Jim Benning vs. A Vacuum Cleaner
By Sillig Ekim
8 years ago
Jim Benning and the Vancouver Canucks have had a rough go of it this season. The club is 27th overall, with three remaining games and not an awful lot on the line except pride. It’s been a steep fall from the 101-points grace they enjoyed last season.
If the club’s intention was to secure a top-three selection at the 2016 NHL Draft, then mission accomplished. That’s just not the case though. Benning fully expected to return to the 100-point mark this season and has fallen horribly short – the Canucks will be lucky to hit 75-points this season.
Which begs the question: where did it all go wrong? Injuries played a part. Jeremy Davis did an excellent job profiling the impact they’ve had this season just last week. And oh, what an impact they’ve had. There’s value added in taking that context into the equation, but I think it undersells the impact management has had in steering this ship towards the iceberg.
I’d like to think I speak for most Canucks fans when I wonder aloud whether Benning and co. have done more harm than good in this last season. Clearly something’s amiss. To find out whether Benning is directly responsible for the decline, though, I’m pitting him against an inanimate object. I take my cue from Toronto Maple Leafs blogger, “Bower Power”, who ran a similar test with Dave Nonis many moons ago.
Let’s introduce some ground rules before we get into a transaction by transaction breakdown of these two combatants. I’m going to judge the two based on their performance over the last calendar year. Canucks general manager, vacuum cleaner, is going to re-sign his restricted free agents at 150% of their previous contracts value.
So, how did our two general managers fare:
- The Canucks continue to invest heavily in Luca Sbisa under the vacuum cleaner’s regime. They re-sign him for one-year at $4.35 million. On the other hand, the vacuum cleaner steers clear of extending Derek Dorsett. Benning re-signs Sbisa for three years at $3.6 million, and Dorsett at $2.65 million. That’s a net victory for the vacuum.
- Ronald Kenins earned $717,500 in the final year of his entry-level contract. The vacuum cleaner isn’t the savviest of negotiators, and being subject to the 150% raise rule, re-signs Kenins at $1.1 million for one season. Benning signs Kenins to a one-year, $600,000 deal.
- Because the vacuum cleaner can’t interact with other general managers, Eddie Lack is still a Canuck. Benning traded Lack to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a third and seventh-round selections.
- The vacuum cleaner re-signed Linden Vey to a one-year, $1.1 million contract. Benning re-signed Vey for a cool one million.
- Team vacuum re-signs Yannick Weber at $1.275 million. Benning gets him for $1.5 million.
- The vacuum isn’t a sentient being, so negotiating with Matt Bartkowski’s agent was a complete non-starter. Benning signs Bartkowski to a one-year deal, valued at $1.75 million. Vacuum starting to close ground.
- The vacuum cleaner was every bit as emotionally attached to Zack Kassian as the Canucks organization, but lacked the requisite appendages to make that trade call. Benning traded Kassian and a fifth-round selection to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Brandon Prust. I’d like to say that’s a right hook from the vacuum, but well, you know.
- The vacuum cleaner doesn’t let Laurence Gilman go. Mostly because it can’t. Benning does, though. Replaces him with John Weisbrod to boot.
- Frank Corrado re-signs with the Canucks under the watchful eye of the vacuum cleaner, but at $860,000. Benning gets him for $632,500.
- Ryan Stanton re-signs with the Canucks at $825,000 with a vacuum cleaner running the show. Benning lets Stanton walk in free agency.
- Brandon Sutter is great, but the vacuum cleaner isn’t giving up Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening and a second-round selection for him. Jim Benning did.
- The vacuum cleaner re-signs Baertschi for $1.2 million. Benning gets him for $900,000.
- Emerson Etem is on the trade block, but the vacuum cleaner isn’t biting. Benning offers Nicklas Jensen and a sixth-round selection. Going to rack that up as a win for Benning.
- Alex Biega is a hard working hockey player. Of this much, there is no doubt. The vacuum cleaner doesn’t necessarily see the value in that, or anything else, and doesn’t sign him to a contract extension. Benning signs Biega for two-years at $750,000 per.
- The vacuum cleaner can’t recognize Hunter Shinkaruk’s high offensive ceiling, but even if it could, there’s no way it’s making that trade for Markus Granlund. Jim Benning is.
- Philip Larsen wasn’t good enough for the Edmonton Oilers and he’s not good enough for a vacuum cleaner, either. Benning surrenders a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2017 draft.
Team Vacuum Cleaner:
Try to ignore the dollar values on the contracts. They don’t reflect the contracts that these players earned under the vacuum cleaners regime.
The Canucks under a vacuum cleaner have close to one million in cap space, not accounting for LTIR relief. They only have $45.2 million tied into next season as well, which makes them a threat to bring home almost any free agent of their choosing this off-season.
Although a vacuum cleaner is incapable of scouting, it has a better chance of prying NHL talent specifically. Because the vacuum cleaner couldn’t trade Kevin Bieksa, the Canucks don’t have the extra second-round pick to deal for Brandon Sutter with. They do, however, have a bevy of extra picks in late rounds of the draft – two fifths, an extra sixth and seventh.
On the other hand, they’ve lost Guillaume Brisebois and Tate Olson – two high-end prospects on the Canucks blue line.
Retaining the services of Gilman means the Canucks can easily navigate the waiver wire at the beginning of the season. They keep Corrado, but probably lose Jacob Markstrom on waivers due to the sheer volume of netminders. You win some, you lose some.
Team Benning:
Realities version of the Canucks are about $500,000 away from the salary cap, not accounting for LTIR relief. They have close to $57 million attached to players going into next season, too. They have room to play with in free agency, but it’s limited.
Benning’s Canucks have Brisebois and Olson. Nothing to scoff at, especially given Vancouver’s lack of high-end prospects on the blue line. While we’re on the topic, Benning’s background in scouting indicates he’s a well above average player in that field. I have absolutely no doubt that Benning outdoes the vacuum at the draft.
Unfortunately for Benning, though, he’s kind of reckless with dealing draft picks. That doesn’t help. The Canucks are a rebuilding franchise with just seven picks in seven rounds.
Conclusion
There’s no real way to know which team would beat the other in an actual game. I lean towards the vacuum cleaner, but it’s awfully close. It doesn’t necessarily matter though because at this point we’re arguing over which of the two is the tallest midget.
Team Vacuum Cleaner is in a much better place going forward, though. That’s what matters. They have more cap space, less commitment to middling talent and more draft picks to work with.
If nothing else, this experiment highlights the long-term damage done by some of their short-term bets. Was parting ways with Kassian really worth the fifth-round selection they had to part with to do so? Was investing in Bartkowski worthwhile given the Canucks logjam at defence?
Probably not.
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