Former Canucks Thread 2023-24 Edition

[Lindgren]

Why bother talking about prospects, when we could just talk about Benning?

Hey everybody, Jim Benning.

JIM FREAKIN' BENNING!!!!

The OHL playoffs begin tonight, and Alriksson, Bloom, and Kudryavtsev are all in action. (At least, I presume Kudryavtsev will play. I think he missed the last regular season game, but I'm guessing that was "load management.")

There's a recent puff article on Kudryavtsev from the Hockey News. It does have some interesting insights about how the Canucks communicate with their prospects in the OHL:

Kirill Kudryavtsev's Season

 

[theguardianII]

He's the guy who hired Jim Benning, and upon seeing what a wonderful job he was doing as GM, fired Linden and made him GM/POHO. Becasue what Jim really needed was more responsibility and control I guess. He also hired a head coach before even finding a replacement after firing Benning. I don't think any of us wanted any of that.

Hands off means to me, what i hope for from an owner:
Hire a really strong POHO, let him hire his own GM, let them make coaching and personnel decisions, be willing to spend money. The stay out of the way part is everything but the 1st decision, and maybe part of the 2cnd. That's it. Being a 'superfan' owner is useful for the spending money part i guess.[/B][/B]

Edit: I have no idea why my reply is all in bold. I meant to only bold your last sentence.

Geez guy.
He didn't fire Linden, even Linden stated they were not getting along with Benning.
He sought out Rutherford BEFORE he hired Bruce, only JR didn't know it was for a year and a half. Likely after getting JR's okay Bruce would not sign for half a year without the option.

Linden hired Benning, Benning stabbed him in the back.

The owner is 'hands-off' with the current administration, he doesn't have much of choice. But that was hardly the case with Benning. He meddled almost constantly, and even when it was apparent that the franchise was floundering, he backed Benning to the hilt.

And given the magnitude of the OEL deal and the contract they inherited, it's impossible to believe the owner wasn't involved. Nope, when it comes to the last regime, the owner was an 'enabler'. And they'll be paying the price for years.

No he didn't. Ask Linden or Benning if you can. He didn't back Benning, he stayed hands off like the fans wanted. IMO hands off too long. But there was no way Aquilini was putting his family in the cross hairs again.

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

1) OEL would be on the roster for around $7 mill more than his buyout. You'd have to adjust the roster to compensate for that. Plus, is he playing not half bad for a $7 mill player or a $2.25 mill player? Does the 1/3 cap hit vs what it would be in Van alter your assessment or is your opinion no different?

2) Dickinson, he was not performing in Vancouver. It's as simple as that. Some guys just don't fit in certain teams. Schmidt was fine in LV. Not the same in Van. He was a contract they could have just kept and finished out. Ie. not add Mik last season.

That is $9.5 mill in cap in cap charges that you need to make to this current roster to fit those 2 in.

Add to this, OEL himself doesn't seem to handle pressure well and I think the fact he was in a fishbowl market like Vancouver contributed to his performance.

Also, not sure about his icetime/usage in Florida, but being used as a depth guy vs how he was in Vancouver would also reflect on that.

If we're freaking out about Zadorov making $5M as a bottom pairing guy there's no way you could justify OEL at a higher cap hit in the same role.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Why bother talking about prospects, when we could just talk about Benning?

Hey everybody, Jim Benning.

JIM FREAKIN' BENNING!!!!

Since it's the prospect thread, I think it's more Jim "Every Draft Pick Is An NHLer" Benning.

 

[StreetHawk]

Add to this, OEL himself doesn't seem to handle pressure well and I think the fact he was in a fishbowl market like Vancouver contributed to his performance.

Also, not sure about his icetime/usage in Florida, but being used as a depth guy vs how he was in Vancouver would also reflect on that.

If we're freaking out about Zadorov making $5M as a bottom pairing guy there's no way you could justify OEL at a higher cap hit in the same role.

OEL was thrust into big minutes early in the year to cover Ekblad and Montour being out. Seems to have settled into his true role after those 2 returned.

Never a fan of bringing in guys like OEL and Ballard who have been part of bad teams for a long time in non pressure markets and then they have expectations on them when they get here. Doesn’t seem like a recipe for them to thrive. Have to do your homework on how guys are wired.

 

[LemonSauceD]

 

[Breakers]

Legendary
I still remember some of the stuff these two did while on the ice together.

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

#thankyoujim

 

[LuckyDay]

I had noticed before this that remarkably the Canucks were about the last team in the league to have a player out on covid. It had been quite a miracle up to that point.
And this wasn't by accident since we were playing more games on the road than anyone else at that point. (I haven't looked up the numbers, this is what I remember from my head).
We had a few days off before our home stand when it happened so without question there was a correlation.
Another correlation? Send him home and continue business as usual, acting like he wasn't in contact with anyone in the building the whole time. Nor did anyone else catch it at home and bring it in the building.

 

[Petey But Really Jim]

Legendary
I still remember some of the stuff these two did while on the ice together.

Lol the Del Zotto - Girardi one is so obvious. Dan was washed hard and DZ sucked. But Dan had the rep and DZ had hype so f***ing rights boys new best pair in the league.

Just realized I may as well have said this about OEL - Myers.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

this is where those of us who have worked both in an office run by a competent person and one run by a f***ing moron realized that it is in fact possible even for a billion dollar company to be run into the ground by a complete idiot with no one overseeing him other than an even bigger idiot

my nonprofit industrial complex friends who work in private foundations that are basically playthings for the dumbest kids and/or trophy partners of rich ppl already knew this

 

[TropicOfNoReturn]

?

He was excellent until his career was nearly sunk by Travis Green and Erik Gudbranson.

There's a reason he's hung around for 500 NHL games even after his development was totally bungled by the organization.

The worst defence pairing of the last 17 years played for the Canucks

Erik Gudbranson and Ben Hutton struggled terribly while paired as a defensive duo for the Vancouver Canucks between 2016 and 2019.

theprovince.com

 

[MS]

The worst defence pairing of the last 17 years played for the Canucks

Erik Gudbranson and Ben Hutton struggled terribly while paired as a defensive duo for the Vancouver Canucks between 2016 and 2019.

theprovince.com

Now look at Hutton’s results with literally anyone other than Gudbranson.

Hutton wasn’t the problem with that pairing and he was getting sunk by a useless partner and horrible coaches that just kept going back to a pairing that didn’t work.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Now look at Hutton’s results with literally anyone other than Gudbranson.

Hutton wasn’t the problem with that pairing and he was getting sunk by a useless partner and horrible coaches that just kept going back to a pairing that didn’t work.

Oh man, Gudbranson's whole "300 games to learn to play defense" when he was bar none the worst defensemen on the team was one of the biggest moments of complete un-self awareness I have ever seen.

I cheered so hard the day we traded him.

 

[MS]

Oh man, Gudbranson's whole "300 games to learn to play defense" when he was bar none the worst defensemen on the team was one of the biggest moments of complete un-self awareness I have ever seen.

I cheered so hard the day we traded him.

It wasn't just the lack of self-awareness, it was the arrogance - the 'if you see me sliding out of position it's because my defensive partner has made a mistake' quote was actually beyond belief.

A shit player and a shit person throwing his young teammate under the bus for his own incompetence.

f*** that guy, one of the worst Canucks in history.

 

[EpochLink]

Oh man, Gudbranson's whole "300 games to learn to play defense" when he was bar none the worst defensemen on the team was one of the biggest moments of complete un-self awareness I have ever seen.

I cheered so hard the day we traded him.

Gudbrandon under Darryl Sutter's archaic system was a top 4 NHL defensemen, him out of it he's just Eric Weinrich minus the yellow visor.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

It wasn't just the lack of self-awareness, it was the arrogance - the 'if you see me sliding out of position it's because my defensive partner has made a mistake' quote was actually beyond belief.

A shit player and a shit person throwing his young teammate under the bus for his own incompetence.

f*** that guy, one of the worst Canucks in history.

“If I’m chasing out of position to make a play, there has been a breakdown somewhere at some point,” said Gudbranson. “My intention is to get in front of shots and take away passing lanes. We started off well as a pair, but we’ve been kind of separate and a little disconnected and just playing too far apart.

“We’re going to watch video and see what’s going on and this is a process with a young guy. He (Hutton) has less than 100 games and it takes 300 to learn to defend well.

Forgot about the chasing part of the quote. What a complete moron.

 

[M2Beezy]

Worst part of the Gudbranson experience was giving up prime assets for such a lousy #6/7 dman. That 2016 offseason by Benning was one of epic proportions of franchise cripplings. 2nd worst team in the standings and about the worst amount of picks on draft day. Gudbranson, Eriksson, etc, just wow bad

 

[LuckyDay]

Hutton was good but the team expected him to fill in for Edler. He ended playing too many games for a young kid.
I was hoping they'd see the light and put Hutton in for Gudbranson instead of putting him on his line.

 

[Breakers]

Floridas coach got fired for refusing to break up Gudbranson

Botch wrote about it.

 

[TropicOfNoReturn]

Now look at Hutton’s results with literally anyone other than Gudbranson.

Hutton wasn’t the problem with that pairing and he was getting sunk by a useless partner and horrible coaches that just kept going back to a pairing that didn’t work.

You are essentially correct in all points, but it doesn't the fact that Hutton was terrible here, regardless of the reason. I don't see the point in re-litigating that. Nothing at all against him personally - he's salvaged a solid career, happy for the guy.

I find it interesting how many people want to defend the performance of a guy that left Vancouver five years ago and was part of a disastrous team.

 

[F A N]

Add to this, OEL himself doesn't seem to handle pressure well and I think the fact he was in a fishbowl market like Vancouver contributed to his performance.

Also, not sure about his icetime/usage in Florida, but being used as a depth guy vs how he was in Vancouver would also reflect on that.

If we're freaking out about Zadorov making $5M as a bottom pairing guy there's no way you could justify OEL at a higher cap hit in the same role.

OEL was thrust into big minutes early in the year to cover Ekblad and Montour being out. Seems to have settled into his true role after those 2 returned.

Never a fan of bringing in guys like OEL and Ballard who have been part of bad teams for a long time in non pressure markets and then they have expectations on them when they get here. Doesn’t seem like a recipe for them to thrive. Have to do your homework on how guys are wired.

OEL was actually good in his first season here. He was playing top shutdown minutes with Myers as his partner. That's a difficult role over the course of the season. We've seen Edler away from Tanev. In the short term Edler was able to elevate guys like Hutton, Myers, and Stecher but over the course of a full season, it's a tall order.

OEL then fractured his foot and it looked like he lost a huge step last season. He probably would be pretty good this season alongside this year's version of Hughes or even Cole/Myers handling secondary defensive minutes.

 

[M2Beezy]

You are essentially correct in all points, but it doesn't the fact that Hutton was terrible here, regardless of the reason. I don't see the point in re-litigating that. Nothing at all against him personally - he's salvaged a solid career, happy for the guy.

I find it interesting how many people want to defend the performance of a guy that left Vancouver five years ago and was part of a disastrous team.

I dont think defending him is so important, its more just about recognizing reality. Young bottom of the lineup guys on a poorly managed and coached team perhaps are at times unfairly grouped in with anchors, duds, favourites of a bad coach, etc

 

[StreetHawk]

I dont think defending him is so important, its more just about recognizing reality. Young bottom of the lineup guys on a poorly managed and coached team perhaps are at times unfairly grouped in with anchors, duds, favourites of a bad coach, etc

Hutton is still in the nhl. Paid like a 3rd pairing Dman. Overall for a guy late in the draft that’s a good career. Still crazy that he will have made more in Van in fewer years than he will have made (including his upcoming extension) with the rest of the mhl in his prime years.

 

[Bubbles]

Hughes - Tanev
Edler - Forsling
Hutton - Chatfield

This is the D-core in my bizarro world Canucks.