WTF are you talking about. In 2014 Benning's exact quote was "I took the first round and left the rest of the draft to our scouts"
Do you have the quote? I thought it was mostly about him wanting to sit back and oversee them and let them do their thing. Chibisov getting Tryamkin Gradin Forsling etc etc. Later rounds stuff
The intel i have from 2014 was Virtanen was already decided upon before JB arrived. They told his agent over a month before the draft if he's still there at 6 they were taking him....obviously Benning agreed with them in the end, so i'm not trying to make excuses for him picking Jake just adding that the staff at the top wanted him and this overruled everyone BS is just that. Although it is likely arguments were made for Nylander or Ehlers etc.
From what i also understand was Demko was heavily scouted by Boston and Benning was a big fan. This notion that GMs are not responsible for 2nd rounders and have a lot of say is sketchy at best.....i would expect many 2nd round picks for teams in the top50 are players that they may have looked at as 1st rounders with plenty of input from the top.
The McCann selection was also interesting. There was a report over a yr ago about Benning giving his scouts heck for not doing better identifying Pastrnak. At the draft he was bullish about McCann though. There is that video of Garth Snow trying to move up and Benning not wanting to do that because he wants McCann
Bottom line is the GM wears the draft. If he's unhappy with his scouts later round selections then he better get pro active and set the methods and standards or change the personnel. Gillis talked a big game (Detroit model) but in 6yrs was the worst in the NHL
People trying to paint a diversion to these facts regarding who wears the responsibility of the draft are delusional. Any respecatabe analysis of a teams drafting would be properly addressed as Jim Benning and his staff are doing a xxxxx job at drafting. Not Mike Gillis is certainly being overrun by his scouting staff and that is having a negative effect on an otherwise good GM. Being able to make quick decisions to steer a ship in the right direction is the ultimate responsibility of the GM/President. Gillis knew of the struggles at the draft table that had Nonis being heavily criticized and he also knew that Delorme had a poor reputation and was being heavily criticized from the media and Canucks community. He had direct quotes about his change in philosophy regarding the focus on IQ and Hodgson Schroeder, was bullish enough about Rodin to say they had him as a 1st rounder and Sauve had NHL level tools. The fact is he did make changes they just were the wrong one's and the drafting continued to suck,
Also will add that the witch hunt attching Benning to Bostons failure at the draft table is pretty funny considering he was the AGM below Neely Chiarelli and Wayne Smith who was the director of Amateur scouting. Jim would have essentially been the 3rd or 4th voice regarding 1st rounders top50 guys and after that it would have been Smith and his staff. This is the quote of Jim's role in Boston:
"He serves as an advisor to General Manager Peter Chiarelli on all matters pertaining to player evaluation, trades and free agent signings, in addition to assisting the General Manager in overseeing all individuals in their specific duties for the Bruins."
so while he bears some responsibilty it is pretty minor to say the least and when your helping advise a team that wins a Stanley Cup and boast one of the best records in the NHL during that era it's an odd focal point with an agenda to say the least to paint Benning as responsible for all of Bostons shit picks and dismiss the excellent job they did at adding the components they needed to win
