it's too early to say if he's decent or not IMO. Remember when people thought Gillis was good? then boom he went full ******. Time will tell with Benning as well.
Jim Benning Is Underrated
- Thread starter moog35
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The Stig
Your hero.
That's exactly it.
Outside of the ROR trade(Which you wont find a single Avs fan who wasn't happy with that trade) the Avs haven't done anything significant at all the last couple of years.
And that's a very good thing. When Sakic took over this team was coming off a 29th place finish in which we drafted Mackinnon.
We also had a bottom 5 prospect pool to go along with a bottom 5 roster.
In his 3 years, we've went from being a bottom 5 team to a playoff contender, and our prospect pool has went from bottom 5 in the league to above average and borderline Top 10.
Sakic has done a very quiet but very good job with the Avs so far, and again you wont find any Avs fans who sees it otherwise.
Just look at the work he managed to do this summer, signing good low cost free agents instead of overpaying for free agents(Like Benning did) and he signed all the core pieces we have to fantastic contracts that wont hurt the team long term and will actually set us up well next year to make a big splash if we decide to go that route.
Just because Sakic hasn't done much since becoming GM doesn't mean he's done a bad job. He's done a very good job and has made both the on ice roster and the prospect pool better since taking over.
PM
Glass not 1/2 full
- Apr 8, 2014
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We have 5 draft picks next year and our team will likely be bottom-5 again once the inevitable injuries to our defense hit as usual. We are one injury away from Luca Sbisa in the top-4, again. An injury to either goaltender or a Sedin (and apparently Brandon Sutter
) would also sink us.Let me turn this around. If Benning isn't the worst GM in the league right now who is? If I told you the starting goaltender of the 28th ranked team was the worst goalie in the league would you find it hard to believe? Why do you find it so hard to admit that the GM of the 28th place team is 30th in current GM rankings? If you guys seriously think Benning is underrated then start naming some GM's he should be ranked ahead of and why.
I think Benning is the worst (30th) because he is bad at contract negotiations, terrible at trading, inspires zero confidence and his knowledge of the CBA is not sufficient for a NHL GM. His one supposed strength (drafting) he neuters himself by trading so many picks and prospects away while bleeding late picks on every transaction (5 picks next year, 6 picks this year, traded more 2nd rounders than either of Nonis or Gillis). It doesn't matter if he's pushing for the playoffs, re-tooling, or rebuilding, whatever he is doing is not working (3rd worst team, 11 picks in 2 years).
WeThreeKings
Habs cup - its in the BAG
aufheben
#Norris4Fox
Well, he didn't trade PK Subban.
Agreed. Toronto finishing last > 3 Cups / 5 Finals. When are the Leafs gonna get rid of this clown it's been like 12 months already.
TheImpatientPanther
Registered User
I liked Gudbranson a lot in Florida, he still has some room to grow but not much. Don't hold your breath with him ever getting 20+ pts but he knows what he is, a defensive defenseman who exudes leadership skills while protecting those in need. I will miss his big hits and the decent fighting skills but his next contract may be a doozy. Something around 4-5yrs @ $4.25mil per to $4.75mil per is my guess.
This year and next the Canucks win the trade but I feel McCann has top 6 potential. He will probably replace Jokinen in a couple years time and flourish with Trocheck and Smith.
I feel we win this trade come the 2018-19 season and beyond. Another piece of the trade is the 2nd round pick Adam Mascherin, the kid has a legit laser of a shot with a stocky build. He could help swing the vote even more if he cracks the lineup in the future.
I didn't like the trade at first because I was split on Gudbranson or Ekblad getting the "C" but looking at how we re-tooled our defense, the trade has me gitty.
EDIT- my bad, forgot Mascherin was part of the Buffalo/Kulikov trade.
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Lemmiwinks
Registered User
The one thing you can say about Benning is that he has managed to make the team younger while appeasing the owners by building a team with the appearance of perhaps possibly being a bubble team (I don't think they are, but appearance is what matters in his position). Gudbranson wasn't a terrible gamble, we haven't sold the farm, and we've done pretty well at the draft table.
All in all, Benning is still probably the 29th best GM in the league, so yes, he is underrated.
All in all, Benning is still probably the 29th best GM in the league, so yes, he is underrated.
That's not something you should be commended on.
being worse than mediocre isn't a good deed.
Yes, he hasn't made a big **** up yet, but it's still many small to medium bad moves, which add up.
Senor Catface
Registered User
- Jul 25, 2006
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Bottom of the league at your position, as in your job, not position in the standings.
Constantly bleeds valuable assets and hands out terrible contracts like it's candy. Yeah, he's underrated alright...
He hasn't made one move to cripple a franchise, but he has made a lot of moves that have added up to cripple this franchise. He somehow made the NHL roster and the prospect pool worse at the same time.
He hasn't made one move to cripple a franchise, but he has made a lot of moves that have added up to cripple this franchise. He somehow made the NHL roster and the prospect pool worse at the same time.
Well when you finish near the bottom of the league it's easier to stock the prospect cupboard- so I don't know why you draw attention to that. You have the high end talent in the early stage of the first round and as a result can get a little more creative with each subsequent pick.
Hurricane Hugo
Registered User
He did convince our GM to give up a draft pick to take on Kevin ****ing Bieksa, so there's that.
Reverend Mayhem
Lowly Serf/Reluctant Cuckold
What's with all the Canucks-related material on this board lately?
Anyways, I'm not one of Benning's bigger fans as I do not bend my words backwards to praise him like some, but I think overall Benning would not be thrown into the mud nearly as much as he is now if ownership would let him do a ground-up rebuild instead of replacing an old, ramshackle floor with a slightly newer, slightly less ramshackle floor. If that makes sense.
Anyways, I'm not one of Benning's bigger fans as I do not bend my words backwards to praise him like some, but I think overall Benning would not be thrown into the mud nearly as much as he is now if ownership would let him do a ground-up rebuild instead of replacing an old, ramshackle floor with a slightly newer, slightly less ramshackle floor. If that makes sense.
Constantly bleeds valuable assets and hands out terrible contracts like it's candy. Yeah, he's underrated alright...
He hasn't made one move to cripple a franchise, but he has made a lot of moves that have added up to cripple this franchise. He somehow made the NHL roster and the prospect pool worse at the same time.
Benning took over a team that finished 6th worst and he crippled the franchise? yeah ok...
Let me guess. Gillis was good right?
KrisLetAngry
MrJukeBoy
I'll start off by saying I haven't exactly been the biggest fan of Jim Benning.
I believe the hate he gets on these boards is over the top. He is being called the worst GM in the league and is being compared to Milbury by some
I'm not saying that Benning is a great GM but he is far from the worst of all time or even the worst in the last 10 years (MacTavish, Waddell, MacLean, Gauthier, Burke)
He hasn't made any franchise crippling moves like some GMs yet he is being called the worst?
Pay closer attention, he has absolutely destroyed that franchises chances of being competitive for at least 10 year, closer to 15 years. The longer he stays the worse it's going to get. Makes god awful trades, pulls the trigger on bad deals and doesn't pull the trigger (assuming the trade rumor is accurate) when he should. He is one of the worst gm's of all time.
Chandrashekhar Limit
From the runaway slave to a modern day king.
What did he set up in the drafting department? Aside from making his son quit his job as a security guard at Nordstrom and hiring him as a scout?
Even though I'm more supportive of Benning than most, this is far and away my favourite post on this site so far.
for the most part i agree his moves havent been too bad and it looks like we have a good young core to build around. however, i do think hes given up too many picks as extra incentives and the forsling trade and sbisa/dorsett signings i really didnt like, could chalk the signings up to him being a new gm but still sucks. because of these moves i put him in the bottom 10 gms for sure
BUT!! the guy's bread and butter is supposed to be scouting, so i will wait to see how the young players he has acquired match up against the young players he trades away before i make a concrete decision on him.
BUT!! the guy's bread and butter is supposed to be scouting, so i will wait to see how the young players he has acquired match up against the young players he trades away before i make a concrete decision on him.
Semantics
PUBLIC ENEMY #1
The one thing I'll say about Benning is he doesn't have the hubris that Milbury, Nonis, Burke, MacTavish, etc. did. Those guys thought they were the smartest in the room, and that any idea they liked must be a good one, no need to do any sort of critical analysis. Benning seems to be delusional about a lot of things, but at least thinks things through objectively enough or listens to others advice that his moves aren't disasters, they're at worst small losses.
But he's still a bottom three GM in the league: questionable contracts, bleeding small assets, doesn't understand the details of the CBA, or proper contract/waiver management, fired a lot of competent people who knew these things because he didn't want dissenting voices, etc. He knows enough to be able to tread water, but lacks the critical thinking, imagination, and managerial skills to actually make impactful changes and outdo the competition.
I see a lot of people blaming the ownership, and they're certainly a problem. But you can't absolve Benning of all responsibility for the poor strategy. Part of the job of a good executive is to persuade their superiors to support their ideas. If he's just taking orders and answering "yes sir" to everything then he's doing it wrong. Something as major as determining the direction of the team would have been part of the recruiting process, so I have to assume that whatever strategy the Aquilinis are mandating has Benning's full support.
But he's still a bottom three GM in the league: questionable contracts, bleeding small assets, doesn't understand the details of the CBA, or proper contract/waiver management, fired a lot of competent people who knew these things because he didn't want dissenting voices, etc. He knows enough to be able to tread water, but lacks the critical thinking, imagination, and managerial skills to actually make impactful changes and outdo the competition.
I see a lot of people blaming the ownership, and they're certainly a problem. But you can't absolve Benning of all responsibility for the poor strategy. Part of the job of a good executive is to persuade their superiors to support their ideas. If he's just taking orders and answering "yes sir" to everything then he's doing it wrong. Something as major as determining the direction of the team would have been part of the recruiting process, so I have to assume that whatever strategy the Aquilinis are mandating has Benning's full support.
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