Quick question..........Do you honestly think that Benning has been pulling the wool over Aqualini's eyes for 7 years..?
Also, list me the trades that Benning lost since 2018 (Linden left)..
I think Aqualini has been pushing short-term plans and Benning has poorly executed on them.
Bad trades, we gave up Madden, a 2nd (and Schaller but not a loss) for 17 games of Toffoli. Significant long-term loss for a 17 games. Either there wasn't a plan to hold on to Toffoli which would be stupid or Benning couldn't re-sign a guy who wanted to be here and who signed for great value elsewhere.
Also, there might be more detail behind this but trading away Gaudette for what in all likelihood turns into nothing feels like a bad value trade, this smells like there are more details behind the scenes but since many Benning defenders justified trading away Madden because we had Gaudette, well, if Gaudette wasn't going to be a part of the picture then that magnifies the problem of trading away Madden.
The OEL one I think is an interesting debate...we're definitely better positioned for next season, but at what cost? We were one year away from getting rid of the cap disasters that Benning signed and we traded to take on another long-term cap overpayment that will go well into the decade. So while tactically the value might be debatably fair, strategically I'd worry that this trade makes up competitive to get into the playoff for next year but hinders our long-term potential to be a contender which IMO should be the litmus test.
And the criticism of Benning isn't limited to his trades so it's moving goalposts to limit his mistakes there, it's his cap management that's also been pathetic, and I'd list these as 2018-onwards bad decisions:
Gudbranson's $12 million / 3 years
Schaller $3.8 million / 2 years
Roussel $12 million / 4 years
Beagle $12 million / 4 years
Baertschi $10.1 million / 3 years
Myers $30 million / 5 years
Benn $4 million / 2 years
Holtby $8.6 million / 2 years
Ferland $14 million / 4 years
Pearson 9.75 million / 3 years
Virtanen $5.1 million / 2 years (I could kind of see the thinking with this but I think we should have traded him before, even without his off-ice issues that came out)
Poolman $10 million / 4 years (I'm hoping this one surprises us, but yeah, don't think I'm out of a limb by saying that the sense was that this was maybe $500k and a year too much)
So yeah, not a dramatic improvement of Benning's management 2018 onwards.
Can I ask a serious question- not trying to be funny.
OK, Benning has done a ton of horrible things and one or two good ones. He comes across as bumbling and is trying to hold onto his job- and this approach may not be in the best interest of the fans long term. A lot of people on this site have justifiably criticized many of his decisions- almost all. And for the most part, for good reason. So, so far, similar page?
What I don't understand is why a discussion board like this is constantly taking about Benning. There are so many other things to discuss. Why do we feel a need to constantly focus on the most negative thing in the room when there are so many other negative things to discuss LOL. Oh yeah, and some exciting things to discuss too.
Can we sometimes just accept that he has been bad and talk about Canucks things other than him? I don't know, but that sounds more fun and possibly even more interesting.
That sounds fair, but I think when the main goal of I'm assuming everyone here is for the Canucks to win the Cup and given Benning's track record it's a big question whether or not that will be possible as long as he's in charge it's natural that all discussions about our future will at some point come down to whether or not we buy into his vision and believe he has the ability to execute said vision.
For example, I'm excited about our core which is the reason why it's a stressful idea that Benning's mismanagement means we're squandering the competitive window while we have these guys on competitive below-market contracts. If not for the trading away of all the picks and prospects that Benning did and the handicapping of the cap with his Eriksson/Beagle/Sutter/Roussel etc fiascos then we could very likely have had a much stronger team, with a deeper pipeline that would make the most of having Petersson and Hughes on their ELC's and Miller and Horvat and Boeser while they were on good contracts. But that window is closing, and for what? And is there any evidence that we're learning from our mistakes?
Going into this season I'm excited by our forward group and feel good about our goaltending, our defence is generously a question mark...so that's something to build on. But it then comes back to whether there are signs that Benning has learned from his mistakes and can take this team from the lowly goal of just squeaking into the playoffs versus taking the next step to upgrade to a contender, and how will he do that with the OEL and Myers eating up so much? Is it possible, I think with the right management, yes, and I'd love for nothing more than us to make that segue, but it does feel like next season will be better because Benning sacrificed the future so where is the evidence that he'll be able to make shrewd moves when Toffoli and his "day by day" admittance shows he doesn't have a big picture thinking capability?
People are free to talk about what they want, and I think a lot of people here are to talk about how to build a winning team, and that yes will come down to whether the evidence suggests Benning can do that.
