Canucks shakeup sends Kesler, Garrison packing
‘Quite frankly, we don’t want somebody who doesn’t want to be here’: Benning
PHILADELPHIA — Say this for Jim Benning, he knows how to make an entrance.
On the day of his first draft with the Vancouver Canucks, the rookie general manager culled unhappy centre Ryan Kesler from the herd in a major trade with the Anaheim Ducks, created some salarycap space by moving defenceman Jason Garrison to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and upgraded his team’s toughness by acquiring Derek Dorsett from the New York Rangers.
And that was all done hours before the National Hockey League draft even began here Friday evening.
In one day, Benning decisively and dramatically reshaped the Canucks and began the overdue renovation of a lineup that had gone stale as it aged.
Imagine how much better he would have done had Kesler given him, say, three or four teams with which to deal instead of two. The Ducks won the bidding, uh, duel with the Chicago Blackhawks and landed Kesler in exchange for centre Nick Bonino, defenceman Luca Sbisa, the 24th overall pick in Friday’s draft and an exchange of third-rounders that gave Benning ammunition in the trade for Dorsett.
“Quite frankly, we don’t want somebody who doesn’t want to be here,” he said of trading Kesler.
The situation was far from ideal, as Kesler’s flex of the no-trade clause in his contract forced Benning to negotiate with only Anaheim and Chicago when better deals might have been available from the St. Louis Blues or Philadelphia Flyers, among other teams.
For context, consider that Ottawa Senators star Jason Spezza made his trade request accompanied by a list of 20 teams. Kesler’s list had two. When Benning asked Kesler for more teams, he refused. And yet, the Canucks got the centre they wanted in Bonino, and a decent defenceman in Sbisa.
Anyone who believes Benning was clobbered by Anaheim general manager Bob Murray hasn’t been paying attention to Kesler’s diminishment the last three years because of a series of injuries and the extremely high and hard miles on a chassis that turns 30 in August.
Bonino is 26 years old. Sbisa is 24.
“I didn’t want this to fester,” Benning said when reminded that former Canuck Roberto Luongo’s 2012 trade request led to a melodrama that lasted two seasons under former GM Mike Gillis. “We did a lot of work.
“… The other part of that deal was getting the 85th pick in the draft, which we traded for Derek Dorsett, who’s a heart-and-soul player. He plays hard for his teammates, sticks up for his teammates. ”
Benning has been on the job a month, coach Willie Desjardins less than a week. Desjardins was probably as responsible as anyone for getting Dorsett, whom he coached and made alternate captain in junior with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Canucks president of hockey operations Trevor Linden was hired 2½ months ago.
The regime is off to a rather rollicking start.