Ranking the worst Benning moves

[Canucks5551]

The fact that he’s managed so many inexplicably stupid moves without being fired blows my mind.

 

[krutovsdonut]

is it festivus already? the airing of grievances seems to be early this year.

 

[Cupless44]

Quite a selection of bad moves to choose from there.

How are there still posters on this board that like Benning's work and defend this guy?

 

[bh53]

I'm all for firing Benning but I actually like the Miller trade seems like I'm the only one

 

[MikeK]

So many to choose from but drafting Juolevi is without question one of the worst moves. Not just over Tkachuk but many of the other top prospects who were still available. He's made some terrible moves but this one ranks right up there for me.

 

[Nuckles]

Tough. One on hand you have him trading picks/prospects (something a rebuilding team needs) for garbage, and on the other hand he's throwing tons of money at garbage that could have been used to acquire garbage from other teams for picks/prospects. Draft picks are harder to predict so it's not as bad as the trades/signings, but the Virtanen/Juolevi picks were still very bad.

I might have to go with the Gudbranson trade. It was a horrendous overpayment the moment the trade was made, and then he re-signed him not once, but twice to horrible overpayments.

Edit: Though I will say the JT Miller trade has the potential to be devastating. If the Canucks miss the playoffs in 2020 and 2021 , that's a lottery pick (which is very realistic, especially when there's plenty of time for Benning to make the team worse). And wouldn't it be hilarious if that pick ended up winning a top 3 spot in the draft lottery.

 

[Foundational Player]

I voted Juolevi as he was a terrible pick but down the road could very well be the JT Miller deal.

Also agree with Cheeks, if it was an option would vote 'all of the above!'

 

[vanuck]

Are we assuming the Miller non-deal was for the 9th OA in 15?

Yes.

 

[Canucker]

Signing Ryan Miller to his bloated contract when he had leverage and didn't use it. Miller wanted to play on the west coast and didn't have any suitors at the time....enter Jim Benning. Not his worst, but shows his ineptness.

 

[passive voice]

Yes.

I think that's it for me then.

 

[mossey3535]

I'm the only person who voted for Weisbrod, but if you think about it, his incompetence and enabling of Benning's incompetence has led to every other poor decision in the poll.

A good AGM is supposed to be a check/balance. We're definitely not getting that.

 

[Bitz and Bites]

Wish I had multiple votes but passing on a first round pick for Ryan Miller when we desperately need to stockpile our prospect pool is my choice.Really? We have almost nothing of tradeable value on the team at the time and Benning turns down a first rounder to chase the playoffs with a 70 Pt team.

On the flip side,Benning would have just traded the first for anther Gudbranson level player then paid him better than UFA money to stink up the joint for multiple years.

 

[Jyrki21]

Wish I had multiple votes but passing on a first round pick for Ryan Miller when we desperately need to stockpile our prospect pool is my choice.Really? We have almost nothing of tradeable value on the team at the time and Benning turns down a first rounder to chase the playoffs with a 70 Pt team.

I still assume that rumor is borne of a miscommunication more than anything, and have never considered it something Doug Wilson would really have done.

 

[LaVal]

Going with the Juolevi pick. Although Juolevi's stock was significantly higher at the draft than it is now, Tkachuk was in a completely different tier at the time and there wasn't anybody out there that thought otherwise. This one was a major head scratcher, and perhaps the most baffled I've ever been as a Canucks fan.

- The Virtanen pick wasn't anything strange at the time. Virtanen, Nylander, Ehlers, and Ritchie were all considered similar levels of prospects at the time of the draft and the order they would be selected was up in the air. It may have been the wrong pick, but it was the wrong pick in hindsight.
- As far as Eriksson, the term was disappointing at the time, but the salary was where you would expect. He had just came off a 30 goal season and had produced at consistent top-6 level his entire career prior. He also worked really well with the Sedins in international play. I doubt anybody here really predicted he'd be this much of a flop at the time. One of the worst current contracts in the NHL at this time, but we're rating the decision, not the result.
- The Beagle contract was and still is horrible, but it isn't a significant enough contract to handicap the team. 1.5 million overpaid isn't Eriksson overpaid.
- The Gudbranson trade was an consensus overpayment, but he was still a 23 year old shut down defensemen playing in Florida's top-4. It wasn't THAT big of an overpayment. I think the following contract he was signed to was far worse than the initial trade.
- Bonino for Sutter he gave up the better player and the better pick.

The trend I'm seeing is the team under Benning has horrendous pro-scouting. Almost every player they've brought in through free agency or trade has performed far below expectations.

 

[ginner classic]

I am going to keep this going and end this (first) poll in a day. Will add the Kesler trade, Tryamkin handling, Dahlen (or maybe Utica) handling, the tampering charge and the Gudbranson contract extension as the next choices.

 

[Havre]

How many top 10 picks never really become anything special? 30-40%?

To me it is a much bigger sin trading away volume than missing picks. The draft is a lottery. No-one really know where the next great player pops up. And even the best scout wouldn’t get them all right. Even if you only miss 10% of your top 10 picks you can still easily miss 2 out of 3. Sample size just isn’t big enough. And for that reason you hoard those picks instead of trading for Vey etc.

Almost sounds like I’m defending Benning. I think he is completely useless, but not because of Juolevi.

 

[RobertKron]

Becoming GM of the Canucks.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Using the wrong coloured hair dye?

 

[THE Green Man]

Pretty sad when you have that long of a list and actually have to think about which one was worse for me it's like:
1A) OJ over Tkachuk
1B) Gudbrandson trade (I was super high on Debrincat pre draft)
1C) Pretty much everything else

I mentioned it in another thread but drafting aside the only moves at the time I can say were good were the Horvat and Tanev contracts. The Burrows and Hansen trades (looked good at the time, hindsight not so much); and Pearson for Gudbrandson (never should have been in a position that we needed to move Gudbrandson anyways).

 

[TraderJim]

Other - Removing any dissident voices in the management team. They circled their idiot wagon train and created an echo chamber of yes-men.

 

[Melvin]

For me it's Gudbranson. Everything about that was just wrong. First by thinking that you are in a position to be trading a top prospect and a relatively high pick (33) for a "now piece," but also just that the player they targeted was abysmal, one of the very worst players in the NHL. I'm actually surprised that the Gudbranson extension isn't on the list as that is up there as well. He was just a comically atrocious player, way worse than I even anticipated even knowing he wasn't good. They proved conclusively with that trade and subsequent extension that their "eye for talent" was utter bollocks. At least JT Miller is a good player. To *both* completely misevaluate where you are in the process and completely target a terrible player and pay a huge price to obtain him *AND THEN* sign him to a horrible extension that paid him significantly more than better players like McNabb who were in the exact same spot and had just recently signed a much cheaper contract, just makes that the worst move of his tenure so far.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

At this point, probably the Gudbranson trade. We gave up McCann (who I still see as a good top 6 forward capable of ~50 points) and potentially one of DeBrincat/Hart/Girard.

Juolevi over Tkachuk would be my top pick but we still don’t know what Juolevi will become so it’s hard to tell.

 

[Pavel96]

This is funny, so much to chose from.

 

[MadaCanuckle]

All of the above...

 

[Pavel96]

Other - Removing any dissident voices in the management team. They circled their idiot wagon train and created an echo chamber of yes-men.

Que Chia joining the "think tank" group.

I'm really looking forward to the next video of them all in a room talking tough n smart about hockey. Just like the scene from Moneyball- the one essentially making fun of the same sort of idiots.

"He's like Mantle ....or Mays"