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

[Island Nucklehead]

Can you imagine, if we kept Grabner and the first we gave to Florida and drafted one of Kuznetsov or Coyle? Instead we don't draft until the 4th round only to see the 4 picks we drafted from that draft class never pan out. How shitty is that, nothing to show for from an entire draft year, a common Gillis theme unlike Benning

Would you still be alive if the Canucks lost Grabner on waivers, like Florida did after trading for him? I suspect the aneurysm may have been catastrophic.

[Chef Boi RD]

Can you imagine, if we kept Grabner and the first we gave to Florida and drafted one of Kuznetsov or Coyle? Instead we don't draft until the 4th round only to see the 4 picks we drafted from that draft class never pan out. How shitty is that, nothing to show for from an entire draft year, a common Gillis theme unlike Benning

Would you still be alive if the Canucks lost Grabner on waivers, like Florida did after trading for him? I suspect the aneurysm may have been catastrophic.

The Canucks are still feeling the affects of the impatience of Gillis

Step 1 - trade a 2nd and a 3rd for Bernier
Step 2 - A year later trade Bernier, Grabner and a 1st for Ballard
Step 3 - Buyout Ballard

Asset mgmt at its finest

Grabner scores 27 goals this year. Canucks could have drafted one of Kyznetsov, Coyle or Brock Nelson instead of trading that 1st. All 3 of those players who could've been Canucks had excellent years this year. What a gong show impatience can be

Patience Grasshopper

[Blob Mckenzie]

Jack Gordon traded Cam Neely and potentially a shot at Pierre Turgeon or Brendan Shanahan
for Barry Pederson.
About as relevant as Michael Grabner is to this thread.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Can you imagine, if we kept Grabner and the first we gave to Florida and drafted one of Kuznetsov or Coyle? Instead we don't draft until the 4th round only to see the 4 picks we drafted from that draft class never pan out. How shitty is that, nothing to show for from an entire draft year, a common Gillis theme unlike Benning

Would you still be alive if the Canucks lost Grabner on waivers, like Florida did after trading for him? I suspect the aneurysm may have been catastrophic.

Yeah he glosses over the fact Grabner was actually playing well in the AHL. Virtanen looks like an ECHL player at this point.

[SKYO]

There's still hope for 'old man' Virtanen just yet.

He'll start the season at 21 years old with a full AHL season under his belt.

For JV to succeed, like a lot of junior stars it's having the mature attitude/work ethic, strength/experience and the right coach to give him confidence.

In the perfect world for next season on our 4th line we could have an asshole LW - Sutter - Virtanen line, to provide pure energy/hustle with some scoring.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Skyo I hope the best for the kid god knows they need him to succeed. It doesn't excuse the horrific numbers for a supposedly gifted offensive player. He wasn't physical at all which is hugely alarming as well. He apparently avoided contact and confrontation like the plague.

[BladesofSteel]

He wasn't physical at all which is hugely alarming as well. He apparently avoided contact and confrontation like the plague.

Care to reference?

[Hockey Widow]

You were glad they stayed away from Tkachuk ?

Not picking him because they drafted Virtanen is the height of stupidity. If they were adamant that Juolevi was the best player at that pick that's one thing but to pick by position when your organizational depth is horrible at every position is asinine. And all those players the dude mentioned being late bloomers were tracking a hell of a lot better than Virtanen is right now. He's gotten worse every year since he was drafted.

Ya I was. I was leary of Tkachuk. Did Virtanen scare me off? Ya he did. Stupid me I guess.

[Chef Boi RD]

Apparently, accordingly to Bubbles well studied analysis from extensive/intensive in person scouting we are supposed to be sticking forks into both Virtanen and Juolevi, done like dinner, the book is written but not written on Shinkaruk. He's so objective

[Chef Boi RD]

Can you imagine, if we kept Grabner and the first we gave to Florida and drafted one of Kuznetsov or Coyle? Instead we don't draft until the 4th round only to see the 4 picks we drafted from that draft class never pan out. How shitty is that, nothing to show for from an entire draft year, a common Gillis theme unlike Benning

Would you still be alive if the Canucks lost Grabner on waivers, like Florida did after trading for him? I suspect the aneurysm may have been catastrophic.

Yeah he glosses over the fact Grabner was actually playing well in the AHL. Virtanen looks like an ECHL player at this point.

So by that account with Grabner actually playing well in the AHL coupled with INbreds gift for knowing the outcome in alternate worlds made from alternate decisions - Florida waiving Grabner that means Gillis would have waived him too? Boy oh boy RD, Gillis even makes dumb ass decisions in alternate universes - Grabner 27 goals this season.

Remember Bubbles and INbreds urinating over Benning waiving Corrado?

Where is Ballard?

[Blob Mckenzie]

He wasn't physical at all which is hugely alarming as well. He apparently avoided contact and confrontation like the plague.

Care to reference?

I watched half dozen games myself and I don't think I saw him throw a hit in those games. There are two posters on hfboards Canucks who watch all the games and they both commented that his physical game all but disappeared.

[BladesofSteel]

[Blob Mckenzie]

[Island Nucklehead]

So by that account with Grabner actually playing well in the AHL coupled with INbreds gift for knowing the outcome in alternate worlds made from alternate decisions - Florida waiving Grabner that means Gillis would have waived him too? Boy oh boy RD, Gillis even makes dumb ass decisions in alternate universes - Grabner 27 goals this season.

Pot? Is that you?

Grabner was trying to work his way onto a team that had four 50+ point wingers.

I wonder if the Panthers, Islanders and leaves are all as apoplectic as you are about this guy moving on.

It's been more than three years since Mike Gillis was fired. You really need to move on, Dude.

[ESQ]

I think Grabner does have some relevance, because its the loss of all players in Grabner's generation that has left Benning in the position he's in, and its the reason he can't do a quick re-tool like the Sharks and Ducks (as IN pointed out).

I'm not saying Grabner is the cure to all of the Canucks problems, but he's emblematic of the problem of having practically nothing to show for a decade of drafting.

My point is, there's nothing Benning could have done to make up for essentially no first round picks from 2005 to 2012, and Mason Raymond being the best forward drafted in that period that had an impact for the Canucks.

The rebuild had started under Gillis' watch, and the biggest piece of the youth movement thus far was acquired by Gillis. It continued in Benning's year one with the team trading two of their veteran top-4 D and one of the best shutdown centers in the game. In spite of re-building and shipping out vets, Benning's team made the playoffs on the strength of a Sedin bounceback and one solid UFA signing in Vrbata.

Now we're in year 3 (or 3.5, going back to the Luongo trade) of the re-build, with 4 players remaining from 2013/14, and surprise surprise its painful. With a 70+ point bounceback by the Sedins and a Vrbata-like performance from Eriksson, we may be a playoff team again, but its much more unlikely for the stars to align at this stage of the re-build. Alternatively, if the Sedins maintain and Horvat, Baertschi, Boeser get 60+ points, we could be right in the thick of it.

But what more can you really ask in a re-build? Young players are getting a shot, high picks are being acquired, vets have been shipped out steadily for 3 years, and there is a sliver of hope that with a lot of good luck, they can be competitive.