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Jim Benning Reveals His Draft Strategy, Talks About Defencemen, Defencemen, and More Defencemen
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Jeremy Davis
Mar 10, 2016, 13:00 ESTUpdated:
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Canucks GM Jim Benning joined TSN 1040’s Midday show yesterday to discuss a variety of topics, including his decision to reveal his draft strategy at last night’s Town Hall for season ticket holders.
He also discussed Nikita Tryamkin, Thatcher Demko, college free agents, and lots and lots of defencemen. The exceptionally honest Benning may make some fans nervous with his willingness to reveal strategy and information, but at least it makes for good blog material.
Let’s dig in.

On Drafting a Defenceman

There was some hand wringing the other night after Benning revealed to Canucks season ticket holder (and by extension the entire civilized world) that he intended to target a defenceman in this year’s NHL Entry Draft. Of course, he added the caveat that he would only do so if there wasn’t a better forward available.
My first impression of this revelation is that it sounds like another way of saying that he plans to take the best player available. Sure, I’ll look for a defenceman, unless there’s a better forward available. From this angle, this information seems to be rather empty.
Yesterday, Benning elaborated on that, given an even deeper glimpse into what his intentions are for the draft.
“When we come to the draft, wherever we’re picking if we make the decision that a forward is too good to pass up, then we’ll draft a forward, I’m not gonna be held to what we say here in March come the end of June. I wanna do what’s best for the organization. We haven’t drafted a defenceman in ten years in the first round, so all things being equal, if there’s a defenceman that we really like with our pick, we’re gonna lean in that direction. The fact that it’s out there, I’m okay with that.”
One of the fears that arose last night was Benning’s personal draft order. If he was hell bent on grabbing a defenceman, would he take Sarnia’s Jacob Chychrun at second overall, forgoing the elite Finnish wingers Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi that are the consensus second and third picks?
I think fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief on that front, as Benning intimated that he felt that the two Finns were a cut above the rest of the pack.
“I believe there’s separation”, Benning said. “I believe those guys at the top end, Matthews and the two Finns, they have a chance to be special players in the NHL. They have the size, the strength, the skill, so I think those top three guys, and then after that, for me, there’s the next group.”
Benning was also asked to give a scouting report on Chychrun.
“He’s got an NHL body, he’s 6’2”, 215, and for his size he skates like the wind. He’s a guy that can get the puck and skate it up ice and make plays, but he can get back to, because he’s such a good skater, to recover defensively. He’s a real good player, he’s a real good defenceman in this draft, so we’ll just have to see how it falls.”
Regrettably, he was the only defenceman that the range that Benning was prodded about. There might be a tendency to assume that Benning considers Chychrun to be the top defenceman in the draft, but that may indeed be a perception created by the fact that the questions led him to talk specifically about that player and not openly about which defencemen he likes. As a result, we cannot use his assessment of Chychrun to extrapolate his feelings about Olli Juolevi, Mikhail Sergachev, or any other defencemen that might fall within the range they can expect to be in.
On the whole, Benning’s honesty that he’s leaning towards a defenceman doesn’t bother me at all. Factoring in the lottery, the Canucks can reasonably expect to pick anywhere in the top 10 at this point. Depending on who you ask, there could be as many as six defencemen that could be taken within that range within being considered much of a reach, including Juolevi, Chychrun and Sergachev, as well as Dante Fabbro, Jake Bean and Charlie McAvoy. As such, It’s up to Benning to decide how he orders them and act accordingly.

On the College Free Agent Market

The conversation moved along to college free agents, with the thought that some of them might be more NHL ready than an 18-year that could be grabbed at the draft.
“We’ve had conversation these last couple of weeks, we did the groundwork with agents, we have a list of players in the order that we like them, and as their teams start losing out and they decide that they’re gonna turn pro, we’re gonna be in on that too.”
The hosts neglected to ask Benning about any defenceman in particular, so we don’t know his feelings on that, but our own Ryan Biech provided us with a list of potential targets just the other day, including two defencemen. My personal preference would be Troy Stecher, a teammate of Brock Boeser’s out at the University of North Dakota, and a local boy to boot (he hails from Richmond). He’s a bit undersized at 5-foot-11, but he can run a power play and he has some of the attributes that Benning is often searching for: the ability to retrieve the puck and quickly transition it up the ice.
Moving on to the forward crop, the hosts inquired about Brandon Tanev, brother of Christopher Tanev (also covered in Ryan’s article).
“He’s on our list. One of our scouts said that the only goals he scores are big goals, game winning goals. He’s a real good skater, he’s a good penalty killer, he’s fast. We see him maybe developing into a fourth line, two-way penalty killer, a speed type guy. He’s a guy that we have on our list, once his season ends then we’ll be in contact with his agent.”
Blake Price made the point that many college free agents are looking to step into the NHL pretty quickly rather than spend a few more years in the AHL, and that given the Canucks position (they have holes in their lineup), they might have a bit of an advantage over other teams during the courting period.
“The agents are on top of all this stuff, they know where you are depth wise. They know all the team’s depth charts, and I think that’s gonna work to our advantage trying to sign a defenceman.”

On Nikita Tryamkin and Andrey Pedan

The conversation on college defencemen switched to incoming monstrous defender Nikita Tryamkin, whom the Canucks signed to an Entry Level Deal just yesterday. Benning was asked is he was surprised that Tryamkin was coming over this early or if he thought that he would’ve have stayed another year in the KHL, and Benning of course answered that this was their plan all along.
Really, it was the only possible plan. Given the age at which Tryamkin was drafted, the Canucks were set to lose his rights on June 1st of this year, at which point he would become an unrestricted free agent. So letting him play another year in Russia would have been decidedly unwise.
“Our plan was all along to get him over, we didn’t know if we could get him over right now, but in the summer time we wanted to get him over and see where he was at. But with where we are in the standings right now, it just made sense to go down that path. His season ended a week ago and so we went down that path and we’re working towards finalizing everything and getting him on the ice with us and seeing where he’s at in his development.”
An added wrinkle with the Tryamkin signing is that he is reported to have an AHL out clause in his contract, meaning that if he is assigned to the minors, he can report back to Russia instead of playing in Utica. This doesn’t seem to bother Benning a whole lot, as he feels that they can sell Tryamkin on the North American developmental process.
“Once he gets over here and lands, he’s gonna practice with the team and we’re gonna go from there. We’d like to get him into some games, see where he’s at, and that’ll help him with his decision making process as to ‘Okay, I’m ready to play in the NHL right now, or I gotta get used to the smaller ice surface’, It’s a more physical game in the corners and in front of the net than it is in Europe. There’s an adjustment period that’s gonna happen with him. We’ll monitor when he plays the games where he’s at, and if he needs some time maybe in the minors, then I think he’ll be able to buy into that this is the league that he wants to play in at the end of the day, and if he needs some time to do that to get to the NHL.”
Andrey Pedan is another big, scary defenceman with a Russian background. He made his NHL debut earlier this season, albeit as a forward. After getting into a couple games as a defenceman, fans and media alike began to fawn over his physical game, as well as his skill set in moving the puck. Naturally they’ve been waiting to get another glimpse of him.
“There’s like three or four players that we want to get up here from now to the end of the year. Brendan Gaunce was one of them, Alex Grenier is another player that we want to give time to and see where he’s at. Mike Zalewski is a guy that we want to bring into games and see where he’s at. Then Andrey Pedan is the defenceman that we want to look at. He’ll come up, but we don’t want to bring him up to sit around, so if we get injuries – we still have a month to go in the season, so if we get injuries on the back end and we know he’s gonna get up and get a good chance to play, then we’ll bring him up and look at him too.”

On Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko

“We’re gonna talk to each player when their college season ends. Brock Boeser’s had a hell of a year for his first year, and we want to do the right thing by him, so we’ll talk to him. My gut tells me that he’ll play another year at North Dakota, so I think it’ll be good for him cause he’ll be a leader on that team next year, and that’s gonna be the best thing for him.”
Boeser stated at the draft that he was planning on taking his studies pretty seriously at college, and intended to be there for more than just a single year. That’s likely the best thing for him heading into next year, with all the turmoil and uncertainty surrounding the Canucks lineup next season. Boeser could certainly join the Canucks following his sophomore year at UND. Canucks Army alumnus Josh Weissbock theorized potential career pathways for Boeser following last year’s draft.
“Thatcher Demko, like I said we’re gonna talk to him at the end of the end, but my feeling is that I hope he turns pro, we get him signed and we get him on to his course of development as a goalie for us going into the future.”
The fact that the Canucks hadn’t been in contact with Demko throughout the year worried some at first, but that is in fact perfectly normal. The goal is obviously to get Demko signed after his season ends and into Utica for next season. Heading back to a final year at Boston College wouldn’t be a sure fire sign of trouble, but it would certainly get Canucks fans’ blood pressure up to unbearable levels.

Their Ability to Add Contracts

We reported last week that the Canucks had gotten themselves into a sticky situation vis-à-vis overspending on salary. Even before signing Nikita Tryamkin, the Canucks were pushed so far up against the cap that they weren’t going to be able to activate all of the players they had stashed on LTIR. That issue of course would be “solved” by not having to activate one of Brandon Sutter or Alex Edler.
We haven’t heard much news on Brandon Sutter, but Benning did speak about Alex Edler in today’s interview.
“He’s got a broken leg, so our medical doctors check in on him once a week. I would think he’s probably gonna be out for the year, but I can’t say for sure yet. But from all reports, it’s gonna be a while yet.”
Beyond the words themselves, the general bleak and depressed tone in which Benning delivered that information suggests to me that he doesn’t think Edler has much of a chance of returning.
Given where the Canucks are in the standings, that’s alright. Given where they are in terms of the salary cap, that’s actually advantageous. Even if Sutters returns before the end of the season, Edler staying on LTIR for the remainder of the season gives them about $5 million to play with, so they can go out and sign NCAA free agents with impunity.

The Defence Core as a Whole

All of these topics are intriguing, and of course they are all closely related – they all involve bringing in defencemen that could be ready to join the Canucks lineup in the near future. Of course, that just creates further issues: the Canucks defence core is already pretty loaded for next season.
Five of the eight defencemen on the roster right now are signed for next year as well: Alex Edler, Chris Tanev, Ben Hutton, Luca Sbisa, and Alex Biega. In addition, the Canucks acquired Philip Larsen prior to the trade deadline, Andrey Pedan will require waivers next year, and Tryamkin has an AHL out clause. On top of that, they’re considering adding an NCAA free agent, drafting a top defensive prospect, and maybe exploring the free agent market and/or taken advantage of cap crunched teams by way of off season trades.
Much like the situation with the forward group, there are simply too many pieces to the puzzle. In retrospect, the decision to sign Alex Biega to an one-way contract extension looks unnecessary, but at just $750,000 that can be buried in the minors without penalty – I would suggest that that would be a wise option. Beyond that, it’s quite likely that whoever they draft stays in the CHL or NCAA, and any NCAA signing begin next season in Utica. They may also choose to carry eight defencemen next season – a decision that would be complicated by the abundance of waiver eligible forwards they have under their purview.
Benning also provided his thoughts on a having a true number one defenceman, prompted by a question from a listener.
“I think it’s been proven over time that if you’re gonna win a Stanley Cup, you need a true number one defenceman, and you need a big centre iceman. At the end of the day, you can have strong depth, your six defencemen, but you need that dominant number one defenceman to win.”
This train of thought gels with what most fans believe, and of course the best place to find one is right near the top of the Entry Draft. So is it really any surprise that the Canucks will be targeting a defenceman at the top of the upcoming draft? Given what they’re working with so far, it seems like a necessity.

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