WSAcanuck

Holy fuck are you actually Jim Benning? Cause even he probably doesn’t think he was as perfect as you do. We can agree to disagree. You do realize that the only reason Benning got to draft Petterssen and Hughes was because he sucked so bad at what he was trying to do which was rebuild on the fly, right? Not to mention whiffing on or giving up on every other 1st round pick he made. Ya I think the future would have been better if he could hit on or keep top 10 picks. Gillis = 2 presidents trophies and 1 win away from a Stanley cup Benning = almost a decade of futility all while being a cap ceiling team and not much of a farm system left behind. It’s not hard to tell who achieved more. PA and JR didn’t hang onto Benning’s team because they wanted to. They had no choice.

I like Hronek as a player but definitely the wrong time to be making trades like that. The OEL trade, same thing. At least Hronek is youngish. But I’ve said for 10 years trading picks for quick fixes is the wrong approach and history has largely proven that opinion correct. Cap ceiling team. Bottom of the league results. A barren prospect pool. And bleeding picks seemingly every year. Sounds like a recipe for worst run team in the NHL.

He traded McCann plus for Gudbranson so apparently even he thought he sucked at drafting. Boeser at 23 was a good pick but it’s not like he is an elite level player. With even average drafting by Benning and not trading picks for garbage the team would be in a way better position now.

So which subsequent GM position does Benning have again? Lol If you directly compare Gillis and Benning on just their skill and overall trade costs of adding depth players around the core then please explain how you don’t think Gillis deserves praise but Benning does? Again Lol The Ballard trade was not the best but context matters. Hamhuis was not signed at that point. And there was no guarantee he would sign with Van. AV completely miscast Ballard and rendered him redundant in the lineup and didn’t use him to his strengths at all. That was a huge coaching fail that likely cost us the cup after all our D injuries: Benning didn’t start with a depleted roster. He would never have got the job if he didn’t agree like the stubborn owners to refuse a rebuild. I won’t argue that Benning’s impact on the team is huge. It’s just huge in a negative way on pretty much the whole organization.

Had we won the cup no one would be calling Gillis anything based on drafting. It’s ludicrous to call down a gm who won two presidents trophies and came within one win of a cup. It doesn’t happen unless he did a lot of things right particularly early.

you do know that pretty much every top of the league team mortgages their future for playoff success right? Bottom of the league teams like Benning had really should not do that. The combination of Benning’s drafting and pro scouting failures, disastrous trade valuations, bleeding picks, etc. along with limited team success during his tenure strongly puts him in contention for the worst GM in Canucks history.

Detroit passing on Hughes doesn’t make him any less of a no brainer. That was. Just a straight up mistake on their part. The chance of Hughes busting were between nil and none. His offensive skill and skating alone pretty much assured him of an nhl career. Juolevi was not considered the best dman in that draft. And he absolutely was not seen by many as a top 5 quality pick. He was supposedly a low risk low reward pick who ultimately turned into a high risk no return player.

Gillis surrounded a strong upcoming core with an absolutely great complement of depth guys and role players. He made a lot of really good moves early on and the team had its most successful period during his time. He wasn’t perfect but he was one of the best GM’s the Canucks have had.

Here’s the thing though. Hughes was absolutely a no brainer at that spot. Petterssen was not as much a no brainer we pre draft but was in the conversation at that spot for sure. And it seems very credibly reported by numerous sources that Benning had to be convinced to pick EP but didn’t want him as much as another option. Juolevi was at no time the best dman available in that draft. Even ahead of time. He was the lower floor consensus option but certainly not the highest potential ceiling option. Virtanen was just a complete boneheaded puck. Podkolzin is looking like maybe a mistake too. All the tools but no toolbox yet. Hopefully I turn out wrong on that. Rathbone was a decent selection. I think a huge part of the problem with the Canucks spanning several management groups now is effective prospect development. Gillis was horrible at drafting but overall was a great GM. Him trading picks was a very different environment than Benning trading picks. Winning teams being at the cap and trading picks is kind of expected. Losing teams doing both those things is kind of stupid.

None of that is arguable imo.

NHL talent like who? Outside of the obvious handful of names over several seasons, hardly any players drafted by Benning have become full time nhl players. If “nhl talent” to you means getting a few call ups or flaming out after a year or two then I guess that meets your standards. Benning hit on exactly 2 first round picks in his entire tenure that have had any significant positive impact on the Canucks. And Demko in the 2nd round. Who else were these big wins?

The problem is Benning and Gillis were both overall garbage at drafting.

Petterssen and Hughes were absolute no brainer sat their draft position. Demko came out of Brackett’s area of scouting expertise iirc.

Juolevi and Virtanen are the reason I laugh anytime anyone says Benning was a draft guru.

I’m the Vegas GM. I will pm you

No one really pops out as a must have today either.

Pretty sure Tocchet would have been crystal clear in his expectations for Joshua at the year end meetings. It’s disengenuous to suggest he just didn’t know what they wanted him to do.

Still no one that really adds anything we need or moves the needle in terms of being much better than what we already have.

I think any guy who waits until he gets called out by his coach in training camp to put in the work is a guy who really doesn’t want to put in the work until it’s crunch time. He came in acting entitled and has really shown nothing in terms of the player they need him to be other than against his own teammates in practice Joshua is probably only even still here because the roster is so weakly built in terms of not having even a few guys that have his skillset.

I know I was responding to someone saying another team should claim him. The clown emoji was interesting though.

Someone may claim Woo or Rathbone but I really doubt it. Rathbone just can’t seem to wrap his head around playing the type of game he needs to for an NHL job. Maybe somewhere else he would get a different opportunity who knows.

I see no one on that list worth a claim for the Canucks.

I thought Hirose was exempt from waivers still.

Woo or Rathbone could be claimed but I doubt it.

Best possible outcome for Nartin and the Canucks. Clears the deck for Silovs to start the bulk of the AHL games and as a call up if needed.