May be an unpopular opinion here, but I think that Aqualini gets way too much flack as an owner of the Canucks.
Obviously , there are publicized issues regarding his personal life ,or that of his family business.
Relatively speaking, he's a Canuck fan, and mostly hasn't been a cheap owner (except in the covid year when he had to lay off a multitude of people).
I think that FA hired Rutherford so he could completely keep his nose out of the hockey ops, and leave it in the hands of a veteran team President (well intentioned) ..He felt compelled to defend Benning because he believed that eventually that JB's management would pull through.
I believe that FA's intentions for this team have been genuine (in the hiring of JR)....but the entire thing has blown up in owners/ managements faces this season.
I dont think anybody anticipated that the Canucks would be this inept this season.
Edit :...I forgot to add that I believe FA's most egregious mistake was not allowing Gillis the opportunity to rebuild the team in 2013...To carry on with the declining Sedin core....Linden was on board with this in 2014, and he hired Benning to see it through.