Speculation: The Team Presidency Discussion Thread

[member 290103]

You may be right. My opinion is they purposely went lean this year to save some $ and they will open the wallet more this summer. Not sure regarding benning but I don’t see him standing up to the boss. He is pretty docile

See, I really don't see the Aqualini's as being cheap. I have all kinds of problems with their decision making, philosophy, etc., but they don't behave in a manner indicative of a cheap owner. Their wallets are always open to spend to the cap. They turfed Mike Gillis with 4 years left on his deal and brought Linden in - effectively paying 2 presidents for the duration of their contracts.

The only reason the front office is lean is because of the fact Linden was canned after the team had chosen it's direction into the following season. Benning and Brod both prefer not to have any dissenting opinion - which is why all the assistant GM's were canned.

I am hoping that a new President comes in and a proper front office is installed - and a new assistant GM is hired to manage the cap and negotiate contracts. That Aquailini would trust Benning to plan the salary structure of a hockey team going forward is asinine.

 

[Vancouver_2010]

100 Million dollars.....muahahaha

how about...

 

[ProstheticConscience]

They figured out what we have been hoping the Canucks would figure out. Linden figured it out, but only after the Sedin's retired.

Linden more or less admitted that he ran the team for the Sedins while they were here and only after they were gone did he attempt to actually do his job. Glad he was fired. The guy set the team back years.

So...Linden tried to do his job for four whole months in the offseason last year?

 

[F A N]

See, I really don't see the Aqualini's as being cheap. I have all kinds of problems with their decision making, philosophy, etc., but they don't behave in a manner indicative of a cheap owner. Their wallets are always open to spend to the cap. They turfed Mike Gillis with 4 years left on his deal and brought Linden in - effectively paying 2 presidents for the duration of their contracts.

The only reason the front office is lean is because of the fact Linden was canned after the team had chosen it's direction into the following season. Benning and Brod both prefer not to have any dissenting opinion - which is why all the assistant GM's were canned.

I am hoping that a new President comes in and a proper front office is installed - and a new assistant GM is hired to manage the cap and negotiate contracts. That Aquailini would trust Benning to plan the salary structure of a hockey team going forward is asinine.

I agree that as owners Aquilinis have been willing to spend. This was suppose to be a rebuilding year for the Canucks and they have a lot of cap space (which is what you want with Boeser getting a raise next season).

I think a team needs a GM and at least two AGMs. When the Canucks had Linden, it was fine running with only one AGM as there are still 3 voices. As for not wanting dissenting opinion, the other term for that is having alignment which I believe is important.

 

[elitepete]

Actually he has a 75% hit rate (most likely 100% once Juolevi plays), with a 50% home run rate. The expected return on a top 10 pick is not a home run player, contrary to what some people seem to think...

And he got Boeser at 23, and other non-trivial hits in the later rounds like Demko, Tryamkin, Gaudette, Forsling, and an another amateur find in Stetcher. Other guys likely to come. I get it's not perfect, but man you could do a lot worse with some of these other "smart" GMs.

Let the guy do what he's good at, and then if you don't think he can handle converting a pool of amazing young players into a playoff contender then find somebody to do that at that time. We're not there yet.

He is 50% at getting good players in the top 10.
Virtanen is mediocre and Juolevi is trending towards a bust.

Tryamkin is in Russia.

Forsling, Benning couldn’t trade him fast enough.

Drafting these prospects isn’t really an achievement. It’s probably an average or below average performance.

In fact, we should have much more young players and prospects based on how bad we have been for the last 5 years.

And it would be really difficult for us to find a worse gm than Benning.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Maybe we get lucky and he sells the team. But I don’t see the Canucks spending big $ until they have a season long sellout and playoff revenue.

On the flip side, Toronto is apparently ready to spend up to $50mil this off-season on their analytics department.

Any source on this?

 

[GreatSaveLuongo]

Wait Linden got 3mil per yr as President? Did I read that right that he got more money as President than as a player?

 

[TruKnyte]

Any source on this?

There's an article somewhere on the Leafs subforum.

 

[tyhee]

...

Let the guy do what he's good at, and then if you don't think he can handle converting a pool of amazing young players into a playoff contender then find somebody to do that at that time. We're not there yet.

The very best anyone can argue is that what he's good at is drafting first rounders and there's disagreement about that. He's horrible and hurts the team at everything else.

So essentially your argument suggests that we keep him so that he can pick in the first round while allowing him to hurt the team with his trades, free agent signings, bad extensions, incompetent negotiations and general neglect.

!#)%*# No.

 

[PhilMick]

Well whoever they hire, if his first move isn't firing Benning and Weisbrod, it'll tell me everything I need to know about the next era of Canucks hockey.

 

[UticaHockey]

He is 50% at getting good players in the top 10.
Virtanen is mediocre and Juolevi is trending towards a bust.

Tryamkin is in Russia.

Forsling, Benning couldn’t trade him fast enough.

Drafting these prospects isn’t really an achievement. It’s probably an average or below average performance.

In fact, we should have much more young players and prospects based on how bad we have been for the last 5 years.

And it would be really difficult for us to find a worse gm than Benning.

Benning has to get props for drafting Boeser at 23 and Pettersson at 5 but after that his first round picks are noting to brag about. Hughes basically fell into his lap last year so even if he turns out to be the player that it appears that he will how much credit do you give Benning for sitting in the right spot at the right time. It's like standing at the deli counter with the number 7 in hand to buy the last pound of roast beef and everyone before you decided to buy ham instead.

Then look at his other first round picks. Virtanen as you say is mediocre. Juolevi was just a poor decision and McCann plus a 2nd and 4th round draft pick turned into Pearson.

The idea that Jim Benning is great at drafting is a fallacy.

 

[bossram]

Benning has to get props for drafting Boeser at 23 and Pettersson at 5 but after that his first round picks are noting to brag about. Hughes basically fell into his lap last year so even if he turns out to be the player that it appears that he will how much credit do you give Benning for sitting in the right spot at the right time. It's like standing at the deli counter with the number 7 in hand to buy the last pound of roast beef and everyone before you decided to buy ham instead.

Then look at his other first round picks. Virtanen as you say is mediocre. Juolevi was just a poor decision and McCann plus a 2nd and 4th round draft pick turned into Pearson.

The idea that Jim Benning is great at drafting is a fallacy.

Yep. His one supposed great advantage, being a talent evaluating super scout draft guru extraordinaire, is really only decidedly average.

 

[Hit the post]

 

[tantalum]

Willie D just confirmed as not coming back as Kings coach..

And Willie waits until December for his next chance to be Tank Commander.

 

[krutovsdonut]

again, interesting how canuck75 reposts so many botchford canuck insider rumours.

none of the named poho candidates is a direct threat to benning. they're all on the back 9, not high energy guys out to make their bones, and they do not have an obvious entourage. they're experienced guys you hire as back up and support for the gm and to allow for orderly transition if needed. so that indicates to me benning gets another year.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

again, interesting how canuck75 reposts so many botchford canuck insider rumours.

none of the named poho candidates is a direct threat to benning. they're all on the back 9, not high energy guys out to make their bones, and they do not have an obvious entourage. they're experienced guys you hire as back up and support for the gm and to allow for orderly transition if needed. so that indicates to me benning gets another year.

Please let us just have some hope for few days here.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

again, interesting how canuck75 reposts so many botchford canuck insider rumours.

none of the named poho candidates is a direct threat to benning. they're all on the back 9, not high energy guys out to make their bones, and they do not have an obvious entourage. they're experienced guys you hire as back up and support for the gm and to allow for orderly transition if needed. so that indicates to me benning gets another year.

That's the hoping here
JB starts the next season as the GM while the president uses all the time he needs to evaluate who in the front office is worth keeping

 

[GetFocht]

It's an absolute joke that Gillis isn't considered as President of Hockey Ops. Watch him get hired by Seattle.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

It's an absolute joke that Gillis isn't considered as President of Hockey Ops. Watch him get hired by Seattle.

You mean the Mike Gillis that was run out of town by the ownership, fans and media?

 

[Bleach Clean]

You mean the Mike Gillis that was run out of town by the ownership, fans and media?

How are you liking the Holland speculation PoM? I guess my earlier speculation about him as an option was not completely off base?

 

[Bleach Clean]

I don't know why people are convinced any of these people or even Yzerman would be great hires...I get that they're smart people but they've all done some stupid things and do not have particularly strong records with first round picks where you'd expect a GM has the biggest input. For the next few years I'm still concerned about the draft above all else and feel more comfortable with the current management than a new hire in that area.

We've had abysmal drafting since forever and I don't want to go back to that. You could argue that amateur scouting in general supercedes all other management functions put together in terms of long-term impact on a team.

A few things that make this take questionable:

1. Your standard for drafting uses the backdrop of team history instead of the baseline of what an average GM is expected to do.

2. Per the baseline of an average GM performance, Benning has performed adequately at the draft. He hasn’t beaten the averages, nor has he been below average at the draft.

3. You are assuming that a new hire affects the drafting in a negative way.

4. By structure, the GM has more influence over signings and trades than he does the drafting. There is a scouting staff that does the majority of the work.

5. With any new hire, we don’t know what will be held constant and what will change. However, fear of change will ensure that the organization will not achieve max efficiency in all areas. This is something that Benning has made painfully obvious.

There’s enough there to want to improve the management.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

It's an absolute joke that Gillis isn't considered as President of Hockey Ops. Watch him get hired by Seattle.

No way Aquaman is willing to admit to that mistake.

 

[TruKnyte]

A few things that make this take questionable:

1. Your standard for drafting uses the backdrop of team history instead of the baseline of what an average GM is expected to do.

2. Per the baseline of an average GM performance, Benning has performed adequately at the draft. He hasn’t beaten the averages, nor has he been below average at the draft.

3. You are assuming that a new hire affects the drafting negatively.

4. By structure, the GM has more influence over signings and trades than he does the drafting. There is a scouting staff.

5. With any hire, we don’t know what will be held constant and what will change. However, fear of change will ensure that the organization will not achieve max efficiency in all areas. This is something that Benning has made painfully obvious.

The bar for expectations has been dropped so f***ing low since this group has taken over. You know there's a problem when players like Ben f***ing Hutton are inflated as core pieces and a success story for the Canucks.

 

[Wo Yorfat]

It's an absolute joke that Gillis isn't considered as President of Hockey Ops. Watch him get hired by Seattle.

I'd be perfectly happy with that. Gillis is a smart guy who did a fine job here. He isn't an infallible genius. He just appears that way because we compare him to Benning.

 

[Seattle Totems]

since Gillis was fired, Benning has gained the advantage of:

higher draft picks
better players available to pick in the 1st round
a decent head scout
an owner who suddenly became patient and stopped meddling after the media criticized him
an apathetic fanbase
a media rights-holder that is no longer critical
astroturfers that post on social media and write newspaper columns
the discontinuation of town hall meetings with fans

What will it take to remove him?