Post-Game Talk: Benning's But(t)s

[LordBacon]

i came expecting a picture of jimbo's butt.
my day is ruined

 

[Hoglander]

But Gillis
But Luongo recapture
But covid
But empty cupboards
But long covid
But schedule
But Abbotsford floods
But the players
But Green
But crack
But injuries
But lists
But the fans
But negative media
But hindsight
But refs
But Linden
But it made sense at the time
But Calder candidates
But Putin
But altitude in Colorado
But every year is an outlier except 2020
But age gap
But is better with less picks
But posts and crossbars
But ran out of time

But flat cap
But tampering
But foundational player
But bullying daughter
But fans couldn't handle a rebuild
But jet black

 

[Grub]

I normally try to avoid focusing on the negative, but I believe that @BenningSimpsBeagle ’s aim with this Thread is to provide a healthy, therapeutic venting opportunity. With this as my perspective, I share the following thoughts.

Jim Benning robbed those of us who have young children in their formative years when they establish a bond with a Team. Those of us who wanted to share our fandom with them during his tenure. For that I personally will never forgive him.

Fortunately for me, I think my fandom/enthusiasm may still have some impact upon my youngest two, and they are cautiously trying to regain their interest. However, so many Seasons have passed that I would have loved to create memories with them of enjoying competitive Canucks hockey if this organization had been Managed competently.

Not that I mean to imply that our Canucks would have been competitive every year. Most of us know that a Rebuild was needed, but I believe, foolishly optimistic or not, that we would have had a competitive team within a 3 year window. Certainly players & organizational leadership we could be optimistic about.

Anyway, to Jim Benning and Travis Green I say:
View attachment 493162 View attachment 493163 View attachment 493164 View attachment 493165 View attachment 493166 View attachment 493167 View attachment 493168 View attachment 493169

Absolutely nailed it. You can say that there is a lost generation here. I grew up watching the Linden years and WCE and became a die hard fan… imagine 5 year old kids growing up watching Jim Benning Hockey, they would be 13 years old now and have only watched losing hockey.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

I normally try to avoid focusing on the negative, but I believe that @BenningSimpsBeagle ’s aim with this Thread is to provide a healthy, therapeutic venting opportunity. With this as my perspective, I share the following thoughts.

Jim Benning robbed those of us who have young children in their formative years when they establish a bond with a Team. Those of us who wanted to share our fandom with them during his tenure. For that I personally will never forgive him.

Fortunately for me, I think my fandom/enthusiasm may still have some impact upon my youngest two, and they are cautiously trying to regain their interest. However, so many Seasons have passed that I would have loved to create memories with them of enjoying competitive Canucks hockey if this organization had been Managed competently.

Not that I mean to imply that our Canucks would have been competitive every year. Most of us know that a Rebuild was needed, but I believe, foolishly optimistic or not, that we would have had a competitive team within a 3 year window. Certainly players & organizational leadership we could be optimistic about.

Anyway, to Jim Benning and Travis Green I say:
View attachment 493162 View attachment 493163 View attachment 493164 View attachment 493165 View attachment 493166 View attachment 493167 View attachment 493168 View attachment 493169

"Jim, John, Travis, Nolan

 

[Pip]

The organization is in a shambles. Yeah sure Demko is a franchise goaltender, and Hughes looks like a Norris candidate, and Pettersson looks promising, Podz and Hogs are great young players, Garland looks pretty darn good, Boeser is a 30 goal scorer, Horvat is a great 2 c without of years left, but other than that we are screwed for the next 5 years.

How are the results this poor if they have so many great pieces?

 

[McDavid is too whiny]

But Gillis
But Luongo recapture
But covid
But empty cupboards
But long covid
But schedule
But Abbotsford floods
But the players
But Green
But crack
But injuries
But lists
But the fans
But negative media
But hindsight
But refs
But Linden
But it made sense at the time
But Calder candidates
But Putin
But altitude in Colorado
But every year is an outlier except 2020
But age gap
But is better with less picks
But posts and crossbars
But ran out of time

.gif images were also apparently pretty harmful

 

[McDavid is too whiny]

While Green was a poor coach and the team was underperforming this run under Boudreau is/was a mirage as well. The roster isn’t good and the future has been mortgaged to get here. They’re likely more of a bubble team than a bottom feeder but this backend especially is not good.

I think this is a fair and honest baseline assessment of the team. Season to taste in either direction depending who you are.

 

[McDavid is too whiny]

View attachment 493167

I like to picture this one really coming from Lower Mainland product Ryan Stiles for f***ing with his childhood team.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

All the names being mentioned for GM kind of have me scared because of this regime.
For this reason they are still living rent free!

So happy both are gone!

 

[Hockeyphysio]

Worse part for me was what a coward he was

 

[M2Beezy]

But flat cap
But tampering
But foundational player
But bullying daughter
But fans couldn't handle a rebuild
But jet black

Edited and added!

 

[Tim Calhoun]

This has been one of the greatest months in Canucks history.

December 5 will always be a "where were you that day?" type event. A day to be celebrated.

 

[M2Beezy]

.gif images were also apparently pretty harmful

Better add one then...

 

[wonton15]

Guys be fair, Benning jotted things down on paper and did slide shows

Can we even confirm he wrote things down or knew how to use powerpoint?

 

[elitepete]

always remember 90% of this fan based liked/loved him until one or two months prior to his firing.

Really shows how stupid the average sports fan is.

 

[God]

I hope his christmas sucks.

 

[VanillaCoke]

That's a harsh diss but I respect it.

 

[Bougieman]

always remember 90% of this fan based liked/loved him until one or two months prior to his firing.

90% is reeeeeally pushing it. I'd say closer to 65% to 70%. And more like 40% to 50% if we're only talking about this board.

I was ok with him. Very on the fence, and could have jumped either way for most of his time here. Never liked or loved him so you won't find many threads of me arguing with Benning-bashers, but also didn't really understand the vitriol, the same way I didn't really understand the same vitriol that Gillis got on this board during his tenure. I've been a regular contributor/lurker to this board since the week Vancouver first acquired Kyle Wellwood, so I've seen trends and rehashes. Canucks fans are definitely a 'type'.

 

[Hammer79]

The coaching decision sealed his fate. How does he watch the post-COVID season, leave Green hanging as a lame duck, then at the last minute give him $5.5m over 2 years? What was the thought process there? If he was your guy, why did they leave him hanging all season? If he wasn't, why did you re-up him? It seemed like the organization was cheaping out and just didn't want to pay a guy to stay home when they were hemorrhaging cash due to no fans, but then he gives him big money? W-What?!

Of course, that was just the final straw that broke the camel's back, just so many dumb decisions at the pro level.

For me, the icing on the cake were the deals in the past season and a half to;
Tanner Pearson (full NTC? Why? You paid him 3 times what he was worth!),
Jake Virtanen (Sunk cost fallacy),
Braden Holtby (no faith in Demko so he goes out and gets a guy who, he thought, could still start?),
Jason Dickenson (you got a 'shutdown' 3C who can't win a bloody faceoff?).

OEL/Garland were good pickups, but OEL's negative value (to Arizona, a team desperate to clear the deck so they can sell the team) far negated the positive value we gave up. No way does Garland fetch a top 10 pick on his own (even in likely the weakest draft since 2010), let alone another 2nd this summer when we are taking on a boat anchor contract in OEL. Garland plus a 3rd should have been the asking price to take OEL. Yes, we sent trash back, but expiring trash that had more cap hit than real dollars paid.

Now that Podkolzin has graduated to the NHL, we really don't have much left in the cupboards. It's maybe a bit better than he-who-shall-not-be-named left it, but still it's a pretty thin pipeline.

I give him credit for the JT Miller trade, but even then, the first round pick we gave up got flipped to NJ for Coleman, who was a key piece of their cup runs along with that cap space they desperately needed. Any time a trade partner was up against the cap, JB failed to take advantage.

 

[FlowMaster]

I remember the day he re-signed both Sbisa and Dorsett. We were just about to be hopeful with him as the season was shaping up decently, after a questionable first offseason.

"2.55M for Dorsett for 4 years, long contract but a fair cap hit.

Wait what? 2.55M PER YEAR? WUT

And ever since then it's been mind-boggling watching him make countless idiotic blunders while the fans were seemly supporting him. The guy can't even form sentences. Aquaman must be just as dense. Anyways I wish him well and thank god he's gone.

And I agree, the worst part about him was his cowardice and lack of any sort of accountability with every excuse under the sun.

 

[Hammer79]

I remember the day he re-signed both Sbisa and Dorsett. We were just about to be hopeful with him as the season was shaping up decently, after a questionable first offseason.

"2.55M for Dorsett for 4 years, long contract but a fair cap hit.

Wait what? 2.55M PER YEAR? WUT

And ever since then it's been mind-boggling watching him make countless idiotic blunders while the fans were seemly supporting him. The guy can't even form sentences. Aquaman must be just as dense. Anyways I wish him well and thank god he's gone.

See, this criticism I found to be toxic. Not everyone is comfortable being a public speaker and having someone get anxiety in front of a mic doesn't mean they can't do their jobs. Yes, he was in over his head, but his lack of public speaking skills isn't what made him a bad GM. Can we put this crap to bed please and focus on how he performed on the job, rather than how he was in front of the mic? We should have had a President of Hockey Ops all that time, he was put on the spot.

 

[FlowMaster]

See, this criticism I found to be toxic. Not everyone is comfortable being a public speaker and having someone get anxiety in front of a mic doesn't mean they can't do their jobs. Yes, he was in over his head, but his lack of public speaking skills isn't what made him a bad GM. Can we put this crap to bed please and focus on how he performed on the job, rather than how he was in front of the mic? We should have had a President of Hockey Ops all that time, he was put on the spot.

People were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for years. And I am by no means great at speaking eloquently myself. Unfortunately, time and time again his actions showed it may not just be anxiety.

But you're right. It is about his actions. I'll take that comment back.

 

[4Twenty]

The guy was a shitty communicator. Period. Not only with the public but clearly with his own staff.

The toxicity came from folks trying to tell you the one quacking wasn’t a duck. It’s still happening.

His ability to speak and communicate was terrible. It fractured the whole organization. Toxic would be to sweep that shit under the rug.

I do find humour in folks who argued for him regularly now acting like they figured this out years ago….toxic gaslighting.

 

[lawrence]

I hope his christmas sucks.

this wasn’t necessary.

 

[M2Beezy]

90% is reeeeeally pushing it. I'd say closer to 65% to 70%. And more like 40% to 50% if we're only talking about this board.

I was ok with him. Very on the fence, and could have jumped either way for most of his time here. Never liked or loved him so you won't find many threads of me arguing with Benning-bashers, but also didn't really understand the vitriol, the same way I didn't really understand the same vitriol that Gillis got on this board during his tenure. I've been a regular contributor/lurker to this board since the week Vancouver first acquired Kyle Wellwood, so I've seen trends and rehashes. Canucks fans are definitely a 'type'.

On this board its more like 2-3% liked/loved Benning him for a long time. This board was pretty united against his disastrous mismanagement of our team