I’m not particularly good with dates or anniversaries, so it comes as no surprise that I completely missed the one year anniversary of Jim Benning’s tenure with the Canucks. And what’s a better way to celebrate one year together than to pick it apart in excruciating detail? 

Let’s start with the trades Benning made in his first twelve months at the helm of the Canucks. 

I first chronicled the Kesler trade last summer in my offseason deep dive series. I concluded at the time that given the context surrounding the trade (ie: Kesler demanding a trade to a very short list of potential trade partners), I was impressed that Benning had been able to move him for “a younger center who will slot directly into the lineup, a young third pairing defensemen that still theoretically retains some upside, a quality prospect at center, and a gritty bottom six utility winger in return.”

Now, the context surrounding the trade hasn’t changed in a year, but we do have the benefit assessing how the various pieces performed over the course of the year: 

1st Round Pick: Benning didn’t hit a home run with the 24th overall pick in the 2014 draft (that would have been David Pastrnak, who out scored every single Canuck not named “Sedin” or “Vrbata” last year on a per-game basis), but it looks like he hit a solid double when he selected Jared McCann, who developed nicely this season in Sault Ste Marie. It looks like the Canucks have found themselves a solid 2-way middle six center, which is a big win at that point in the draft. 

Luca Sbisa: Sbisa is 25, so we’re likely getting to the “what you see is what you get” stage with him. Despite his 3 year, $3.6M AAV contract extension, he simply is not good enough to be an NHL regular. 

Derek Dorsett: There’s a lot I like about Dorsett. He’s tough, he’s well liked by his teammates, and from what I understand, played a major role in helping Vancouver’s rookies adjust to the NHL this year. That said, he had one of the worst scoring chance and shot attempt differentials among Vancouver forwards, and generally got his teeth kicked in at even strength. 

It’s fair to say that Bonino was likely miscast as a second line center for the Canucks last season, but he did manage 15 goals and 39 points, compared to Kesler’s 20 goals and 47 points. Interestingly, when you dig into the regular season numbers from both players, they actually come out a bit closer than you might expect: 

We can see that both Bonino and Kesler were used in very similar roles, starting more frequently in their own zones (ZSO%), with similar quality of teammates (CorT%), and against similar competition (CorC%). The most significant difference is in per-minute offensive production (G60, P60), where Bonino had a significant edge over Kesler. 

The power play is where Kesler picked up most of his extra points over Bonino, as he took over Bonino’s old role on Anaheim’s first power play unit, while Bonino was relegated to the Canucks’ second PP unit that struggled mightily for most of the year. Overall, Kesler played 52% more power play minutes than Bonino did in 2014-15, helping to contribute to his higher offensive totals for the year. Ironically, despite playing in virtually the same role as Bonino did for the Ducks last year, Kesler failed to match the 22 goals or 49 points that Bonino tallied. 

I really expected the penalty kill to be the area where Kesler stood out in comparison to Bonino. In reality, opponents were held to fewer scoring chances and shots attempts when Bonino was on the ice with the Canucks than when Kesler was on the ice for the Ducks. The Canucks’ penalty kill was among the best in the league last year though so clearly Bonino’s numbers were helped by his teammates, but it’s difficult to conclude that the PK was still an area where Kesler has a distinct advantage. 

The playoffs are really the reason why the Ducks made the move to acquire Kesler, and he didn’t disappoint. While Bonino was pretty terrible, Kesler went full beast-mode, increasing his production significantly both at even strength and on the power play. 

When you put the pieces together, it’s hard to argue that the Canucks suffered from a significant drop off in talent going from Kesler to Bonino on the second line during the regular season, although Kesler was sublime in the playoffs. Jared McCann is clearly one of Vancouver’s top prospects and took a step towards developing into a legitimate middle-6 centre this season too. 

It may be difficult now to look at the acquisitions of Luca Sbisa and Derek Dorsett separately from their contract extensions, since Sbisa arguably isn’t good enough to be an NHL regular, and Dorsett is a fourth line option at best, but acquiring them to add depth last season was reasonable. With Bonino and McCann as the primary pieces of this trade, I think it’s fair to say the value received was acceptable given the position that Kesler put the team in. 

Going into last summer, Benning knew that the Canucks needed to bolster their forward depth. The theory was that the addition of Sbisa made Garrison a redundant asset, especially after the horrible year Garrison had finished under John Tortorella. Garrison was coming off a groin injury too that was rumoured to be chronic, and the term left on his contract carried a pretty significant risk of an expensive, depreciating asset. As a Canucks fan, it’s a bit hard to watch Jason Garisson compete for a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, especially since he’s a local guy who very much wanted to remain a Canuck. He’s rebounded significantly this year, and is a solid 4/5 defensemen on a good Tampa Bay blueline. 

Linden Vey had a modest rookie year for the Canucks, posting 10 goals and 24 points. Like most NHL rookies, he went through his ups and downs this season, showing good offensive upside at times, and defensive lapses at others. He’s only 23, so there is room for growth still, but it’s looking like he’s a fringe NHLer at this point in his career. 

At the end of the day, Benning traded a legitimate NHL defensemen for Linden Vey and the cap space required to sign Luca Sbisa. In retrospect, this 6.5 grade may be generous. 

Will Acton’s been solid for the Comets I guess. Moving on… 

As I discussed in my review of Canucks defensive prospects, Pedan’s transition to a full time AHL defensemen the last two seasons bodes well for his prospects at the NHL level. Alex Mallet is currently in the ECHL and should no longer be considered an NHL prospect – he was likely included in this deal just to free up a contract spot for the Canucks. Typically, third round picks turn out to be NHLers roughly 15% of the time, whereas Pedan’s closest peers turned into successful NHL defensemen roughly 30% of the time. For a relatively low price, Benning was able to add another big defensemen with reasonable skill to the Canucks defense depth chart. 

As far as asset management goes, it doesn’t get much better than the Forsling/Clendening trade. Gustav Forsling was a 5th round pick in 2014 that showed excellent improvement throughout the fall, culminating in an outstanding World Junior tournament. Benning was able to capitalize on Forsling’s rising stock by moving him for Adam Clendening, who was one of the best offensive defensemen in the Blackhawks development system. 

In a brief stint with the Canucks, Clendening didn’t look out of place, and he’s been a key cog in the Comet’s Calder Cup run. While Forsling and Clendening are similar players in many ways, the reality is that Clendening is a player that can fit into the Canucks’ blue line as soon as next season, while it remains to be seen whether Forsling can make the long journey to the NHL himself.

Sven Baertschi is one of those players who’s been on the radar for so long that you forget he’s only 22. He’s led the Comets in goals so far in the playoffs, and very much looks like he’s ready to make the jump to the NHL. Second round picks tend to become NHLers roughly 15% of the time, so using a 2nd for a young, NHL ready prospect with top 6 potential is an excellent gamble to make. 

On the whole, Benning’s first year of trading helped the Canucks add a much needed injection of talent into their prospect pool. Andrey Pedan, Adam Clendening, and Sven Baertschi are by no means guaranteed NHL players at this stage in their careers, but looking at their performance of their closest peers, they do have a higher chance of making the NHL than the assets Benning gave up to acquire them. 

In terms of the Kesler trade, it’s clear that the Canucks didn’t suffer too significant a downgrade by replacing him with Nick Bonino this year, and there’s a very good chance that Jared McCann may actually become the 2nd line center of the future down the road. Considering the context surrounding this trade, I actually think Benning walked away with a pretty solid win here. 

In my view, the only real black mark on Benning’s first year trade record is the Garrison series of trades that resulted in the Canucks ending up with Linden Vey. This of course was compounded by replacing Garrison, a capable 4/5 defensemen, with Luca Sbisa, who I would argue isn’t good enough to play at the NHL level. At 23, Vey still has time to develop into a valuable player, but at this stage, it looks like Vancouver gave up a 4/5 defender for a replacement level forward.

Stay tuned, as I’ll analyze Jim Benning’s contract signings in the next installment of this series.