The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

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Hockey Widow
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Hockey Widow »

I don't remember anyone being thrilled, or even mildly happy, that Benning drafted Pettersson. I think we can all admit that.

I don't remember very many people being happy Benning drafted Hughes. There were some enlightened among us who were thrilled but most were underwhelmed.

I remember a lot of mixed reactions to drafting Pod, mostly because he was Russian and committed to two more years in Russia.

I don't remember anyone thrilled he traded a first for Miller. Oh for sure some tried to rationalize it but most were shocked.

I think most people had favourites they wanted Benning to draft. So what. Thats what makes our draft fun is we all get to have opinions.

I do think everyone, well almost everyone, is happy we drafted Pettersson, Hughes, Pod and traded that first for Miller. Seems to me we are all on the same page with those moves so who cares who wanted who, when and why back whenever.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Blob Mckenzie »

Hockey Widow wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 10:45 am I don't remember anyone being thrilled, or even mildly happy, that Benning drafted Pettersson. I think we can all admit that.

I don't remember very many people being happy Benning drafted Hughes. There were some enlightened among us who were thrilled but most were underwhelmed.

I remember a lot of mixed reactions to drafting Pod, mostly because he was Russian and committed to two more years in Russia.

I don't remember anyone thrilled he traded a first for Miller. Oh for sure some tried to rationalize it but most were shocked.

I think most people had favourites they wanted Benning to draft. So what. Thats what makes our draft fun is we all get to have opinions.

I do think everyone, well almost everyone, is happy we drafted Pettersson, Hughes, Pod and traded that first for Miller. Seems to me we are all on the same page with those moves so who cares who wanted who, when and why back whenever.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Zedlee »

Benning gets a passing grade on his draft record.

On asset management and contract negotiations he gets a fail from me. Too many draft picks traded away, too many expensive fringe players.

For the canucks to get to "contender" status we need Benning to excel now at asset management. He will need skill and guts to get out of bad contracts and avoid signing any new bad contracts. Demko vs Markstrom - a hard decision. Tough decisions coming now on Tanev, Stecher, Virtanen and Toffoli. Will he keep the right guys at the right price? The legacy of Jim Benning will be written now in how he manages this group.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Chef Boi RD »

The team likes Stecher, I think he stays. Motte is an RFA he is a must sign and the only bright spot in the bottom 6. You need his speed and forecheck. Virtanen stays cause I think he will sign cheap and is still young and learning. Toffoli I’m not so sure about now all depends on Marky. Tanev is a must, you need solid veterans and he’s that
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Carl Yagro »

With the benefit of hindsight, some of us will happily change our tune.

While others will continue to ignore facts, stamp their feet, throw tantrums and piss & shit everywhere.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Nuckertuzzi »

Zedlee wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:16 am Benning gets a passing grade on his draft record.

On asset management and contract negotiations he gets a fail from me. Too many draft picks traded away, too many expensive fringe players.

For the canucks to get to "contender" status we need Benning to excel now at asset management. He will need skill and guts to get out of bad contracts and avoid signing any new bad contracts. Demko vs Markstrom - a hard decision. Tough decisions coming now on Tanev, Stecher, Virtanen and Toffoli. Will he keep the right guys at the right price? The legacy of Jim Benning will be written now in how he manages this group.

Agree with everything here except the first line, a "passing grade"? C'mon man we won two draft lotteries without winning a draft lottery. In a couple years a third if not half of the roster could well be made up of draftees. That is barring more trades like the Tofolli deal, which should be noted good drafting paved the way for such a deal to happen. Nothing like this has ever happened here before where a good team was built through excellent drafting.

The Virtanen and Joulevi hiccups keeps me from declaring the past half decade as one of the best in NHL history (as far as first rounds go anyway) but it's still gotta be right up there. With the hiccups I'm dropping my grade from an A+ but still gets a solid A thanks alone to Petey & Hughes (and hon mention to Boeser). And because I put so much stock in drafting, especially for a rebuilding team, I give Benning an overall grade of B despite the glaring blunders we're still having to live with, but that's just me.
Last edited by Nuckertuzzi on Sun Sep 06, 2020 2:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Nuckertuzzi »

For the record I was never one to get too involved in picking favorites before the draft and/or criticizing picks after. Except perhaps the Joulevi pick only because at the time everything leading up to that draft had a clear consensus of a top 5 tier that most lists didn't have Joulevi on, so to me it reeked of drafting for position which is a cardinal sin when picking so high. I felt we needed to dumb it down and stick with the consensus, which other than the Oilers' pick was pretty accurate.
Nevertheless I think getting worked up for players most of us know very little about may be fun for debate but is really an exercise in futility.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Topper »

Retooling by the GENIUS will continue.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Chef Boi RD »

Nuckertuzzi wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:48 pm For the record I was never one to get too involved in picking favorites before the draft and/or criticizing picks after. Except perhaps the Joulevi pick only because at the time everything leading up to that draft had a clear consensus of a top 5 tier that most lists didn't have Joulevi on, so to me it reeked of drafting for position which is a cardinal sin when picking so high. I felt we needed to dumb it down and stick with the consensus, which other than the Oilers' pick was pretty accurate.
Nevertheless I think getting worked up for players most of us know very little about may be fun for debate but is really an exercise in futility.
Juolevi was getting consistent top 6 rankings leading up to the draft, it wasn’t a reach at all, in fact a lot of people were ok with the pick. Leading up to the draft everyone kept saying the Canucks need to draft a Defenceman. The last time they did so was Luc Bourdon. It’s hard to find defencemen in the draft. The Canucks drafted 3 wingers in the previous 3 first rounds - Shinkaruk, Virtanen and Boeser. They were deep with wingers in the pipeline but not Defenceman. Was it the best choice? No. Obviously. But that’s the nature of the draft when drafting 18 year olds. It won’t be the last time where the choice made wasn’t the best choice. Benning has done remarkably well since that draft with his choices, but because of the good run I’m assuming we are bound for a dud soon.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Mickey107 »

Juolevi damned near played in these here, now past :cry: , playoffs. wouldn't surprise me if he's part of the regular D-core for the
20/21, mutated start time, season. YUP..
Now then, when does Podkolzin's season end? Could get interesting.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Topper »

The JuJU man was one the key 3 of the Fin WJC team that everyone drooled over.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Cousin Strawberry »

The little i saw of him in the game before the play-ins showed me he has turned a significant developmental corner.

I would say Stetcher wont be requalified and let to go UFA. If he is willing to return at around a mill a year he could be offered a contract though.

He is a depth piece no more/no less.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Blob Mckenzie »

Topper wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 4:50 pm The JuJU man was one the key 3 of the Fin WJC team that everyone drooled over.
He really wasn’t. He was a passenger on both his own junior team and the Finnish national team. He racked up a bunch of assists and once he didn’t play on the dream teams the following two years his play went in the toilet.
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Carl Yagro »

Technically, Ju did play an NHL playoff qualifier game against the Wild, did he not?

Who here doesn't think he's got the spot over Fantenberg starting next season? If not for injuries, he'd already be in the bigs.

So technically, at least one Benning pick from every single draft he has presided over (with the exception of the latest one) has played at least one NHL game.

Which all-time Canucks GM has drafted better over the same consecutive 5 year period? How many recent and current NHL GMs have drafted better?

1 Calder runner-up, 1 Calder winner, 1 Calder finalist. Back to back to back.

A #1 Center, a #1 Dman, a top-6 scoring winger, a potential #1 goalie... all contributing successfully. 3 out of these 4 immediately in their rookie seasons.

JB oversees some of the same scouts and senior mgmt group that were mediocre to awful under previous regimes. He only gets a passing grade for drafting?
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Re: The Great Jim Benning Debate! (And personal insult thread)

Post by Richardstroker69 »

Doyle Hargraves wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 5:36 pm
Topper wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 4:50 pm The JuJU man was one the key 3 of the Fin WJC team that everyone drooled over.
He really wasn’t. He was a passenger on both his own junior team and the Finnish national team. He racked up a bunch of assists and once he didn’t play on the dream teams the following two years his play went in the toilet.
His draft plus 2 year was great, what are you talking about?
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