Who do you think he should have signed and for how much?
I'm less critical, but Jonas Hiller was available at the time and CGY got him for 2 years, $4.5M per. All round a better option.
That said, it's hard to argue with the rest of what Benning has done. Signing Vrbata was his best move. While I was skeptical at first, it appears he got fair value in the Kesler deal.
I would argue that if he hadn't have spent $6M on Miller, he could have re-signed Santorelli - who has defensive deficiencies, would have been an upgrade on Linden Vey. But Benning bet on the younger player having more upside.
Sbisa has been okay and has steadily improved over the year.
I like Dorsett, but I would not have signed him for 4 years. He plays a role where durability is a concern.
Baertschi for a 2nd round pick and Adam Clendening for Gustav Forsling were both moves designed to fill age in our prospect pool. Good value in both cases.
He ran an excellent draft. Can't really argue with any of his selections. Getting Virtanen, McCann and Demko was great.
My only remaining concern with Benning is how much he may be in love with the players that he brought in. We see signs of this in the contracts he gave Dorsett and Sbisa and in the signing of Miller, whom he had drafted in Buffalo. If he holds onto Miller over Lack I (and most of the fan base) will be rightfully upset. In the Kesler deal, Benning was pragmatic enough to make the best of a bad hand, even though dealing Kesler quickly mean perhaps accepting lesser value. I hope he takes the same path with Miller. It's going to be hard to trade a 34 year old goalie with 2 and $12M remaining on his contract. I also have concerns about how he might handle Kassian in the off season.
