Benning confirmed to be the worst GM in the NHL

[Pyrophorus]

Great pick for the Leafs (he was my pick for the Canucks that year)..I was just trying to demonstrate that even the leafs picking Nylander was no slam dunk decision...a lot of bad picks in the top 10 that year.

I thought it was just Don Cherry who wanted Ritchie.
The deliberation was between Nylander and Ehlers

 

[Canuck Luck]

Juolevi just turned 23 years old and looked solid in the sheltered minutes he had this year. He will almost certainly never be as good as the four players taken after him, but after working through some injuries early in his career, he will likely carve out a spot for himself in the NHL. Again, I am more focused on Benning's ability to convert draft picks with value into players with value. (Boeser at 23, Hoglander at 40, Demko at 36, ect.).

The Canucks history is quite painful on this account, with such gems as Shinkaruk at 24, Gaunce at 26, Jensen at 29, Schroeder at 22, Patrick White at 25, Ellington at 33, ect. And those are all just between 2007 and 2013! Comparing different eras of Canucks drafting is pretty night and day, with huge stretches of drafting just being an absolute waste. So far with Benning, he has left every draft with a quality NHL player even if he missed better players he could have taken.

You mean this Juolevi?



Lots of Utica fans have said this happens to him all the time in the AHL for the last 2 years. Its only going to happen more and more in the NHL as teams figure him out. Go wide and just skate right by him. So unless he can magically fix something he hasn't for 3 years and counting now, he probably doesn't amount to much besides a #6-7 dman.

The odds of hitting in the late 1st and beyond is low. Yes we have had horrible scouting in the past, but Benning's record isnt much better in the later rounds given that besides Demko, Hoglander, and Boeser (whom came from one of the most stacked 1st round drafts in NHL history) are his only late 1st or later that have hit. Anyone else he's traded away for peanuts so it doesn't matter how he drafted if they are reaching their potential elsewhere and we got zilch to show for it.

 

[Snippit]

Jason Botterill is no longer in the NHL but I still think he has to be the worst since Milbury.

Among other things, the Skinner contract and O’Reilly trade were possibly the two worst GM moves made in the last decade.

 

[lawrence]

There are lots more that were worse than Benning. Benning is bad, but worst? Not even close

this is true. He is however our worst gm ever. I don't care there is Hughes, Pettersson and Demko. He's our worst gm ever.

 

[Cogburn]

Measuring games played as a metric for draft success, Benning has been firmly average. With fewer high quality picks, teams like the Maple Leafs, Oilers, Blues, Flames, Jets, Lightning, Devils, Panthers and Blue Jackets are not far behind us, with the Sabres, Bruins, Hurricanes, Ducks, and Flyers beating us. Some of those teams mentioned have had...issues...with their management as well. And I think nearly all of them have equaled or exceeded our success, objectively.

Hughes, Demko and Pettersson don't excuse Juolevi or Virtanen being chosen, or McCann and Forsling being moved out for "quick fixes"(and contributing far more than the difference between our combined games played and others we edged out), or our alienating of Tryamkin, Tanev, Stecher, Markstrom, Toffoli, Vrbata or so many other assets we mistreated, or Eriksson, Myers, Beagle, Roussel, Sutter, Gudbranson, Sbisa, Bartkowski, Schaller, Del Zotto, and I'm sure others I've mentally blocked out joining this team through bloated contracts handed out like candy (or through trades and then resigned to bloated, unearned contracts).

Letting all kinds of qualified staff walk has also weakened this team in a bad way too.

Benning is without a doubt our worst GM we've been stuck with in Vancouver, and I know guys like Milbury beat him in the eyes of other fans...but man, it probably feels way closer then it really is.

Ownership keeping this idiot around makes it as much an ownership problem as it does a management problem at this stage too.

 

[Beville]

Wow, I knew it was bad but not this bad..

 

[CraigBillington]

this is true. He is however our worst gm ever. I don't care there is Hughes, Pettersson and Demko. He's our worst gm ever.

I have to disagree with you there. Benning is Butterfingers when it comes to asset management, Keenan seemed bent on ruining the franchise And he almost did

 

[McDrai]

Benning is bad but he's no Chia.

 

[ForumNamePending]

I'm going to withhold judgement on Benning until we see how this playoff series with Calgary shakes out...

...Hold up... what's that?... Really?!?!

 

[BLONG7]

Marc Bergevin, says...........hold my beer...

 

[ManofSteel55]

How about the countless posts on this site about Toffoli being just a 20 goal scorer while you could easily there was so much more potential and the fact he was playing for LA.

These same people are probably making fun of Benning now.

"Just a 20 goal scorer" doesn't mean the guy is awful. It means that most years, you can count on him to get you 20 goals. Even if you feel he is better than that, it still is telling that the player didn't even get an offer from his team.

 

[RandV]

There are lots more that were worse than Benning. Benning is bad, but worst? Not even close

Hard to say because no one has a perfect big picture historical view of NHL management, but for me the distinction is that Benning is if not the 'worst' then the most inept GM I've seen. Maybe he doesn't have some of the massive trade blunders other GM's have on their record that make you stand out, but it's in all the little poor decisions and overall ineptitude that Benning shines. Like it's not for a lack of trying he doesn't have a massive trade blunder on his hands, he's tried (Lucic, Subban) but has just never been able to complete the deal. And like how we saw this past offseason where he was off chasing OEL, thankfully didn't pay Arizona's asking price but in the time he was pursuing the deal it distracted his attention and let a bunch of loyal team veteran UFA's pissed off for not being contacted and signing with other teams.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Like it's not for a lack of trying he doesn't have a massive trade blunder on his hands, he's tried (Lucic, Subban) but has just never been able to complete the deal. And like how we saw this past offseason where he was off chasing OEL, thankfully didn't pay Arizona's asking price but in the time he was pursuing the deal it distracted his attention and let a bunch of loyal team veteran UFA's pissed off for not being contacted and signing with other teams.

qft

if there's a high profile, big money asset that's rapidly declining, jim is on it

 

[schnapshot]

Marc Bergevin, says...........hold my beer...

No he doesn't.

 

[7even]

If Benning could get out of his own way he'd actually have a decent team

 

[Wo Yorfat]

If Benning could get out of his own way he'd actually have a decent team

I disagree, but im not a big Lucic fan.

 

[CraigBillington]

Hard to say because no one has a perfect big picture historical view of NHL management, but for me the distinction is that Benning is if not the 'worst' then the most inept GM I've seen. Maybe he doesn't have some of the massive trade blunders other GM's have on their record that make you stand out, but it's in all the little poor decisions and overall ineptitude that Benning shines. Like it's not for a lack of trying he doesn't have a massive trade blunder on his hands, he's tried (Lucic, Subban) but has just never been able to complete the deal. And like how we saw this past offseason where he was off chasing OEL, thankfully didn't pay Arizona's asking price but in the time he was pursuing the deal it distracted his attention and let a bunch of loyal team veteran UFA's pissed off for not being contacted and signing with other teams.

Inept is actually a great word to describe Benning.

 

[Hasbro]

Benning is Butterfingers when it comes to asset management, Keenan seemed bent on ruining the franchise And he almost did

His best move for the Canucks was as GM of the Panthers.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Measuring games played as a metric for draft success, Benning has been firmly average. With fewer high quality picks, teams like the Maple Leafs, Oilers, Blues, Flames, Jets, Lightning, Devils, Panthers and Blue Jackets are not far behind us, with the Sabres, Bruins, Hurricanes, Ducks, and Flyers beating us. Some of those teams mentioned have had...issues...with their management as well. And I think nearly all of them have equaled or exceeded our success, objectively.

I hate this argument.
Really? so if other GMs did their jobs poorly, they would be right down with you?
No way....

 

[Cogburn]

I hate this argument.
Really? so if other GMs did their jobs poorly, they would be right down with you?
No way....

I don't see what's to hate, its a counter to "he's a great drafter". Other teams have done as well with less, and in many cases, missing a lot more top 10 picks then we've had.

Other poor managers have consequences for continuing to fail too. How many of the teams listed have both missed 6 of the last 7 playoffs (and even then, punched our ticket through a play-in round where we got a favorable match up), and have not replaced their management team in that same time frame?

If other GMs are doing as bad, or worse, then they would not "be right down with" me. I don't cheer for a lot of other teams though. This thread is about Benning being the worst GM active in the league. I can't think of one worse that's still working in the NHL.

 

[BLONG7]

No he doesn't.

Absolutely he does.................brutal GM.

 

[schnapshot]

Absolutely he does.................brutal GM.

Well argued, you're absolutely right.

 

[BLONG7]

Well argued, you're absolutely right.

9 years of nothing........he makes Benning look like Einstein. Maybe if you keep Benning that long, it will be closer...

 

[SamInVan]

9 years of nothing........he makes Benning look like Einstein. Maybe if you keep Benning that long, it will be closer...

Someone actually believes Jim Benning is a better GM than Marc Bergevin?

Canucks have an average winning % below .500 since Benning took over the team as GM in 2014.

Buffalo, Arizona, Detroit, New Jersey, Ottawa are the others and none spent to the ceiling every single year like Vancouver has.

 

[jd22]

Covid might have something to do with it.

Are you kidding me? Don't try to gaslight the rest of HF. You're literally taking Benning's excuse that he or Aqua will try to peddle at year end. Prior to the covid outbreak, the Canucks had raised their playoff chances from 2% to 16%.

Yeah, it was definitely covid that caused them to miss. For sure.