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

[December5th]

i really think he was bad. even if this team goes into the playoffs and wins a stanley cup, he is still bad. always trying to compete and trading away futures when we werent ready and further delaying us. i think some good things have come out of benning. drafting petterson,hughes, and demko and markstrom in the second round. jt miller for a 1st is a really good trade even if we can debate it might of not been the best time. and it for sure made us go into the bubble to further save bennings and greens jobs so that was bad. but either way jt miller is very valuable and we can get way more then a first back for him. but overall the benning era made the canucks feel like a joke of an nhl franchise. bennings crown achievement is BUBBLE playoffs where they got dominated by the golden knights like a house league team playing vs triple a in youth hockey

 

[MS]

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.

The biggest part of his job is 1) to be intelligent, and 2) to communicate intelligently to customers.

When the guy can't even put a cohesive thought into words, it's a bit of a problem. It isn't the way he talks - Darryl Sutter is no well-educated wordsmith but he bluntly states intelligent, well-formed ideas. It's the way he speaks coupled with the astonishingly stupid content coupled with 8 years of actual actions that confirm he's just as stupid as he sounds.

If you can't do an interview or a press conference without sounding like a complete moron, you shouldn't be an NHL GM. No other GM we've ever had has had a problem with this, at all.

Jim Benning literally sounded like a kinda dumb 9 year old hockey fan in the body of a 60 year old man.

 

[RebuildinVan]

He was bad at pretty much everything but last seasons disappearing act when this team needed supportive leadership was inexcusable. Miller had go to the media about the scheduling, Green had to answer about Jake and when the outbreak hit it took a week for him to talk to the media. This all after hearing about TT not even getting an offer and losing two key vets. The culture was cancerous in the organization and thats all on Benning.

 

[M2Beezy]

The biggest part of his job is 1) to be intelligent, and 2) to communicate intelligently to customers.

When the guy can't even put a cohesive thought into words, it's a bit of a problem. It isn't the way he talks - Darryl Sutter is no well-educated wordsmith but he bluntly states intelligent, well-formed ideas. It's the way he speaks coupled with the astonishingly stupid content coupled with 8 years of actual actions that confirm he's just as stupid as he sounds.

If you can't do an interview or a press conference without sounding like a complete moron, you shouldn't be an NHL GM. No other GM we've ever had has had a problem with this, at all.

Jim Benning literally sounded like a kinda dumb 9 year old hockey fan in the body of a 60 year old man.

Sounds clear to me...

 

[Hyzer]

Sounds clear to me...

So embarassing.

Guy was struggling to put together coherent sentences, and he ran this team for 8 f***ing years.

 

[Tables of Stats]

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.

In 8-years on the job, it's something you'd expect him to have improved upon, if not overcome entirely. There are tons of courses available and it's not as if he couldn't afford to see somebody for an anxiety issue if that's what it was. The fact that he was as bad on his final day as he was on his first shows a man who didn't care to improve at his job.

 

[Pavel96]

The biggest part of his job is 1) to be intelligent, and 2) to communicate intelligently to customers.

When the guy can't even put a cohesive thought into words, it's a bit of a problem. It isn't the way he talks - Darryl Sutter is no well-educated wordsmith but he bluntly states intelligent, well-formed ideas. It's the way he speaks coupled with the astonishingly stupid content coupled with 8 years of actual actions that confirm he's just as stupid as he sounds.

If you can't do an interview or a press conference without sounding like a complete moron, you shouldn't be an NHL GM. No other GM we've ever had has had a problem with this, at all.

Jim Benning literally sounded like a kinda dumb 9 year old hockey fan in the body of a 60 year old man.

It wasn't how he said things but what he actually said that irked me. Just garbage responses day in day out -"Sven an Jake are a year older so they'll be better"?? Oh and "the fans are going to have a lot of fun" watching the garbage he has assembled??

He clearly just said whatever he felt at the moment would get him through the interview/press conference. He didn't give a candy cane about the fans or the Canucks. Which again is the way he GMed - whatever got him to the next season by trading away the future and spending to the cap with term, just to be a bottom of the league team. I remember when people were praising the gagner and del zotta signings as a sign that he was "learning".

The job he did here was pathetic. Worst GM in franchise history that completely derailed a decade of Canucks hockey (if we are lucky).

Happy Holidays!

 

[JanBulisPiggyBack]

When I realize we still talk about Gillis 9 years later I embrace the fact we are gonna talk about Benning for twice as long

oh well

 

[M2Beezy]

When I realize we still talk about Gillis 9 years later I embrace the fact we are gonna talk about Benning for twice as long

oh well

He will go down in history as one of sports biggest blunders. And he was a Canuck. For almost 8 f***ing years

 

[MS]

It wasn't how he said things but what he actually said that irked me. Just garbage responses day in day out -"Sven an Jake are a year older so they'll be better"?? Oh and "the fans are going to have a lot of fun" watching the garbage he has assembled??

He clearly just said whatever he felt at the moment would get him through the interview/press conference. He didn't give a candy cane about the fans or the Canucks. Which again is the way he GMed - whatever got him to the next season by trading away the future and spending to the cap with term, just to be a bottom of the league team. I remember when people were praising the gagner and del zotta signings as a sign that he was "learning".

The job he did here was pathetic. Worst GM in franchise history that completely derailed a decade of Canucks hockey (if we are lucky).

Happy Holidays!

Benning was very stupid.
Benning was very lazy.
Benning was very selfish.
Benning was very arrogant.

It was just an incredible perfect storm of incompetence that should have lasted for 6 months a la Keenan/Messier but somehow dragged on for 8 years.

You had this lazy stupid man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing and who simply had no idea how to present an idea or answer a question in an intelligent fashion. The best he could do was repeat tropes and buzzwords - literally every defender he ever acquired had a 'good first pass' despite several being amongst the poorest puck-moving defenders in the NHL.

And again, every single plan for the entire 8 years was for nothing but the immediate future to try and save his job. Part of it was selfishness, part of it was that he simply wasn't smart enough to actually formulate a long-term plan.

And yeah, things like 'Sven and Jake are a year older so they'll be better' is the sort of thinking you see from a 10 year old. And statements like this happened constantly. 'Beagle and Schaller and Roussel are bigger so that should mean less injuries' was another great one.

f*** Jim Benning. Most toxic person in the history of sports in Vancouver.

 

[Jyrki21]

Benning was very stupid.
Benning was very lazy.
Benning was very selfish.
Benning was very arrogant.

It was just an incredible perfect storm of incompetence that should have lasted for 6 months a la Keenan/Messier but somehow dragged on for 8 years.

The crazy thing is many of us were naïve enough to believe his tenure would be short-lived. After Aquaman was so quick to pull the trigger on the previous two GMs, it seemed inevitable after the no-rebuild tack backfired that there would be another change in short order. I initially wasn't sure Benning would survive the 2015-16 season, given how embarrassing it was in every respect. Then it seemed there would be a good chance that Benning would probably be dumped along with Willie Desjardins after two straight horrendous non-rebuild years and Aquilini's famously short patience.

Even then once Green was brought in, you say "OK, this is the classic 'gets one more coach'" lifeline. When little changed that year, I assume a majority of the fanbase thought Benning was gone. The people on Twitter who reacted with "What? Why?!?" any time you'd suggest it just seemed like dumb casuals. When he got an extension in the midst of that season, that was the real soul-crushing moment that suggested that Benning's job security had little do with the team's progress.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

 

[VanillaCoke]

The relief is still immense and hasn't even half sunk in yet.

 

[Cornwallace]

Sounds clear to me...

That description of Eriksson was something else oof

 

[Hoglander]

He was terrible in front of a mic, and had no plan about building a winning team(just sort of winged it. would say one thing one season, do the opposite the next). I like the Miller trade, but overall his trades were executed poorly. I could go on, but we all know about his many blunders.
Couldn't have been easy working without a Pres and working under Frank, but in the end, I'm just glad he went out with a whimper (guy absolutely friggen vanished), so someone else could clean up the mess.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

It honestly makes no sense how an executive in his position lasted eight f***ing years.

 

[rypper]

The crazy thing is many of us were naïve enough to believe his tenure would be short-lived. After Aquaman was so quick to pull the trigger on the previous two GMs, it seemed inevitable after the no-rebuild tack backfired that there would be another change in short order. I initially wasn't sure Benning would survive the 2015-16 season, given how embarrassing it was in every respect. Then it seemed there would be a good chance that Benning would probably be dumped along with Willie Desjardins after two straight horrendous non-rebuild years and Aquilini's famously short patience.

Even then once Green was brought in, you say "OK, this is the classic 'gets one more coach'" lifeline. When little changed that year, I assume a majority of the fanbase thought Benning was gone. The people on Twitter who reacted with "What? Why?!?" any time you'd suggest it just seemed like dumb casuals. When he got an extension in the midst of that season, that was the real soul-crushing moment that suggested that Benning's job security had little do with the team's progress.

It's crazy to me too that each time he was extended it was just as likely he was going to be fired. Like a 50/50 split on how it would go.

Maybe that's me remembering with my own biases clouding things, but I think it was never a sure thing based on his performance.

Just seems like the definition of mediocrity.

 

[megatron]

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.

Absolutely not. The ability to communicate effectively is a necessary skill in a manager. Its not that he was bad, he was completely incompetant. You don't hire people to upper management positions when they can't communicate effectively.

 

[megatron]

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.

You remind me when I was a kid, can't recall exactly how old maybe 8 or 9 and Id be thinking how awesome the canucks are. "This is the best team in the league we are going to win multiple Stanley cups... we got Tony Tanti, Petri Skriko, Garth Butcher.... "

 

[MS]

The crazy thing is many of us were naïve enough to believe his tenure would be short-lived. After Aquaman was so quick to pull the trigger on the previous two GMs, it seemed inevitable after the no-rebuild tack backfired that there would be another change in short order. I initially wasn't sure Benning would survive the 2015-16 season, given how embarrassing it was in every respect. Then it seemed there would be a good chance that Benning would probably be dumped along with Willie Desjardins after two straight horrendous non-rebuild years and Aquilini's famously short patience.

Even then once Green was brought in, you say "OK, this is the classic 'gets one more coach'" lifeline. When little changed that year, I assume a majority of the fanbase thought Benning was gone. The people on Twitter who reacted with "What? Why?!?" any time you'd suggest it just seemed like dumb casuals. When he got an extension in the midst of that season, that was the real soul-crushing moment that suggested that Benning's job security had little do with the team's progress.

The most obvious time for him to have been fired would have been the spring of 2017 - 3 years on the job, total disaster, and the 2016 offseason was one of the worst for any team in NHL history. It's inexplicable how he survived that point, especially since it seemed like Linden figured things out.

Then we started getting the '3 STRAIGHT CALDER FINALISTS' thing happening and people started buying into superficial results over the actual process. Like you say, that extension in the spring of 2018 was absolutely soul-destroying.

 

[DS7]

This thread title conjured up thoughts that should never come to pass

 

[BWJM]

I can't believe how long we went with both Benning and Green.

Not once did I think Green was a good coach for this team, had numerous amounts of arguments with friends, or even my dad about it lol.

What did people see in this guy? Boring ass hockey, smug face, zero personality.

Cheers to a new beginning.

 

[RandV]

Absolutely not. The ability to communicate effectively is a necessary skill in a manager. Its not that he was bad, he was completely incompetant. You don't hire people to upper management positions when they can't communicate effectively.

There's also the little matter that terrible communication was paired with being terrible at his job. When a guy makes roster decisions that anyone can see are just plain bad the moment they're made, then goes in front of a mic and his speaking is just as bad as the move he made, then yes that's very relevant because this is the guy in charge of running our team. Also, there's the little matter that over the years he tended to fire the smarter guys that could communicate consolidating more power around himself, Weisbrod, and Aquilini.

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

Have dumb and dumber spoken to the media yet? Seems like they were turned into blueberry soil

Why would they? Benning has long been established as a coward with unearned arrogance, routinely hiding from the media unless he had something to crow about. I assume that Francesco’s favourite cabin boy is no longer a friend since he got his pink slip.

Green is just an unlikable, arrogant ass. Can’t see the media being too sympathetic.

I just want all the spilled tea.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

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:
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I love you.


As for my self, on the topic of this thread.

Ive felt such relief after the management switch. For years, I felt like every little bit of success the team enjoyed, came with a spoon full of poison, in the form of knowing that it took us further from needed change in management.

Ive legitimitely worried that I no longer know how to just cheer for the wins and am so so happy to find out I still can.

Im not going to spend time being mad at Jim and Travis. They are no longer here. Amazing... They are no longer here.

Now we Wait & See (c). What happens next.