Canucks to Make Changes to Front-Office Staff

When Jim Benning was first hired as general manager of the Canucks, one of his most significant roles has been to ignite an alamingly bare prospect pool. Going into his fourth NHL Entry Draft with the organization, his drafting so far – although not stellar – has been much better than the previous regime’s.

During the Mike Gillis era, Ron Delorme served as Director of Amateur Scouting – a position that had a crucial voice at the draft table. His draft record in that role was sub-par, which led to his demotion once Benning’s group took over in 2014. At that time, John Weisbrod assumed the role of Vice President, Player Personnel – yet another significant voice amongst the scouting staff. Eric Crawford took over the board for Delorme, but his time spent was short lived as he was fired by Trevor Linden the next year.  In comes Judd Bracket, one of the Canucks’ regional scouts who had monitored the Boston-New England area for seven years. Two years is hardly enough time to draw conclusions from a given draft group, but it appears the Canucks have had enough.

Matt Sekeres has reported that the Canucks will be making changes to their front-office department, including their scouting staff.

For now, the focus appears to be on the scouting department, which includes its scouts and player development personnel. Those hoping for a more dramatic change will be disappointed as the chances of Jim Benning and Trevor Linden being effected are unlikely. Changes within the regional scouts do occur relatively often, but it’s unsure whether this will include the likes of Thomas Gradin, Harold Snepts, and even Ron Delorme.

This overall movement shouldn’t come to a surprise as many have called for this since the new regime came in. Although it took a four years for Trevor Linden and company to act, it appears the dissatisfaction with the scouting staff has reached it’s peak. Sekeres believes that these moves will be made around July 1st, with announcements following shortly after.