GM Jim Benning meets media ahead of draft week

Canucks general manager Jim Benning met with media this morning to discuss a wide variety of topics.

As to be expected at this time of year, there wasn’t a lot of new information given. There are so many moving parts at this time of year that it can be hard to have concrete information to give out until it happens and add to the fact that’s clear that the organization has a lot of things in the hopper that they don’t want to compromise.

The biggest news was another update on prospect Olli Juolevi. The Finnish defenceman missed most of the 2018-19 season with an injury but has been cleared to skate and is expected to do so later today. This is a really encouraging sign for the defenceman looking to get back on track. Ideally, he wouldn’t have missed so much time but getting on the ice in mid-June isn’t a terrible outcome given the severity of his injury. Obviously, he hopes to make the Canucks out of camp but it’s fair to expect that he will start next season in Utica and then push to be a call-up option in the near future.

There were no updates on the Brock Boeser and Alex Edler negotiations. They are very different situations but it’s clear that the organization is working on both and hoping to get a deal on both.

Lastly, as expected the Canucks will look at all their options at the draft and that they will be excited about whatever player they draft in the first round. At this point, we shouldn’t really expect anything different on that front.

The full audio can be found below: