Rumor: Vancouver Canucks Ownership - Searching For Jim Benning Replacement

[Paulinvancouver]

Woot woot!! Making the team better!!

 

[Regal]

Because Benning created or defecated the burning pile of crap that did so "well"

I'm not sure what your point is here.

 

[Canucks LB]

Forced to do what exactly?

Stay in the playoff races, not let him do a proper rebuild, etc

 

[F A N]

The Canucks need to add to the management group, whether it is in the way of an AGM or a President of Hockey Operations who takes on more of the corporate support duties.

 

[member 290103]

The Canucks need to add to the management group, whether it is in the way of an AGM or a President of Hockey Operations who takes on more of the corporate support duties.

Someone taking on Corporate Support work is not going to fix the situation. Benning's gotta go, bro.

 

[The Rainman]

Aqulini is going to have a tough time finding someone because no one wants to work for the prick!
And you can forget about Gillis and Gilman. They have already suffered enough under his watch. This is what happens when a fan who sits in the lower bowl and has enough money to buy the team. He hires people and still wants to run the team and make the hockey decisions. If Ken Holland got the job here I think he'd take the money and run to the Okanagan shortly after working for this dough head! Jimbo isn't nearly as bad people on here are saying. If you think it's bad here take a closer look at Edmonton. McDavid just fell into their lap. The greatest player in the world and they are still brutal with no light at the end of the tunnel. I'm sure McDavid and The German Gretzky are both just about ill.

 

[Cogburn]

Funny to me Holland seems to get a pass where we nail Benning to the door. Pressure to make the playoffs, refusal to acknowledge the team needs to be rebuilt, doesn't assert his view, it's not his fault, he wasn't able to maintain top end talent, etc.

I like Holland, but a lot of what is being said in his defense sounds like Benning apologists to me. I don't see enough of, or any, difference in that regard. His outlook or assessment or designs on how to build a team might be an improvement, but if he is still coerced into "making us competitive" right out the gate, and either can't identify when it's time to restart, or unable to convince management that's the case, then where are we improving?

 

[member 290103]

Funny to me Holland seems to get a pass where we nail Benning to the door. Pressure to make the playoffs, refusal to acknowledge the team needs to be rebuilt, doesn't assert his view, it's not his fault, he wasn't able to maintain top end talent, etc.

I like Holland, but a lot of what is being said in his defense sounds like Benning apologists to me. I don't see enough of, or any, difference in that regard. His outlook or assessment or designs on how to build a team might be an improvement, but if he is still coerced into "making us competitive" right out the gate, and either can't identify when it's time to restart, or unable to convince management that's the case, then where are we improving?

I don't think Holland is ideal by any stretch either. He made his bones in an era when he could just outspend the competition. That said, ANYONE is an improvement on Benning (save Weisbrod).

 

[xtra]

2016-2017 redwings miss the playoffs

2017 - detroit has 11 picks
2018- Detroit has 10 picks.

In 2 years since they missed the playoffs and the streak wasn’t a consideration they acquired 7 additional picks - how is that similar to benning?

 

[Scumbag Frank]

My dark horse candidate:
Francesco pulls a Jerry Jones and names himself GM

 

[me2]

Funny to me Holland seems to get a pass where we nail Benning to the door. Pressure to make the playoffs, refusal to acknowledge the team needs to be rebuilt, doesn't assert his view, it's not his fault, he wasn't able to maintain top end talent, etc.

I like Holland, but a lot of what is being said in his defense sounds like Benning apologists to me. I don't see enough of, or any, difference in that regard. His outlook or assessment or designs on how to build a team might be an improvement, but if he is still coerced into "making us competitive" right out the gate, and either can't identify when it's time to restart, or unable to convince management that's the case, then where are we improving?

I'm not sold on Holland either. He's done a great job acquiring picks but he's signed a lot of the same useless contracts Benning has.

 

[Addison Rae]

I just watched the behind the scenes of the 2018 draft, my god Judd Brackett was running the show, if you didn’t know any better you would think he was the teams GM.

Clearly Tyler Madden was a Brackett pick as well.

 

[Addison Rae]

Yeah I wouldn’t hate Holland if he surrounded himself with forward thinking, progressive people just for the “old boys club” connection.

Similar to what Toronto had with Lou while they groomed Dubas.

But there’s a bunch of other candidates I would rather pursue.

 

[Cogburn]

I don't think Holland is ideal by any stretch either. He made his bones in an era when he could just outspend the competition. That said, ANYONE is an improvement on Benning (save Weisbrod).

I agree almost anyone would be an improvement. However "being better than Benning" isn't the bar we need to be setting.

 

[Cogburn]

2016-2017 redwings miss the playoffs

2017 - detroit has 11 picks
2018- Detroit has 10 picks.

In 2 years since they missed the playoffs and the streak wasn’t a consideration they acquired 7 additional picks - how is that similar to benning?

It isn't just picks. Early days but how many of them look to be promising prospects? And shall we count the 2 picks we've acquired as recompense for some of the ones we've spent? Not all picks are equal. We'd have benefited from selling off some of our vets and expiring contracts of course.

Holland might have acted on getting the picks. There is no argument to be made to show he hasn't but he also took the contender he made and ran it into the ground with long contracts. Bad contracts. He also folded and continued to try to make the playoffs and push on as a contender when they were really clearly in need of a reset. Allegedly that came from higher up. Speculation of course but that sounds very very very very familiar to me.

 

[F A N]

Let's face it, if Holland wants the job he's probably going to get it. He'll tell ownership that he's been a GM for almost 25 years and won 3 Stanley Cups. For ownership, he is a big name and brings instant credibility (at least in their eyes). In terms of alignment I actually think he aligns with Benning and ownership very well. Holland is not a tear it down accumulate draft picks kind of guy and here he doesn't need to do that because there are pieces in place and the mandate would be to make the playoffs. But reportedly he wants to be the GM.

 

[elitepete]

Give Yzerman 6-10 million a year to come here. Whatever it takes.

Go as high as 15mill. Idgaf. This moron owner wants to spend money then spend it on someone that will actually make us an elite team, not on Eriksson, Sutter, Beagle, etc.

 

[The Extrapolater]

Just some thoughts here:

• I'd read somewhere Benning was possibly signed to a two year contract with a team option for a third year meaning the Canucks can renounce their rights to him, and not have to pay for a third season. My Google-fu hasn't dug out the article or blurb where I'd read that, so take that with a grain of salt.
• If it is the case Benning does come off the books this off-season, my guess is the Canucks were going to take a run at a few of the more well-regarded Assistant GM's that were initially coming off their current teams' books this season, including Fenton, and Brisebois. However, best laid plans, and all that... (if my speculation is somehow in any way close to the truth).
  
• I'd also read somewhere Holland turned down promotion within the Red Wings organization, so if he's released by the Red Wings, and then if the Canucks approached him, he'd probably only be interested in the GM position. (Google search.) The Canucks would still need to search out a team president.
• Holland's players' contracts with the Red Wings aren't nearly as egregious as Benning's with the Canucks. Abdelkader's is Holland's worst contract signing (and it is terrible). The rest were relatively close to market rate, but the Red Wings did suffer some terrible decline in play (and forced retirements) from age/injury to a few key players, as well as bad luck from the CBA changing. At least with Holland's contracts, it can be seen why that player was signed for that amount/term due to what that player had done previously, unlike with Benning, who tended to pay for what he thought the player might do in the future. Excepting Abdelkader, of course. That one is (and from the day it was signed) a head-scratcher.
  
• Holland's main talent isn't in scouting or contract negotiations. It's in bringing together staff talent to form a good management team. That's something the Canucks have missed since Gillis was fired. Holland can, and does find, good staff to fill the roles he needs. And, as people move through the hockey operations, they're given new roles to expand their skills and talents. Except if they start gunning for his position, then it becomes some Jay Leno/David Letterman, or Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien palace intrigue.

 

[PG Canuck]

Stay in the playoff races, not let him do a proper rebuild, etc

Who cares. He is still the person who targeted Eriksson and all the other junk over the years.

 

[Peter10]

Just some thoughts here:

• I'd read somewhere Benning was possibly signed to a two year contract with a team option for a third year meaning the Canucks can renounce their rights to him, and not have to pay for a third season. My Google-fu hasn't dug out the article or blurb where I'd read that, so take that with a grain of salt.
• If it is the case Benning does come off the books this off-season, my guess is the Canucks were going to take a run at a few of the more well-regarded Assistant GM's that were initially coming off their current teams' books this season, including Fenton, and Brisebois. However, best laid plans, and all that... (if my speculation is somehow in any way close to the truth).
  
• I'd also read somewhere Holland turned down promotion within the Red Wings organization, so if he's released by the Red Wings, and then if the Canucks approached him, he'd probably only be interested in the GM position. (Google search.) The Canucks would still need to search out a team president.
• Holland's players' contracts with the Red Wings aren't nearly as egregious as Benning's with the Canucks. Abdelkader's is Holland's worst contract signing (and it is terrible). The rest were relatively close to market rate, but the Red Wings did suffer some terrible decline in play (and forced retirements) from age/injury to a few key players, as well as bad luck from the CBA changing. At least with Holland's contracts, it can be seen why that player was signed for that amount/term due to what that player had done previously, unlike with Benning, who tended to pay for what he thought the player might do in the future. Excepting Abdelkader, of course. That one is (and from the day it was signed) a head-scratcher.
  
• Holland's main talent isn't in scouting or contract negotiations. It's in bringing together staff talent to form a good management team. That's something the Canucks have missed since Gillis was fired. Holland can, and does find, good staff to fill the roles he needs. And, as people move through the hockey operations, they're given new roles to expand their skills and talents. Except if they start gunning for his position, then it becomes some Jay Leno/David Letterman, or Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien palace intrigue.

His new contract started only in 2018. So it runs till 2020 and then there is the team option for the 20-21 season.

 

[Blueangel1891]

Is Brackett an option as GM? The guy is fantastic

 

[Hit the post]

Is Brackett an option as GM? The guy is fantastic

Maybe but I think this team should avoid going for yet another untried/rookie GM. Too much risk.

Course some guys are destined to only be number two’s. For example, as much as I make fun of Benning, I think he’d be useful in such a role (assistant GM). Much like Dave Nonis was a capable #2 where he was out of his league as the head guy (GM).

 

[DomY]

An underrated requirement I have for the next Canucks President is someone who has enough clout to get them out of this Luongo cap recapture BS that the team has hanging over its head.

There were no rules broken, and the team was retroactively punished. Just like how Lamorello got out of his penalty almost entirely with the Kovalchuk thing, someone needs to go to bat for the Canucks here too. Hell, maybe it should be Lamorello.

 

[TruGr1t]

The Canucks need to add to the management group, whether it is in the way of an AGM or a President of Hockey Operations who takes on more of the corporate support duties.

So Brackett and his team handle the amateur scouting, the new guy handles hockey ops ... what exactly are Benning and Weisbrod doing? Coffee duty? Just fire them.

 

[Donuts]

Throw all your money at yzerman -GM and quenville - coach.