Benning was brutal. Hughes fell in to their lap, Petterson was Brackett, Boeser was a good pick, Miller was probably his greatest move,...but the terrible signings, decisions and drafts,...Virtanen, Juolevi, Erickson, the Ekman Larson trade, ditching Gustav Forsling way too soon. Benning was inarticulate and simply not a bright man.
Ditching Jared McCann is a bigger deal to me than Forsling. Forsling took a long time to develop, and maybe him bouncing around might have helped mold him to what he is. But Jared McCann, a 2nd, and a 4th…… for Erik freakin Gudbranson and a 6th?? That was just brutal…
it is common knowledge within Vancouver that Benning did not want to take Petersson and wanted Cody Glass and eventually fired the chief scouting director Judd Brackett and whomever disagreed with him surrounding himself with yes men. People still dont know what John Weisbrod did during his tenure as AGM for the Canucks.
Benning was worst GM in the franchises history, the club will be paying for his mistakes for years to come still. Firing Benning was the best move Ive seen in 34 years of watching them
I just dont understand where the long-term damage is at this point? Two years removed from his departure? No doubt Alvin and Rutherford have done a better job of rounding out the roster... But they inherited a team with great pieces. I think Benning deserves a bit of credit.
@@WhatsHappeningHockeyThey’re still paying OEL, $2.6M next year, and $4.75M after that. But besides that, they wasted a lot of early years for the Core 5. New Orleans Saints fans can tell you lot about how much wasting years of Drew Brees hurt their team’s history.
@@WhatsHappeningHockey Benning also walked Toffoli and Tanev to free agency without bothering to talk to them as he chased an OEL deal. Stetcher was also waiting for an extension and was a good 3rd pair D at low cost. Some of those assets could've been held onto and would now require further asset expenditure to sign(Toffoli was especially bad, as he traded assets to get him. Tanev was getting a big dollar deal that made matching risky, so I'm inclined to give him the pass on Tanev at least). Overall, Benning was so far out of his depths in the GM role, that while he had some good drafts, it was mostly done when the picks were against his own instincts. His attempts to replace dissenting voices in management also hurt the team(Lawrence Gilman, Linden, among others). Benning was IMO an idiot scrambling to pretend he was a fit to be a GM.
@maqywhaq toffoli, tanev and stecher are all small potatoes compared to drafting and retaining the canucks core. Sure OEL was a mistake, but the cap space allowed players like garland and mikheyev to sign. Toffoli has shown again that he's willing to dip if not approached immediately with an extension offer, tanev had legitimate injury concerns and stecher is hardly an NHLer anymore, I saw him play at the dome as a flames fan. This canuck fan pessimism is taken way too far sometimes.
honestly, once you get past the most recent GMs that have been fired, you should seriously cover Gillis. He was really talented, especially when it came to assembling his front office team, and enacting a culture of sports science that lead to the most healthy stretch the modern canucks have ever seen.
I think you have this wrong Jim Benning isn’t responsible for the current core it was director of scouting at the time Judd Bracket who is responsible for the drafts Benning wanted Cody Glass but Judd said to take Petterson
I've read the reports. Seen Linden's comments and etc. Also saw that Benning refuted those claims. But who knows? It's obvious that Linden and Benning's relationship soured. It's also obvious that ownership had a bit too much to do with roster transactions. It was a shit show behind the scenes which lead to a lot of pointing fingers. Benning was definitely the main victim in that; perhaps deservingly. I always try and take such claims with a grain of salt though. Similar shit happened in Pittsburgh with Ron Hextall and I'm inclined to believe a lot of those rumors... But I always preface them with the reality that it's just hear-say. Maybe some journalist with an unreliable source? Maybe someone trying to clear their own name? Who knows. Judd deserves credit too, 100%. In most of these videos I include a statement crediting scouting teams with equal-greater blame than the GM himself, but I think I failed to include it for this one. Regardless, thanks for watching. Appreciate the comment and perspective.
As a Flames fan, many thanks to Benning (and Jarmo Kekäläinen) for Matt Tkachuk (though we all know Matt's in the process of winning his Cup in FLA now...GO Panthers). As we headed into that draft I was under the impression that, with the 6th pick, Calgary had no chance of landing this player, and I was happy to be proven wrong. As for GMs to evaluate, Peter Chiarelli please...the Edmonton model and the Boston edition.
You should also thank Jim Ruthrford and Patrick Alvin for giving canuck's 2025 1st and 2nd picks to the flames for rentals. The gift that keeps on giving.
@@unplugged123 That trade was Sven Bärtschi (Calgary's 13 overall pick in 2011) for a second round pick, 53rd overall in 2015. Any trade where you trade away a young early first rounder for a second rounder hurts, and it didn't feel like any kind of "gift" at the time. Flames used the pick well though and walked away with Rasmus Andersson who became a full time Flame in 2018.
@@unplugged123 Oh I didn't say the trade didn't end up a win for the Flames. But when the team you support moves a player selected at 13, for a future #53 pick, it is disappointing, no matter what team you cheer for. And as Curtis Lazar taught me, giving up a second rounder for a former first can suck too, so I can agree with you on that.
Benning never wanted a full rebuild. He kept signing or trading for NHL ready players to field competitive teams instead of striping it down and get more great young talents. He drafted well with high picks but nothing much otherwise, and he made too many the desperate moves or overpaid for veterans that set the team backwards. The OEL trade was the ultimate dagger IMO, instead of holding onto his mistakes for one last season and letting the contracts expire. The 7 years (2014-2021) felt like the dark years in the late 90s.
Very good video, I will just want point out that the Vanek was all around good move by Benning. 1). Benning signed Vanek weeks before training camp, fairly late into free-agency for $2 million for 1 season (not over spending on UFA). 2). Vanek came in and produced at a top-6 rate on the team and he was a good mentor for Brock Boeser in his rookie season. 3). Benning traded him at the trade deadline in 2018 to Columbus. Yes, he did not acquire any prospects/draft picks. However, the main piece returning from this trade wasn't Jussi Jokinen (though he was actually pretty good in his short stint as a Canuck), Jokinen was just a contract/capspace coming back so Columbus has room for Vanek. The main piece of the trade was Tyler Motte. Motte became a solid bottom 6 and PK player for the Canucks over the next several seasons and he scored some big playoff goals for the Canucks in 2020 bubble playoffs. Motte was a solid pick up. I would say the Vanek situation from signing to trade was the best Jim Benning has done in both free-agency signing and asset management. If he was able to do this more instead of overpaying so many over the hill players in Beagle, Roussel and Eriksson etc. the Canucks would be in a lot better state.
Fair enough point. Doing these videos is kind of an educational process. Admittedly I did not watch a lot of Tyler Motte, but I can understand how a player like him can be easily glanced over if you’re not actively paying attention.
JB made it out of so many drafts like a bandit. Pety, Demko, Hughes, Boeser were all top-end players drafted by Benning. He also stole JT Miller from Tampa...
Tampa he made that trade however the scouting decisions was predominantly made by director of scouting Judd Bracket Benning wanted Cody Glass he told them to pick Petterson so Benning isn’t entirely responsible for the success of drafting
@@zestplays There was a behind the scenes vid of Benning super excited to draft Hughes after Detroit took Zadina. The man knew what he was doing. He deserved a ton of credit cuz whoever the Canucks want to draft, he’s one of the last ppl who signs off on it. Benning was just horrible at throwing excessive money on players who weren’t good. Lol
@@tonykung8756he did not know what he was doing. He drafted Hugh’s and Petterson after getting an earful form Trevor Linden. Let’s not forget he drafted Olli Julovi and Jake Virtanen.
Benning's Achilles Heel really were the contracts. Benning could find good young players, sure, but those awful contracts would kill any player development because as soon as the young prospects are coming into their prime and having their big breakout season, they'd be up for a new contract and those Benning Contract Players would eat up so much of the cap that Benning would be unable to retain the talent the team had developed, resulting in those players going on to have great or at least good careers with other teams. Guys like Brendan Sutter and Rouselle were good bottom 6 checkers/energy players, but having a combined $8 mil of cap space tied up on just those 2 players meant not enough space for the other 4 bottom 6 players and some good top 6 players to round off the top of the lineup, often resulting in bottom 6 players having to play in the top 6 and has beens or not there yets rounding off the bottom 6. If those 2 players were only signed to contracts in alignment with their skills and roles, we'd have had a great pair of players to build a 3rd and 4th line around.
Completely agree with what you're saying here. I do believe that 'rebuilding' was a constant focus during the Benning era... But after a sniff of success in his first year, I think a mentality of 'why can't we do both?' was adopted. It's a common theme we're seeing with a lot of these Canadian GMs. They get one little taste of success (making the playoffs or winning one round) and they instantly change gears, attempting to round-out their roster to stay competitive. Benning seemingly tried to accomplish that via free agency, which is especially boggling since he was SO BAD at it. And again, maybe there was hope that some of these signings would come in, have a good season, and make themselves attractive to other teams via a trade. But almost NONE of them worked out in that fashion. Poor assessment. Poor patience.
@@WhatsHappeningHockey From what I heard, Fransisco Aquilini played a major part in that, as he was the driving force behind Benning not committing to a full rebuild, and Linden wanted that, as he saw it was necessary, and when Aquilini would not agree to a rebuld, and wanted to try and keep the team competitive by any means necessary, Linden left but Benning stayed on and tried to make it work. I'm sure he realizes that was a mistake in hindsight as he let himself get stuck in a no win situation. Those marching orders left him at a distinct disadvantage in free agency negotiations, as he had to make deals since he didn't have the assets to bring in talent via trades at the time. That led to those infamous contracts and losing many of our young talents as they had breakout seasons and left to free agency when there was no cap space to keep hardly anyone.
Don’t care if he created the core. His impatience, inefficient contracts, and poor trades and drafting will forever cement his legacy as a failure in Vancouver.
The OEL trade was bad 'keep my job' short term move. Canucks could have rid themselves of the Ericksson, Rousell and Beagle contracts after 1 year. They also gave up a 1st who became Guenther and had to buy out OEL which will last until 2029-30.
Dont forget drafting Kole Lind instead while Jason Robertson was available And while Baertschi for a 2nd is already mentioned, that 2nd turned out to be Rasmus Andersson Imagine if Vancouver had both Forsling and Andersson in their current dcore
Alluded to Rasmus Andersson with some video of him I think, but maybe it wasn't clear enough. Regardless, as with almost ANY GM, there's a lot of 'what could have been'.
@@thecedex yea but I felt the owner at the time didn't want a rebuild hence all of Bennie's trades being pieces to slot in , car and chi blundered way more as he was actually playing
@@teebo5298 it's not about the direction but the execution. Even if Benning was forced to retool and not rebuild there's no excuse for 99% of his moves (exaggerating but you know what i mean) failing. Also we have seen teams retool successfully w/o having to do a full rebuild ... The New York Rangers is just one of the examples of not doing a rebuild to become a top team again.
I'm just curious as someone who didn't follow the in depth of hockey much around this time. But is everyone upset about the Forsling thing just because of him winning the cup and stuff? Cause I know hindsight can be 20/20 of course
Sure, except Myers was signed to way too much money and Garland was the accompanying piece in the trade to balance the cap constraints. Both "sorta" worked out in hindsight, but neither were smart moves as both were done in a "win right now" mindset that would always hurt the team in the long run(OEL was already turning into a liability in Arizona, and Myers was at best a middle pairing D signing for first pairing money. Both ended up being mostly 3rd pairing level players until Tocchet took away the chaos giraffe's leash and reigned him into a more controlled game).
I’ve been contemplating a piece on John Chayka recently. We have a few other ideas in the bank likely to take priority, but stay tuned. In the meantime, if you check out ‘Red Hot Hockey’, he recently did a video on the history of the Coyotes. Regardless, thanks for watching and have a good one.
Vancouverites: alternate take here. Benning was the only possible way Canucks were ever going to rebuild. Think about it. I guess I forgot or didn’t notice how involved Trevor seems to be in the Benning era based on the clips anyway
Eriksson was just super bad luck. Towards the end of his prime, but was always a strong 2-way winger who has put up 30+ goals. Regularly played with the Sedins internationally, and has done well with them. Unfortunate that all 3 steeply declined. Players always get old... but they just fell off a cliff. OEL was good on paper. A 2-way defenseman who probably should have gotten more Norris considerations just a few seasons prior. Stuck at the backwaters of the NHL in Arizona, minimal attention and a team that's regularly struggling.... thus never got the recognition he deserved. Unfortunately, Benning picked him up after he has had a series of injuries around his foot and also his knees, some that required surgery. For joints like the knee, it may take a few years before you get back to normal. The Canucks couldn't afford that time, considering his salary, thus were forced to buy him out. Overall, Jim Benning wasn't as bad as many made him out to be. The first 3-4 years were somewhat of a write-off as he had an aging team with the Sedins... and you can't just tank. Just see Pittsburg now and Chicago just a few years back. When you have franchise players in the twilight of their careers, you do your best to try to make the playoffs.
Adding him to the list. Will probably take some time; have other projects in mind. But we'll get around to him 100%. Pierre Dorion is up next. Thanks for tuning in though! Much appreciated.
2017 and 2018. See Benning facial expression at the draft podium. He didn't want to draft Petey or Hughes. Not one smile then and what circulated was that Linden argued with him about drafting Petey. He says differently now that he is not the GM. Benning was a bad GM and the only highlight was trading for JT. Everyone else forced him to pick the core guys now.
I whole heartedly agree. We absolutely will get around to it, though I fear there may not be as big of an audience for it. But I hope im wrong! Stay tuned
He'll come 100%. Pierre Dorion is up next on our list. But lots of people asking for Jarmo. Was worried he might not bring the same attention (solely because of the market he worked in) but a lot of people seem to be interested in him. Thanks for watching and stay tuned!
Its also worth noting benning didnt pick petterson hughes and demko. Linden and ian clark did. They ONLY good thing benning did was trading for jt miller which also could have ended horribley if those traded draft picks turned out to be good
Maybe you should make this sort of video - the analysis of GM performance over a period of years, I mean - the main focus of your channel. Or maybe you already have....
We started the channel back in January with only loose ideas in mind: Did some player comparison videos, a few covering trends in the NHL, some criticizing inconsistencies in rules/on-ice calls, etc. We were essentially throwing darts, rolling with different ideas and giving them our best shot. But once we released our Hextall video (which did very well by our standards), it became pretty clear that we're going to keep pursuing these GM videos. It kind of eliminates one part of the creative process: 'what should we make a video about?'. Nobody else seems to be making these kinds of analysis videos, but I find them really interesting. With every piece we release, I think we get a little bit better. It also helps us steer clear from the 'clickbait' type videos which a lot of hockey-youtubers seem to fall into. No judgement there, but it definitely isn't my style. So, to respond more directly: we are absolutely going to keep rolling with these videos. They have 100% become the main focus of this channel. Thinking about a potential rebrand to identify with that. We'll of course still release other types of videos here and there too; no need to limit ourselves entirely. But these videos are a lot of fun. Happy to see the response they're getting. Thanks for the feedback and for tuning in. It's much appreciated. Who knows where this might go, but at the very least, we're having fun doing it.
you need more than core 5 to win games and Benning could never pull that off with the way he manages the cap. He's been there for almost 10 years with like 6 top 10 picks. He is likely to build a core than not since no GMs lasted that long. Not giving credit for that.
Three GM's in Canucks history worked for 8 years. Two of them got the Canucks to game 7 of the Cup finals . Benning got one bubble playoffs. Also only one of the core he "acquired" was Miller. Other 4 were draft picks. props to scouting. And he didn't want to draft Petey. Benning wanted another Virtanen style player.😂😂 His staff had to fight him to get Petey . Benning is garbage.
No doubt. A funny story: 8 months ago I went to a pawn shop near my house and found a Jake Virtanen Canucks jersey priced at $100. In writing this video, I remembered this and went back to the store hoping to purchase the jersey cheap, assuming it was still there. So I walk in and sure enough there it is. 8 months later. Made an offer of $50. They wouldnt take it. Offered $60. Same deal. Explained his controversy and etc, but no dice. Hence the lack of a Canucks jersey in my background.
Giving Benning credit for building the "next canucks roster" is forgetting that every single one of his moves were in service of making the team at the time better. He moved on from anyone he hadn't obsessed over(and overpaid to sign) and "future" improvements were always more of an afterthought/happenstance with him. If he hadn't traded out as many picks as he did to get "his guys" then signed them to overpaying contracts that would be bought out or moved with other trade assets, I would be more willing to give him a pass. As it stands, he could be counted to rush prospects or trade them for roster players that held scant potential growth for fill in gaps, then throw what was a strength(cap space) away to sign them to bloated contracts. Thank you Benning for reading out names on draft day when your draft department fought you over the picks and you lost out, but I am glad you are gone. Just wish ownership would get out of the way and let management cook(the Benning era saw them influencing management excessively and resulted in one of the longest, poorest performing periods in team history).
The Canucks could have been more successful if he chased more actual defenders and didn't have his center men playing defense. The Coaches he brought in kept forcing their defenders to play as wingers.... Then when they got rockem sockem players he traded them for a bag of marbles The combination of both of those left the stars vulnerable to look stupid Then he gave big contracts to the old folks on their way out of the league
@@WhatsHappeningHockey one of the biggest rules I hated from the Coaches is that if you fight during a game then you're riding the bench for the rest of the game... Its an interesting concept to protect your stars But when you cant protect your stars for real it defeats the purpose No fighting was a management rule Just like "no video games" (Identified by former Canucks who streamed before)
@@Kingsy. Going to wait until Holland's tenure is over in Edmonton. Think that will be the standard moving forward, but that video will absolutely come. Chiarelli in EDM vs Chiarelli in BOS is a great idea though. Stay tuned.
Silovs-Benning Demko-Benning Hughes-Benning Miller-Benning Boeser-Benning Petey-Benning Myers-Benning Hoglander-Benning Benning's tenure operated under a tight Aquilini and with the aid of one AGM. Aquilini now has spent the wad and the Canucks are paying Rutherford, GM Allvin,AGM Granato,AGM Castonguay,Tallon. and AGM Johnson. Count 'em.
silovs was a ian clark pick. hughes landed in bennings lap by sheer dumb luck. miller was a cap dump and at the time was an overpayment petey was not even a benning pick. he was a judd bracket and linden choice. which he eventually pushed both out of the front office. u give bumbling benning waaaaay too much credit. he deserved/deserves all the hate.
@@unplugged123 Benning's Stanley Cup ring is a fact you can't face or accept. Silovs-Benning Demko-Benning Hughes-Benning Miller-Benning Boeser-Benning Petey-Benning Myers-Benning Hoglander-Benning Benning's tenure operated under a tight Aquilini and with the aid of one AGM. Aquilini now has spent the wad and the Canucks are paying Rutherford, GM Allvin,AGM Granato,AGM Castonguay,Tallon. and AGM Johnson. Count 'em.
@@roundnround365 are u jim bennings mom? does having a stanley cup ring as an assistant make him perfect, infallible and always right? your reasoning is absolutely idiotic... by your logic peter chirelli must be the second coming of Jesus since he was the actual architect of that bruins team.
Benning was brutal. Hughes fell in to their lap, Petterson was Brackett, Boeser was a good pick, Miller was probably his greatest move,...but the terrible signings, decisions and drafts,...Virtanen, Juolevi, Erickson, the Ekman Larson trade, ditching Gustav Forsling way too soon. Benning was inarticulate and simply not a bright man.
Ditching Jared McCann is a bigger deal to me than Forsling.
Forsling took a long time to develop, and maybe him bouncing around might have helped mold him to what he is.
But Jared McCann, a 2nd, and a 4th…… for Erik freakin Gudbranson and a 6th?? That was just brutal…
it is common knowledge within Vancouver that Benning did not want to take Petersson and wanted Cody Glass and eventually fired the chief scouting director Judd Brackett and whomever disagreed with him surrounding himself with yes men. People still dont know what John Weisbrod did during his tenure as AGM for the Canucks.
Benning was worst GM in the franchises history, the club will be paying for his mistakes for years to come still. Firing Benning was the best move Ive seen in 34 years of watching them
I just dont understand where the long-term damage is at this point? Two years removed from his departure?
No doubt Alvin and Rutherford have done a better job of rounding out the roster... But they inherited a team with great pieces. I think Benning deserves a bit of credit.
@@WhatsHappeningHockeyThey’re still paying OEL, $2.6M next year, and $4.75M after that.
But besides that, they wasted a lot of early years for the Core 5. New Orleans Saints fans can tell you lot about how much wasting years of Drew Brees hurt their team’s history.
@@WhatsHappeningHockey Benning also walked Toffoli and Tanev to free agency without bothering to talk to them as he chased an OEL deal. Stetcher was also waiting for an extension and was a good 3rd pair D at low cost. Some of those assets could've been held onto and would now require further asset expenditure to sign(Toffoli was especially bad, as he traded assets to get him. Tanev was getting a big dollar deal that made matching risky, so I'm inclined to give him the pass on Tanev at least).
Overall, Benning was so far out of his depths in the GM role, that while he had some good drafts, it was mostly done when the picks were against his own instincts. His attempts to replace dissenting voices in management also hurt the team(Lawrence Gilman, Linden, among others).
Benning was IMO an idiot scrambling to pretend he was a fit to be a GM.
@maqywhaq toffoli, tanev and stecher are all small potatoes compared to drafting and retaining the canucks core. Sure OEL was a mistake, but the cap space allowed players like garland and mikheyev to sign. Toffoli has shown again that he's willing to dip if not approached immediately with an extension offer, tanev had legitimate injury concerns and stecher is hardly an NHLer anymore, I saw him play at the dome as a flames fan.
This canuck fan pessimism is taken way too far sometimes.
@@maxbolton5227all Canucks fans would take Tofoli over Mikheyev.
honestly, once you get past the most recent GMs that have been fired, you should seriously cover Gillis. He was really talented, especially when it came to assembling his front office team, and enacting a culture of sports science that lead to the most healthy stretch the modern canucks have ever seen.
I think you have this wrong Jim Benning isn’t responsible for the current core it was director of scouting at the time Judd Bracket who is responsible for the drafts Benning wanted Cody Glass but Judd said to take Petterson
Yeah but Benning has final say
I've read the reports. Seen Linden's comments and etc. Also saw that Benning refuted those claims. But who knows?
It's obvious that Linden and Benning's relationship soured. It's also obvious that ownership had a bit too much to do with roster transactions. It was a shit show behind the scenes which lead to a lot of pointing fingers.
Benning was definitely the main victim in that; perhaps deservingly. I always try and take such claims with a grain of salt though.
Similar shit happened in Pittsburgh with Ron Hextall and I'm inclined to believe a lot of those rumors... But I always preface them with the reality that it's just hear-say. Maybe some journalist with an unreliable source? Maybe someone trying to clear their own name? Who knows.
Judd deserves credit too, 100%. In most of these videos I include a statement crediting scouting teams with equal-greater blame than the GM himself, but I think I failed to include it for this one.
Regardless, thanks for watching. Appreciate the comment and perspective.
As a Flames fan, many thanks to Benning (and Jarmo Kekäläinen) for Matt Tkachuk (though we all know Matt's in the process of winning his Cup in FLA now...GO Panthers). As we headed into that draft I was under the impression that, with the 6th pick, Calgary had no chance of landing this player, and I was happy to be proven wrong.
As for GMs to evaluate, Peter Chiarelli please...the Edmonton model and the Boston edition.
You should also thank Jim Ruthrford and Patrick Alvin for giving canuck's 2025 1st and 2nd picks to the flames for rentals. The gift that keeps on giving.
dont forget we also gift wrapped rasmus andersson to the flames in a trade. also.. dumb dumb "ran out of time" and did not resign tanev
@@unplugged123 That trade was Sven Bärtschi (Calgary's 13 overall pick in 2011) for a second round pick, 53rd overall in 2015. Any trade where you trade away a young early first rounder for a second rounder hurts, and it didn't feel like any kind of "gift" at the time. Flames used the pick well though and walked away with Rasmus Andersson who became a full time Flame in 2018.
@@slaycra Baertschi sucked. It was a Flames win.
@@unplugged123 Oh I didn't say the trade didn't end up a win for the Flames. But when the team you support moves a player selected at 13, for a future #53 pick, it is disappointing, no matter what team you cheer for. And as Curtis Lazar taught me, giving up a second rounder for a former first can suck too, so I can agree with you on that.
Benning never wanted a full rebuild. He kept signing or trading for NHL ready players to field competitive teams instead of striping it down and get more great young talents. He drafted well with high picks but nothing much otherwise, and he made too many the desperate moves or overpaid for veterans that set the team backwards. The OEL trade was the ultimate dagger IMO, instead of holding onto his mistakes for one last season and letting the contracts expire. The 7 years (2014-2021) felt like the dark years in the late 90s.
Need more of these
They're comin. Thanks for your time and support!
Very good video, I will just want point out that the Vanek was all around good move by Benning.
1). Benning signed Vanek weeks before training camp, fairly late into free-agency for $2 million for 1 season (not over spending on UFA).
2). Vanek came in and produced at a top-6 rate on the team and he was a good mentor for Brock Boeser in his rookie season.
3). Benning traded him at the trade deadline in 2018 to Columbus. Yes, he did not acquire any prospects/draft picks. However, the main piece returning from this trade wasn't Jussi Jokinen (though he was actually pretty good in his short stint as a Canuck), Jokinen was just a contract/capspace coming back so Columbus has room for Vanek. The main piece of the trade was Tyler Motte. Motte became a solid bottom 6 and PK player for the Canucks over the next several seasons and he scored some big playoff goals for the Canucks in 2020 bubble playoffs. Motte was a solid pick up.
I would say the Vanek situation from signing to trade was the best Jim Benning has done in both free-agency signing and asset management. If he was able to do this more instead of overpaying so many over the hill players in Beagle, Roussel and Eriksson etc. the Canucks would be in a lot better state.
Fair enough point. Doing these videos is kind of an educational process. Admittedly I did not watch a lot of Tyler Motte, but I can understand how a player like him can be easily glanced over if you’re not actively paying attention.
Great video! Would love to see a video about Kyle Dubas reign in Toronto!
Thanks for tuning-in. We will 100% get around to it. Pierre Dorion is next though, so stay tuned!
JB made it out of so many drafts like a bandit. Pety, Demko, Hughes, Boeser were all top-end players drafted by Benning. He also stole JT Miller from Tampa...
Tampa he made that trade however the scouting decisions was predominantly made by director of scouting Judd Bracket Benning wanted Cody Glass he told them to pick Petterson so Benning isn’t entirely responsible for the success of drafting
@@zestplays There was a behind the scenes vid of Benning super excited to draft Hughes after Detroit took Zadina. The man knew what he was doing. He deserved a ton of credit cuz whoever the Canucks want to draft, he’s one of the last ppl who signs off on it. Benning was just horrible at throwing excessive money on players who weren’t good. Lol
@@tonykung8756he did not know what he was doing. He drafted Hugh’s and Petterson after getting an earful form Trevor Linden. Let’s not forget he drafted Olli Julovi and Jake Virtanen.
Benning's Achilles Heel really were the contracts. Benning could find good young players, sure, but those awful contracts would kill any player development because as soon as the young prospects are coming into their prime and having their big breakout season, they'd be up for a new contract and those Benning Contract Players would eat up so much of the cap that Benning would be unable to retain the talent the team had developed, resulting in those players going on to have great or at least good careers with other teams. Guys like Brendan Sutter and Rouselle were good bottom 6 checkers/energy players, but having a combined $8 mil of cap space tied up on just those 2 players meant not enough space for the other 4 bottom 6 players and some good top 6 players to round off the top of the lineup, often resulting in bottom 6 players having to play in the top 6 and has beens or not there yets rounding off the bottom 6. If those 2 players were only signed to contracts in alignment with their skills and roles, we'd have had a great pair of players to build a 3rd and 4th line around.
Completely agree with what you're saying here.
I do believe that 'rebuilding' was a constant focus during the Benning era... But after a sniff of success in his first year, I think a mentality of 'why can't we do both?' was adopted.
It's a common theme we're seeing with a lot of these Canadian GMs. They get one little taste of success (making the playoffs or winning one round) and they instantly change gears, attempting to round-out their roster to stay competitive.
Benning seemingly tried to accomplish that via free agency, which is especially boggling since he was SO BAD at it. And again, maybe there was hope that some of these signings would come in, have a good season, and make themselves attractive to other teams via a trade. But almost NONE of them worked out in that fashion. Poor assessment. Poor patience.
@@WhatsHappeningHockey From what I heard, Fransisco Aquilini played a major part in that, as he was the driving force behind Benning not committing to a full rebuild, and Linden wanted that, as he saw it was necessary, and when Aquilini would not agree to a rebuld, and wanted to try and keep the team competitive by any means necessary, Linden left but Benning stayed on and tried to make it work. I'm sure he realizes that was a mistake in hindsight as he let himself get stuck in a no win situation. Those marching orders left him at a distinct disadvantage in free agency negotiations, as he had to make deals since he didn't have the assets to bring in talent via trades at the time.
That led to those infamous contracts and losing many of our young talents as they had breakout seasons and left to free agency when there was no cap space to keep hardly anyone.
Don’t care if he created the core. His impatience, inefficient contracts, and poor trades and drafting will forever cement his legacy as a failure in Vancouver.
great choice with the background music 😁😁
Little bit of Mac never hurt anybody
The OEL trade was bad 'keep my job' short term move. Canucks could have rid themselves of the Ericksson, Rousell and Beagle contracts after 1 year. They also gave up a 1st who became Guenther and had to buy out OEL which will last until 2029-30.
Bumbling Benning and his horrible trade moves and hamstringing contracts, worst Canucks GM EVER
Gustav Forsling, Jonah Gadjovich, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Roberto freaking Luongo won a Stanley Cup with Florida a few weeks ago. Sheeesh.
How about covering Mike Milbury's time as GM of the Islanders? Could be entertaining...
Milbury and Snow are both on the list. Thanks for watching!
Dont forget drafting Kole Lind instead while Jason Robertson was available
And while Baertschi for a 2nd is already mentioned, that 2nd turned out to be Rasmus Andersson
Imagine if Vancouver had both Forsling and Andersson in their current dcore
3 teams gave up on him , cant really use that
@@teebo5298 and one of them is Benning. Among his many blunders.
Alluded to Rasmus Andersson with some video of him I think, but maybe it wasn't clear enough. Regardless, as with almost ANY GM, there's a lot of 'what could have been'.
@@thecedex yea but I felt the owner at the time didn't want a rebuild hence all of Bennie's trades being pieces to slot in , car and chi blundered way more as he was actually playing
@@teebo5298 it's not about the direction but the execution. Even if Benning was forced to retool and not rebuild there's no excuse for 99% of his moves (exaggerating but you know what i mean) failing.
Also we have seen teams retool successfully w/o having to do a full rebuild ... The New York Rangers is just one of the examples of not doing a rebuild to become a top team again.
I'm just curious as someone who didn't follow the in depth of hockey much around this time. But is everyone upset about the Forsling thing just because of him winning the cup and stuff? Cause I know hindsight can be 20/20 of course
Some topics to consider: How Dubas mismanaged the Leafs, John Chayka's adventure in the desert
Both are in our idea bank. Stay tuned!
Would love to see a Dale Tallon's Panthers video!
Same, as well as old man Lous devils team and the kovy fiasco.
Milburys Islanders as well
Nothing Wrong With The Way Tyler Myers Or Conor Garland Have Played
Sure, except Myers was signed to way too much money and Garland was the accompanying piece in the trade to balance the cap constraints. Both "sorta" worked out in hindsight, but neither were smart moves as both were done in a "win right now" mindset that would always hurt the team in the long run(OEL was already turning into a liability in Arizona, and Myers was at best a middle pairing D signing for first pairing money. Both ended up being mostly 3rd pairing level players until Tocchet took away the chaos giraffe's leash and reigned him into a more controlled game).
Make a video about the perpetual rebuild in Arizona / Utah
I’ve been contemplating a piece on John Chayka recently. We have a few other ideas in the bank likely to take priority, but stay tuned.
In the meantime, if you check out ‘Red Hot Hockey’, he recently did a video on the history of the Coyotes.
Regardless, thanks for watching and have a good one.
Vancouverites: alternate take here. Benning was the only possible way Canucks were ever going to rebuild. Think about it.
I guess I forgot or didn’t notice how involved Trevor seems to be in the Benning era based on the clips anyway
Eriksson was just super bad luck. Towards the end of his prime, but was always a strong 2-way winger who has put up 30+ goals. Regularly played with the Sedins internationally, and has done well with them. Unfortunate that all 3 steeply declined. Players always get old... but they just fell off a cliff.
OEL was good on paper. A 2-way defenseman who probably should have gotten more Norris considerations just a few seasons prior. Stuck at the backwaters of the NHL in Arizona, minimal attention and a team that's regularly struggling.... thus never got the recognition he deserved. Unfortunately, Benning picked him up after he has had a series of injuries around his foot and also his knees, some that required surgery. For joints like the knee, it may take a few years before you get back to normal. The Canucks couldn't afford that time, considering his salary, thus were forced to buy him out.
Overall, Jim Benning wasn't as bad as many made him out to be. The first 3-4 years were somewhat of a write-off as he had an aging team with the Sedins... and you can't just tank. Just see Pittsburg now and Chicago just a few years back. When you have franchise players in the twilight of their careers, you do your best to try to make the playoffs.
The Benning era was completely bonkers in that most all of his moves were either home runs or complete disasters. lol
Would love to see one of these on doug willson
Adding him to the list. Will probably take some time; have other projects in mind. But we'll get around to him 100%. Pierre Dorion is up next. Thanks for tuning in though! Much appreciated.
Eriksson and OEL.
2017 and 2018. See Benning facial expression at the draft podium. He didn't want to draft Petey or Hughes. Not one smile then and what circulated was that Linden argued with him about drafting Petey. He says differently now that he is not the GM. Benning was a bad GM and the only highlight was trading for JT. Everyone else forced him to pick the core guys now.
A video on Jarmo Kekäläinen with Columbus would be interesting!
I whole heartedly agree. We absolutely will get around to it, though I fear there may not be as big of an audience for it. But I hope im wrong! Stay tuned
cover brian burke with the leafs?
We have! Check out our channel for the Burke video
Jarrmo K, please?
He'll come 100%. Pierre Dorion is up next on our list. But lots of people asking for Jarmo. Was worried he might not bring the same attention (solely because of the market he worked in) but a lot of people seem to be interested in him. Thanks for watching and stay tuned!
Benning is the best gm and scout
Lmao
I wanna see Bill sussman next
Its also worth noting benning didnt pick petterson hughes and demko. Linden and ian clark did. They ONLY good thing benning did was trading for jt miller which also could have ended horribley if those traded draft picks turned out to be good
Maybe you should make this sort of video - the analysis of GM performance over a period of years, I mean - the main focus of your channel. Or maybe you already have....
We started the channel back in January with only loose ideas in mind:
Did some player comparison videos, a few covering trends in the NHL, some criticizing inconsistencies in rules/on-ice calls, etc. We were essentially throwing darts, rolling with different ideas and giving them our best shot.
But once we released our Hextall video (which did very well by our standards), it became pretty clear that we're going to keep pursuing these GM videos. It kind of eliminates one part of the creative process: 'what should we make a video about?'.
Nobody else seems to be making these kinds of analysis videos, but I find them really interesting. With every piece we release, I think we get a little bit better. It also helps us steer clear from the 'clickbait' type videos which a lot of hockey-youtubers seem to fall into. No judgement there, but it definitely isn't my style.
So, to respond more directly: we are absolutely going to keep rolling with these videos. They have 100% become the main focus of this channel. Thinking about a potential rebrand to identify with that.
We'll of course still release other types of videos here and there too; no need to limit ourselves entirely. But these videos are a lot of fun. Happy to see the response they're getting.
Thanks for the feedback and for tuning in. It's much appreciated. Who knows where this might go, but at the very least, we're having fun doing it.
Just think we could have had Cody glass instead of petey if it was up to benning
Aquilini is at fault just as much as Benning. Two goof balls.
you need more than core 5 to win games and Benning could never pull that off with the way he manages the cap. He's been there for almost 10 years with like 6 top 10 picks. He is likely to build a core than not since no GMs lasted that long. Not giving credit for that.
Three GM's in Canucks history worked for 8 years.
Two of them got the Canucks to game 7 of the Cup finals .
Benning got one bubble playoffs.
Also only one of the core he "acquired" was Miller. Other 4 were draft picks. props to scouting. And he didn't want to draft Petey. Benning wanted another Virtanen style player.😂😂
His staff had to fight him to get Petey .
Benning is garbage.
great video
Thanks for watching!
Virtanen was much worse than a bust
No doubt. A funny story:
8 months ago I went to a pawn shop near my house and found a Jake Virtanen Canucks jersey priced at $100.
In writing this video, I remembered this and went back to the store hoping to purchase the jersey cheap, assuming it was still there.
So I walk in and sure enough there it is. 8 months later. Made an offer of $50. They wouldnt take it. Offered $60. Same deal. Explained his controversy and etc, but no dice.
Hence the lack of a Canucks jersey in my background.
Giving Benning credit for building the "next canucks roster" is forgetting that every single one of his moves were in service of making the team at the time better. He moved on from anyone he hadn't obsessed over(and overpaid to sign) and "future" improvements were always more of an afterthought/happenstance with him. If he hadn't traded out as many picks as he did to get "his guys" then signed them to overpaying contracts that would be bought out or moved with other trade assets, I would be more willing to give him a pass.
As it stands, he could be counted to rush prospects or trade them for roster players that held scant potential growth for fill in gaps, then throw what was a strength(cap space) away to sign them to bloated contracts.
Thank you Benning for reading out names on draft day when your draft department fought you over the picks and you lost out, but I am glad you are gone.
Just wish ownership would get out of the way and let management cook(the Benning era saw them influencing management excessively and resulted in one of the longest, poorest performing periods in team history).
The Canucks could have been more successful if he chased more actual defenders and didn't have his center men playing defense.
The Coaches he brought in kept forcing their defenders to play as wingers....
Then when they got rockem sockem players he traded them for a bag of marbles
The combination of both of those left the stars vulnerable to look stupid
Then he gave big contracts to the old folks on their way out of the league
Completely agree. He really failed to identify talent in rounding out their roster. Horrible depth choices. Thanks for tuning in
@@WhatsHappeningHockey one of the biggest rules I hated from the Coaches is that if you fight during a game then you're riding the bench for the rest of the game... Its an interesting concept to protect your stars
But when you cant protect your stars for real it defeats the purpose
No fighting was a management rule
Just like "no video games"
(Identified by former Canucks who streamed before)
W video
Thanks for watching!
Sam McMaster.
peter chiarelli/ken holland oilers
I think Holland doing a better job than chiarrili so far lol
@@irvinepoker3187 no shit, he asked for gm to make a new video on
@@Kingsy. Going to wait until Holland's tenure is over in Edmonton. Think that will be the standard moving forward, but that video will absolutely come. Chiarelli in EDM vs Chiarelli in BOS is a great idea though. Stay tuned.
Jim Benning was a disaster
Worst gm in nhl history
Kyle dubas leafs 🤷🏼
It will 100% be coming.
Silovs-Benning
Demko-Benning
Hughes-Benning
Miller-Benning
Boeser-Benning
Petey-Benning
Myers-Benning
Hoglander-Benning
Benning's tenure operated under a tight Aquilini and with the aid of one AGM.
Aquilini now has spent the wad and the Canucks are paying Rutherford, GM Allvin,AGM Granato,AGM Castonguay,Tallon. and AGM Johnson. Count 'em.
silovs was a ian clark pick.
hughes landed in bennings lap by sheer dumb luck.
miller was a cap dump and at the time was an overpayment
petey was not even a benning pick. he was a judd bracket and linden choice. which he eventually pushed both out of the front office.
u give bumbling benning waaaaay too much credit. he deserved/deserves all the hate.
You're the type of Canucks 'fan' that would confiscate Benning's Stanley Cup ring because of sheer ignorance and hatred.
facts only hurt those faced with truth.
@@unplugged123
Benning's Stanley Cup ring is a fact you can't face or accept.
Silovs-Benning
Demko-Benning
Hughes-Benning
Miller-Benning
Boeser-Benning
Petey-Benning
Myers-Benning
Hoglander-Benning
Benning's tenure operated under a tight Aquilini and with the aid of one AGM.
Aquilini now has spent the wad and the Canucks are paying Rutherford, GM Allvin,AGM Granato,AGM Castonguay,Tallon. and AGM Johnson. Count 'em.
@@roundnround365 are u jim bennings mom? does having a stanley cup ring as an assistant make him perfect, infallible and always right? your reasoning is absolutely idiotic... by your logic peter chirelli must be the second coming of Jesus since he was the actual architect of that bruins team.