Benning Vs Sweeney

[50 Shades of Vey]

Hey HF, haven't posted in a while. My friend and I have been having an argument on who the better GM is; Benning or Sweeney. I'm admittedly biased so I was wondering what everyone's opinions were.

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[Wandering Cynic]

Benning gets a lot of hate, but most of his recent moves have been pretty solid. 2014-2016 Benning was a disaster. The past 2 years, Benning has really come into his own (minus the Eriksson and Gagner signings). Both Beagle and Roussel have become solid veterans on a team of young guys. They are worth the money. Plus, the prospect cupboard went from being a pile of crap, to arguably the best pool in the league.

I'd take Benning over Sweeney.

 

[WTG]

Neither of them are any good.
They are recycled old-boys from the Chiarelli Boston days. Where they take credit for things that Jeff Gorton did.

 

[Love]

Benning wouldn't have botched the 2015 draft like Sweeney did.

 

[SillyRabbit]

Benning wouldn't have botched the 2015 draft like Sweeney did.

Jake Virtanen and Olli Juolevi beg to differ.

Those were 5th and 6th overall picks, not mid teens, which makes it even worse.

 

[Addison Rae]

Benning wouldn't have botched the 2015 draft like Sweeney did.

Benning also wouldn’t have received a lottery pick for Milan Lucic.

Instead he tried trading his first round pick (Brock Boeser) for him and ultimately got declined. He then tried trading a top 5 pick the next year along with Horvat and Tanev for PK Subban.

Benning is an ok scout but his pro scouting resume is the worst in the NHL by a decent margin since he took over in Vancouver.

In 2016 Sweeney ended up with McAvoy at 14 while Vancouver got Juolevi at 5 FWIW too.

 

[Addison Rae]

Benning gets a lot of hate, but most of his recent moves have been pretty solid. 2014-2016 Benning was a disaster. The past 2 years, Benning has really come into his own (minus the Eriksson and Gagner signings). Both Beagle and Roussel have become solid veterans on a team of young guys. They are worth the money. Plus, the prospect cupboard went from being a pile of crap, to arguably the best pool in the league.

I'd take Benning over Sweeney.

You’re ignoring the ridiculous term both those guys got, as they age those contracts are going to be a pretty big burden on the team.

Benning accidentally built the worst roster in the NHL over a 3 year stretch while trying to “be competitive” and stumbled upon top 5 picks. Pettersson was a fantastic pick but Gradin pushed hard for the Canucks to take him not Benning and if the Canucks had any luck in the lottery they were taking Cale Makar.

The cupboards were bare because the Canucks were the best team in the NHL under Gillis and had been the worst team in the NHL under Benning, that’s usually how it works with how the draft orders are determined.

 

[beachcomber]

Benning also wouldn’t have received a lottery pick for Milan Lucic.

Instead he tried trading his first round pick (Brock Boeser) for him and ultimately got declined. He then tried trading a top 5 pick the next year along with Horvat and Tanev for PK Subban.

Benning is an ok scout but his pro scouting resume is the worst in the NHL by a decent margin since he took over in Vancouver.

In 2016 Sweeney ended up with McAvoy at 14 while Vancouver got Juolevi at 5 FWIW too.

Nothing but rumours regarding those proposed trades.

 

[Addison Rae]

Nothing but rumours regarding those proposed trades.

Friedman and Ryan Biech both extremely credible sources have backed the “rumours up”

This isn’t the Miller for 9th BS. There’s absolutely substance here.

 

[Nipsey]

Watching a lot of Canucks games this year they have a lot of excellent young players.

Elias Pettersson - Franchise Center, 100-110 point potential, fantastic defensively with 40-50 goal shot
Brock Boeser - Elite Sniper, 40+ goal PPG potential, best GPG from the stacked 2015 draft.
Jake Virtanen - 2-way power forward with 20-25 goal potential, very good defensive numbers.
Quinn Hughes - Slam dunk pick though

Really liked the Dahlen and Goldobin( just under 50 point pace this year) trades as well.

Looking at their prospect pool probably top 3 in the entire NHL right now.

But Benning has made some awful FA signings like Eriksson and Gagner.

For Sweeney, he did steal Charlie MacAvoy which limits the aftermath of the 2015 draft.

I really like Urho Vaakanainen as well.

But he has been a buyer every year since he's been in charge giving up draft picks when he should be keeping his picks and trying to retool that oldish roster.

Not a fan of giving up prospects and picks for an ageing Rick Nash.

I'd give the edge to the former.

 

[wintersej]

Sweeney has made three big mistakes:

1) Senyshyn over Barzal/Connor
2) Signing Backes
3) Signing Beleksey

He was able to get out of half of Beleksey in exchange for Spooner...so that’s pretty good. And Backes being only 2x2.5 in real salary as his NMC expires makes me think Sweeney can move Backes cap hit, too. Obviously no Barzal will hurt for a while, but Vancouver screwed up that draft too, tbh.

Sweeney’s best moves:
1) Marchand and Pasta combined for under 13 million a year. Damn.
2) Lucic for a 1st + Jones + Colin Miller (and flipping Jones for another 1st)
3) taking McAvoy over Fabbro

Sweeney did what Benning tried to do, remain a team fighting for the playoffs while rebuilding. This should not be close.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I’d take neither. But probably Sweeney overall. Benning has made some great picks to partially redeem himself but he’s made far too many poor decisions. EP and Boeser were home runs. But the team should have been rebuilding earlier and trading for draft picks instead of signing terrible contracts. Sweeney’s one draft was just awful but he’s been decent since then.

 

[wintersej]

Watching a lot of Canucks games this year they have a lot of excellent young players.

Elias Pettersson - Franchise Center, 100-110 point potential, fantastic defensively with 40-50 goal shot
Brock Boeser - Elite Sniper, 40+ goal PPG potential, best GPG from the stacked 2015 draft.
Jake Virtanen - 2-way power forward with 20-25 goal potential, very good defensive numbers.
Quinn Hughes - Slam dunk pick though

Really liked the Dahlen and Goldobin( just under 50 point pace this year) trades as well.

Looking at their prospect pool probably top 3 in the entire NHL right now.

But Benning has made some awful FA signings like Eriksson and Gagner.

For Sweeney, he did steal Charlie MacAvoy which limits the aftermath of the 2015 draft.

I really like Urho Vaakanainen as well.

But he has been a buyer every year since he's been in charge giving up draft picks when he should be keeping his picks and trying to retool that oldish roster.

Not a fan of giving up prospects and picks for an ageing Rick Nash.

I'd give the edge to the former.

Sweeney gave up Lindgren who was their 5th or 6th best left D prospect in the Nash deal. Yes they gave up the 1st. They had the 2nd best record in the eastern conference you realize, right?