or close to it.
Would also say that some here crediting Benning with assembling a fantastic group of prospects are way ahead of themselves (and even if that is true, given the video and other evidence, the credit for drafting prospects should probably go elsewhere)
As to some other aspects of this thread, I believe some posters have already and prematurely concluded that many of our prospects are sure fire NHL stars. But this must remain open to question. Of our prospects, I say the following
The only one of the high end prospects that has proven himself at the North American pro level is Demko. I think you can be fairly certain he turns out to be an NHL player. How good he will be, however, remains unclear.
I think it is reasonable to have some hope for Pettersson and Hughes but right now you can only have hope. Both are, by pro hockey standards, very physically weak. Whether they can overcome that is wide open to question.
Also is Dahlen any better then Baertschi??? At the same age, Baertschi appeared to be the better player. Baertschi was a tremendous Junior player and a much higher draft. Maybe Dahlen never even gets to Baertschi's level which even now is very marginal top 6 .
Goldobin remains a big question mark in many aspects of his game. Gaudette skating needs to improve. Joulevi still lingers far too close to the bust status and has certainly been a disappointment to date.
The point here is that some fans (I guess wanting some positives to cling to) are far to ready to credit the Canucks with having amassed this can't miss group of prospects. But there are still huge developments that must take place to make such predictions pan out. And beyond that, using such hopes to justify the Benning/Linden regime doesn't recognize enough that the team should have some decent prospects given their terrible standing of last several years. Indeed they should probably have better group of prospects than they do given their extremely poor results.
Based on what we have seen out of this management group to date, and not on some hopeful yet to be realized projections about younger players, I think you have to be critical.
Look at the check list:
Have they got value for existing assets at the trade deadline and elsewhere during the season. Outside of maybe the Hansen and Burrows deals (still iffy) - NO. could make a long list of assets that were frittered away for nothing.
Have they made good signings. NO - just look at Eriksson, Gagner, etc. Best might have been Vanek but he was let go for practically nothing. And with the signings this year there may well be some clunkers on the way.
Have they made good trades. NO. Can't think of one significant player that was brought in thru trade. Most of the trades have been little more than shuffling around the deck chairs on the Titanic. And in far too many cases they have given up draft choices or prospects which ultimately became the most important thing in the trade.
Have they overpaid for players. Absolutely YES. There are any number of examples and Benning seems committed to keeping this up.
Has the team improved in the standings. NO. And there is every reason to believe that they won't any time soon.
Have they selected good coaches. Hard to say as far Green goes but Willie was a complete disaster. Hounded the younger players and, along with the idiotic Lidster, drove Tryamkin back to Russia.
And as far as the drafting goes, the results have been a mixed bag. Right now the drafting of Virtanen and Joulevi appear outright misses given the draft position. Boeser was good pick and there is some hope for the future. Seems to me that's pretty thin reed to hang your case on for asserting the success of the present Canuck leadership group.
It is my opinion that this team will continue to drift along until Benning, Linden and the rest of the alumni that populated the various positions in team management are shown the door and replaced by hockey people who are dedicated and intelligent enough to improve the situation.
