Before you read, I want it on record I am not a Benning fan. But I have noticed that most fans here are either a fan of him or outright despise him and I wanted to share perhaps a different outlook on the situation.
I have been critical of him since his first glaring mistakes. And I think I was mentally done with him after the Juolevi pick. Basically I told myself, its an awful pick, however if this guy turns into a stud because he saw something in him that most did not, it will buy him more time (in my eyes anyway). Juolevi did not workout as he had planned and as I had predicted. Though he seems to be developing, he clearly isn't a top D in the league and most likely will not be and that's what youre aiming for that high in the draft.
But I want to play devil's advocate for a bit here.
Benning was a poor hire. End of story. He either got the job because he sold them on being able to have them compete sooner, which Aquilini liked or he failed to execute on what was a poor plan to begin with.
But with that said,
Benning has made mistakes but he has owned up to them and not exactly continued to replicate the same mistakes throughout his tenure. I think the best example is his drafting. Benning started drafting with more weight and focus put into the players weight and shot. This is why Virtanen and McCann were atop of his list. He has seemed to moreso copy whats working right now vs being ahead of the curve, obviously not the best thing, it's also not the worst thing. He is willing to adjust and entirely change how he operates and learns from his mistakes. Its been hard as fans to live with those mistakes as they have a lasting impact on the team but he's been aware of them after the fact and definitely adjusted his strategy behind the scenes. Realizing he needs to also build a core here, he focused on positional needs as he realized defense and centers are important to building a new team, obviously realizing this was a mistake when he chose Juolevi over Tkachuk, he changed his strategy once again by announcing publicly that he will be ranking his list based on BPA in the months leading up to the very next draft, when before he made it public he prioritized centers and defense. He has been an open book about his formula and with that, with that we see that he does learn from his mistakes. Since then, his drafting has improved a ton, it's clear he no longer drafts based on positional need, especially in the first rounds where top talent is available.
I think he had to learn the hard way about cap management as well. I am in full confidence that he will be handling the cap going forward much better as well. You won't see term and dollars for middling players or a 4th line. I would put money on that
So while I don't think anybody should have to suffer a GMs learning curve and he was clearly over his head when he landed the job, I think he's developing and with the time invested, plus his improved drafting. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing more years as I think he has truly made enough mistakes in each department to where I do not see him making any of the big ones again, as I have liked how he has responded. Its been a terrible run and I can say I would not be disappointed if he was let go, I would also look at him being kept with this all in mind.
I don't think Benning has much of an ego, he very much seems like he is looking to continually improve. Which is something you can't say for some GMs. Can blame the owner for hiring somebody perhaps not experienced enough at the job in the first place (most likely to have more input) or you can put the blame on the former AGM/scout (that he hired) for not being quite experienced enough for the position, however willing to make adjustments over the years to get better. I personally like to put the blame on the owner for trying to rush things and exhausted from the learning curve but at this point , accept that he may now be a decent option going forward, even if it looks like they would be rewarding him for his past mistakes
My two cents anyway.
