I think we gave way too much for this to be a rental player. So I don't think he is a rental. Didn't like giving up a 2nd seeing we also don't have a 1st. Jimmy just might have given up too much in this trade. If we lose Markie over this it might just open the door for Jimbo and Wisenheimer to be pushed out the door.
Whether it's a good deal or not likely depends on how they perform for the remainder of the season.
Absolutely they need to make the playoffs or else Benning and Green should be fired.
But, a first round loss is an unacceptable outcome to trade what they did. Don't want to hear about playoff revenue. Paying Goldy and Sven NHL salaries to play in the A is on the ownership group for okaying Jim's spending. Plus guys like Eriksson, Beagle, Myers got front loaded contracts so it's cost them way more than the cap hits to get to this point.
A second round exit is a push IMO. If you hate the deal, you have reason to hate it and if you like the deal you would have reason to like it.
A trip to the WCF, I think we would have to classify it as a win. Only other times the Canucks would have advanced past round 2 were their 3 Finals appearances. So, it would be a big deal. Even that Gillis era team only got past round 2 the one time to the finals. And given the Pacific division is pretty much a coin flip in any series, there;s a chance. Are the Canucks better than the top 3 Central teams? I'd say no. But, they would only have to play 1 of them in the playoffs. So, anything can happen.
But, that's how I would judge the success of this trade.
Kind of disappointed that Benning didn't push the 2nd rounder into a year where we at least had a 1st rounder. Or that he wasn't able to send Sven the other way to clear cap room next season.