Is Jim Benning now the worst GM in the NHL?

[y2kcanucks]

This might come as a shock to some people, but it is possible for GM's to actually improve on the job. The Benning who traded for Gudbranson and Sutter and signed Louie Eriksson as a UFA, isn't the same guy who traded for Motte, Goldobin and Leivo.

I think the problem in the earlier days, when the Sedins were still playing, was that the owner had this notion that the Canucks should be competing for the playoffs every year. A lot of moves were designed as 'short term fixes'.

Now that ownership seems finally to have embraced the 'rebuild' , Benning can use his better talents as a scout to focus on just the prospect pool. Of course the Canucks had horseshoes up the butt in having both Pettersson and Hughes fall to them in the draft. But you can't begrudge the fact that the Canucks prospect pool is now consistently rated in the top-three in the entire NHL.

The Beagle and Roussel contracts tell me he hasn't improved.

 

[y2kcanucks]

Hey discuss it all you want, just don't start redundant threads about how bad he is. There's the MGMT thread and the pro-tank thread; this one is redundant. Nobody is going to change anybody's mind here so this will simply devolve into the usual arguments and insults. This could be a long week...

That's true. Some people refuse to accept reality and facts, so any one person is certainly not going to change the pro-Benning mindset.

 

[y2kcanucks]

There is none.

Friedman is the source for the 2016 trade. And I can't recall the source for the 2015 trade, but it was reported at the draft that the Canucks were in on Lucic.

 

[Killer Orcas]

Honestly I want to say he's bottom 5 but getting Boeser and Pettersson has elevated him from the bottom to bottom 1/3 mid pack. He should never negotiate contracts though that is his weakest attribute.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Friedman is the source for the 2016 trade. And I can't recall the source for the 2015 trade, but it was reported at the draft that the Canucks were in on Lucic.

The 2015 was Botchford. I have already posted both links.

 

[Hit the post]

Honestly I want to say he's bottom 5 but getting Boeser and Pettersson has elevated him from the bottom to bottom 1/3 mid pack. He should never negotiate contracts though that is his weakest attribute.

He'd be toast (no extension) if not for the emergence of Boeser the previous season. Pettersson buys him even more time. Without those two, he'd be back to amateur scouting for another NHL team.

 

[Zippgunn]

That's true. Some people refuse to accept reality and facts, so any one person is certainly not going to change the pro-Benning mindset.

...or the anti-Benning mindset, for that matter. It sure seems to me that the Benning haters are more peevish because they know full well he's not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[sting101]

If there's one thing we can agree on it's that he has the worst middle name of all current, and historical, NHL GMs.

its his fathers name who just passed and was a respected man.....nice descrminitory comment

if people could just use arguments that they would be willing to say to Jims face then this place could be a lot better off.

 

[y2kcanucks]

...or the anti-Benning mindset, for that matter. It sure seems to me that the Benning haters are more peevish because they know full well he's not going anywhere anytime soon.

No, the anti-Benning mindset is based largely around facts and reality. If someone who is pro-Benning could ever use facts to support why Benning isn’t a bumbling idiot for once, it would be the first time.

 

[sting101]

He'd be toast (no extension) if not for the emergence of Boeser the previous season. Pettersson buys him even more time. Without those two, he'd be back to amateur scouting for another NHL team.

i dont know about that?
2015 was a big success
16-17-18 were disastrous but he's emeging with a core, playoffs potential and cap space

 

[y2kcanucks]

i dont know about that?
2015 was a big success
16-17-18 were disastrous but he's emeging with a core, playoffs potential and cap space

$23.5M in wasted cap space.

 

[Addison Rae]

its his fathers name who just passed and was a respected man.....nice descrminitory comment

if people could just use arguments that they would be willing to say to Jims face then this place could be a lot better off.

Would you be willing to tell Jamie Bacon to his face that he was a terrible person?

Come on this is the dumbest logic I’ve ever seen.

 

[Zippgunn]

No, the anti-Benning mindset is based largely around facts and reality. If someone who is pro-Benning could ever use facts to support why Benning isn’t a bumbling idiot for once, it would be the first time.

The truly peevish use the word "facts" a lot. They often single out a target's appearance to "prove" their point (Willie D.'s "twitch", Guddy's "good looks"). They also neatly separate fans into either pro-Benning or anti-Benning which is convenient but inaccurate. I'm in the middle with him; I would gladly accept a new GM but with FAQ owning the team I fear that there would be little difference. I also realize that Vancouver is one of the toughest places to be a successful GM in the whole league so I cut his some slack here and there. He has made his fair share of big mistakes (Eriksson, ugh) but I don't think he is "the worst GM in the NHL" any more than I think Guddy is "the worst player in the NHL". When JB does something good (the Leivo trade for instance) the serious haters do everything in their power to either mitigate or downplay it because acknowledging anything positive about him is simply unacceptable to them. He MUST be seen as 100% terrible. Hyperbole seems to come easier to those who hate...

 

[Zippgunn]

If there's one thing we can agree on it's that he has the worst middle name of all current, and historical, NHL GMs.

This is a typical peevish hater comment; like it's his fault he has the middle name his parents gave him. This is up there with "Twitchy" Desjardins and "Good Lookin'" Guddy; cheap shots by people who would probably make great playground bullies.

 

[timw33]

$23.5M in wasted cap space.

There's no reason why we shouldn't be in a similar cap structure/cost as the Arizona Coyotes, who once you factor out the almost $11MM of deadspace eating Bolland and Hossa's contracts are at $60-62MM range i.e 2-4MM from the low end.

The results per $ of cap spend has been absolutely abysmal and we could replace about 6 players on this team with $1MM/1 year players, save $15-20MM and produce the exact same results.

 

[4Twenty]

i dont know about that?
2015 was a big success
16-17-18 were disastrous but he's emeging with a core, playoffs potential and cap space

For real?

They let his contract run down to 5 months remaining last season, if they had been that impressed with the body of work he'd done, he probably wouldn't have needed Linden to lobby for him to Aquilini to grant him that extension. And if they were that enamoured with him, his extension wouldn't have been for only 2 years.

If Brock didn't come in and score at a 40 goal pace, I think its pretty safe to assume Benning would've been tossed.

 

[Addison Rae]

Yeah whoeve calls Gudbranson handsome is probably a school shooter

- Willie’s Son Zippgunn

 

[Shareefruck]

its his fathers name who just passed and was a respected man.....nice descrminitory comment

if people could just use arguments that they would be willing to say to Jims face then this place could be a lot better off.

I think Elmer's a fine name and that the comment was needless, personally, but I don't see how making fun of it is "discriminatory".

 

[Motte and Bailey]

Other than me and maybe Hindustan Smyl I don't even know if there are any pro-Benning posters here. It's kind of funny that anti-Benning guys like Zippgunn, sting101, lawrence, F A N, diamonddog, etc. are called pro-Benning when they aren't just because their posts aren't borderline hate speech against management.

 

[Diamonddog01]

This is a typical peevish hater comment; like it's his fault he has the middle name his parents gave him. This is up there with "Twitchy" Desjardins and "Good Lookin'" Guddy; cheap shots by people who would probably make great playground bullies.

It is his fault. It's very easy to change one's name in this day and age. He could've changed his name to Jim Michael Benning. Yet he chose not to.

Also seems like folks are really struggling with a dash of sarcasm today...

 

[Wo Yorfat]

I think a lot of people would've voted above average of given a chance

Kinda rude to imply that a lot of people on here are dumb as shit.

 

[Zippgunn]

Other than me and maybe Hindustan Smyl I don't even know if there are any pro-Benning posters here. It's kind of funny that anti-Benning guys like Zippgunn, sting101, lawrence, F A N, diamonddog, etc. are called pro-Benning when they aren't just because their posts aren't borderline hate speech against management.

I find it interesting that you lump me in with the "anti-Benning" guys which further illustrates my point made earlier; when it comes to Canuck management you are either on the bus or off the bus, there can be no middle ground. Which is where you will find me most days...

 

[Hollywood Burrows]

Other than me and maybe Hindustan Smyl I don't even know if there are any pro-Benning posters here. It's kind of funny that anti-Benning guys like Zippgunn, sting101, lawrence, F A N, diamonddog, etc. are called pro-Benning when they aren't just because their posts aren't borderline hate speech against management.

you have a super normal relationship with this forum and the other posters here

 

[y2kcanucks]

The truly peevish use the word "facts" a lot. They often single out a target's appearance to "prove" their point (Willie D.'s "twitch", Guddy's "good looks"). They also neatly separate fans into either pro-Benning or anti-Benning which is convenient but inaccurate. I'm in the middle with him; I would gladly accept a new GM but with FAQ owning the team I fear that there would be little difference. I also realize that Vancouver is one of the toughest places to be a successful GM in the whole league so I cut his some slack here and there. He has made his fair share of big mistakes (Eriksson, ugh) but I don't think he is "the worst GM in the NHL" any more than I think Guddy is "the worst player in the NHL". When JB does something good (the Leivo trade for instance) the serious haters do everything in their power to either mitigate or downplay it because acknowledging anything positive about him is simply unacceptable to them. He MUST be seen as 100% terrible. Hyperbole seems to come easier to those who hate...

Uh you were the one who separated the groups by referring to the anti-Benning side. I was simply using your own terms, so don’t put that bullshit on me with this condescending BS post.

It’s funny, people like you love excusing Benning for several mistakes he makes by downplaying them, yet here you are trying to praise him because of Josh Leivo. Last year you were praising him because of Leipsic...how did that turn out?

I don’t cut Benning any slack for being incompetent at his job. That’s not a hyperbole. That’s a well earned label for someone who spent to the cap, and traded away futures for now pieces on route to building the worst team in the NHL over a 3.5 season period.

 

[Horse McHindu]

Friedman is the source for the 2016 trade. And I can't recall the source for the 2015 trade, but it was reported at the draft that the Canucks were in on Lucic.

Canucks inquired about Subbann in 2016, but not for that ridiculous package that involved Horvat. That’s just made up BS.

Agreed with you on the Lucic rumour from 2015 and I stand by the decision that management made at the time. The Canucks were one year removed from the playoffs and were within striking distance of the playoffs at that trade deadline if I recall correctly. Yes - in retrospect, the trade would have been extremely ill advised given the fact that we ended up with Boeser, but if management’s philosophy is and was to adopt a “player centric” mindset and show the players that management has always got their backs if they earn their stripes, than that was the correct move to make.

You can’t just come into an organization with “Mao’s 5 year plan” and say, “yep, we’re rebuilding.”........especially considering the fact that this core had only missed the playoffs once at that point. Once the players PROVE that they are incapable of making the playoffs, THEN you CHANGE your strategy (as Benning did).

Management always need to show that they have the players’ backs and will reward them if they EARN it.

Take St.Louis last year for instance. The Blues were well within striking distance and then the Blues decided to trade Stastny to Winnipeg.

On paper - it was an excellent move to make, but you don’t think a move like that hurt the Blues’ morale? The Blues have struggled ever since.