Every time someone scoffs at the idea that this is currently one of the (or the) worst period(s) in Canuck hockey, I always point to the fact that most of Benning's predecessors never had access to (1) salary cap parity, and (2) the reams and reams of information currently available through data tracking and modern communications infrastructure. It's just so much more forgivable to screw up when you're relying on one or two verbal accounts from some individual scout sending telegrams from Sweden than it is when you have hordes of data and video at your fingertips, much of which is being given away for free, and the availability of smart advisors to use/interpret it at the fraction of the cost of a fourth-liner.
In other words "yeah but the team is way better than it was in the '70s and '80s" is completely meaningless to me. It is so much harder to be that bad now if you're putting in any effort whatsoever, and I feel there is a lot more responsibility on an executive being negligent or wilfully blind than one who never had the option. I mean, we don't applaud a modern construction company because their leaky condo tower is better in a rainstorm than, like, the Parthenon.
