Pre-Game Talk: [Pre-Season] GM03 | Vancouver Canucks @ Seattle Kraken | Fri. Sep 27th | 7pm PST | SNP | Heat Seaking Myers-ile

[logan5]

It's astonishing how bad Benning drafting was. So much for we feel we can get a NHL player at any point in the draft.... From the last 4 drafts it may only be Hoglander, Podz, McDonaugh and Silovs that see NHL time in their careers. One of those guys likely won't see any more time than his 6 games and I think Podz has a good chanc eto not be long for the league. That leaves Hogs and Silovs.

I prefer to say “the previous management group”, because we don’t know who is responsible for drafting each player.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Kudryatsev continues to get a nice look next to Myers.

And Sherwood should have a chance to show his stuff riding shotgun with Petey and DeBrusk.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

I thought that Woo had a better game than Juulsen and Wolanin last night

I think it's more they want Woo to focus on the AHL after his injury and this was more "giving him a taste." It's also a good time to sneak him through. Wolanin will undoubtedly follow.

Despite his game last night, Juulsen showed he can play at the NHL level. His turnaround last year was remarkable. I think he'll do better working with Tocchet

 

[MS]

It's astonishing how bad Benning drafting was. So much for we feel we can get a NHL player at any point in the draft.... From the last 4 drafts it may only be Hoglander, Podz, McDonaugh and Silovs that see NHL time in their careers. One of those guys likely won't see any more time than his 6 games and I think Podz has a good chanc eto not be long for the league. That leaves Hogs and Silovs.

Prospect development was the much bigger problem than the drafting.

Woo lost a year to COVID and then he basically lost a second year when Trent Cull played him as a forward.

 

[Peen]

Kudryatsev continues to get a nice look next to Myers.

And Sherwood should have a chance to show his stuff riding shotgun with Petey and DeBrusk.

That would be a huge, but very welcome, surprise. I think bottom pair LD is their second biggest need behind another clear top four guy.

 

[wonton15]

Debrusk-Petey-Sherwood could work very well. Strong motor guys with good shots and an edge. My Sherwood stocks are going brrrrrrrr

 

[TruGr1t]

Kudryatsev continues to get a nice look next to Myers.

And Sherwood should have a chance to show his stuff riding shotgun with Petey and DeBrusk.

Hah always love seeing them on the ice at Thunderbird Protrans. My son plays there all the time.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I think it's more they want Woo to focus on the AHL after his injury and this was more "giving him a taste." It's also a good time to sneak him through. Wolanin will undoubtedly follow.

Despite his game last night, Juulsen showed he can play at the NHL level. His turnaround last year was remarkable. I think he'll do better working with Tocchet

Just to add to this - our top six on defense is largely set. The spots that are open for battle are the 7th and 8th spots, and guys who are likely going to be sitting, waiting, and practicing until injury opens up a spot. It doesn't benefit a guy like Woo at all to be in that spot at the moment, whereas guys like Juulsen and Friedman are kind of here expressly for that purpose.

 

[wonton15]

I’d expect a Lankinen start.

 

[Vector]

 

[RobertKron]

I prefer to say “the previous management group”, because we don’t know who is responsible for drafting each player.

I mean, except when you thought it was a way to praise Benning.

What current GM's have drafted better than Benning since 2014, so I can then check those draft years and see if you're correct. Not saying he's the best drafting GM in the league. I just want to see for myself the disparity in GM's around the league.

The one thing that Benning has accomplished is drafting elite talent. He's drafted 2 Calder finalists in a row, which is something no GM in Canucks history has ever done. He can take that drafting record even further if Hughes is a Calder finalist, which most hockey experts think he has a good shot at. You can say that given his draft position, he should be drafting elite talent, which is fair, but like I said other GM's have had consecutive high draft picks and not accomplished what Benning has in the draft. That accomplishment alone puts Benning ahead of the likes of Jack Gordon and Harry Neale, who despite having high draft positions year after year, ran the organization into the ground so badly that it took Pat Quinn until year 5 of his tenure to make the Canucks a winning organization.

I'll ask again. Explain what Jack Gordon and Harry Neale did that made them a better GM than Benning. Anybody?

Depending on what your definition of "defending Benning" is. I have given Benning credit for drafting good young talent (3 Calder finalists in a row, possibly 4), and been critical of people who resort to name calling. Around here, that seems to be enough to be considered a rose coloured glasses Benning supporter.

The vitriol directed towards Benning is over the top. That statement doesn't mean I am a huge Benning supporter, but I do support decent and fair treatment of people in general.

The area where I've defended Benning is in draft picks. And the name calling bugs me.

There's a huge double standard here. Time after time people bring up the teams lack of success in the Benning years, but would have no problem hiring a GM with just about as bad a record, in Gorton. Gorton is rebuilding in just the same way Benning is - that is finishing low in the standings then getting high draft picks. Gorton got lucky and won the draft lottery twice, giving him #1 overall in 2020 (Alexis Lafreniere) and #2 overall in 2019 (Kaapo Kakko). The highest pick Benning ever got was 5 (twice), but he has still managed to draft much better than Gorton.

Pettersson at #5 is easily better than #1Lafreniere, going by their rookie seasons, and Hoglanderr at 40 is having a better rookie season than #2 Kakko's second season in the league. The Rangers don't have anything close to Hughes talent, who the Canucks stole at #7. K'Andre Miller looks like he can play, but so does Rathbone. The 2 Russians cancel out, though Podkolzin is 19 and Kravtsov is 21 and has only 2G and 2A in 20 games, so I'm taking play-off beast Podkolzin here.

I'm just not seeing a huge difference in the trajectories of these 2 rebuilding teams, and you can make a strong argument that Benning has drafted much better, despite his weaker drafting positions.

 

[Deeds26]

Seems like Raty is taking a little blue pill before each game.

 

[wonton15]

Confirming JT Miller will play this preseason is either comedy or alluding something was up? Weird way to word it lol

 

[Vector]

Confirming JT Miller will play this preseason is either comedy or alluding something was up? Weird way to word it lol

I'm guessing reporters keep asking him and he is just repeating what he said before game 01.

 

[ManVanFan]

I think it's more they want Woo to focus on the AHL after his injury and this was more "giving him a taste." It's also a good time to sneak him through. Wolanin will undoubtedly follow.

Despite his game last night, Juulsen showed he can play at the NHL level. His turnaround last year was remarkable. I think he'll do better working with Tocchet

Juulsen seems to be a really slow starter to every season.

 

[bandwagonesque]

A pretty stiff kid. Is that good or bad?

It's funny when sports speak becomes so debased that it's completely ambiguous.

Raty's been pretty chewy in there near the end of games. We've got a lot of crunchy players but you need both, he has to decide which one he wants to be.

 

[Vector]

 

[Vector]

A pretty stiff kid. Is that good or bad?

It's funny when sports speak becomes so debased that it's completely ambiguous.

Raty's been pretty chewy in there near the end of games. We've got a lot of crunchy players but you need both, he has to decide which one he wants to be.

I too can't parse what he's actually saying. Is it a compliment? Is it something he needs to work on? Does Tocchet even know anymore?

 

[tantalum]

Prospect development was the much bigger problem than the drafting.

Woo lost a year to COVID and then he basically lost a second year when Trent Cull played him as a forward.

Well EVERYTHING was a problem. Not sure there was anything good except for goaltender coaching.

 

[bandwagonesque]

I too can't parse what he's actually saying. Is it a compliment? Is it something he needs to work on? Does Tocchet even know anymore?

It has to be a compliment, but it sounds like he made it up on the spot.

Actually maybe it isn't. I don't know either.

 

[pitseleh]

Seems like Raty is taking a little blue pill before each game.

He has really embraced the hard.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

Plz for the love of god keep the big boys out tomorrow so I can justify going to the game on Saturday.

 

[ManVanFan]

I mean, except when you thought it was a way to praise Benning.

That's a lot of quotes. I would say anyone that says Benning sucks at drafting, probably doesn't know much about drafting and anyone who praises Benning's drafting also doesn't know much about drafting.

Benning's tenure in my mind was anything good he did, he did something bad to erase that good. That's why he was fired.

 

[MS]

That's a lot of quotes. I would say anyone that says Benning sucks at drafting, probably doesn't know much about drafting and anyone who praises Benning's drafting also doesn't know much about drafting.

Benning's tenure in my mind was anything good he did, he did something bad to erase that good. That's why he was fired.

Benning sucks at scouting.

What impact he had on the drafting vs. the scouting staff is an ongoing debate, although in virtually every case we're aware of he was sabotaging their work.

The overall drafting results were then sabotaged by the worst development system/period in the modern history of the NHL.

He did 10+ bad things for every good thing he did here. He is the worst GM in NHL history.

 

[arttk]

He is the worst GM in NHL history.

Key point