Benning knows craft of the draft
His record isn’t perfect, but when it comes down to it, Canucks GM can deliver the goods
Today’s discussion question: What is the most exciting group of prospects ever assembled by the Vancouver Canucks? And before we go any farther, Mr. Wise Guy, there are more than zero choices.
In the late 1970s, for example, the Canucks drafted Rick Vaive, Bill Derlago, Stan Smyl and Curt Fraser and traded for Thomas Gradin. That group, sadly, wasn’t allowed to mature together, but it still represents a formidable collection of talent.
Moving forward, we can skip over the ’80s and ’90s when the Canucks’ scouts couldn’t find a whale in a bathtub, and focus on the midaughts. That group, admittedly, didn’t cause a huge stir when it was put together, but the lineup of the 2004-05 Manitoba Moose featured Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa and Alex Burrows who, when coupled with the Canucks’ rich 2003 draft (Cory Schneider, Alex Edler and Jannik Hansen) helped form the nucleus of the 2011 Stanley Cup finalists.
Now, there may be dissenting opinions but, for a franchise with an appalling record in drafting and player development, those two groups stand out. True, that’s not exactly a bragging point, but it does bring us around to the class the Canucks have put together over the last three years.
This could still go a number of ways, and if history has taught us anything, it’s taught us the developmental arc of young hockey players is neither smooth nor predictable. But in the here and now, this rates as the deepest, most intriguing group of prospects this franchise has ever assembled, and second place isn’t that close.
Is it the best? We’ll know that soon enough, but it’s hard not to feel optimistic about these players.
Wednesday’s announcement that the Canucks have signed Boston College goalie Thatcher Demko to a three-year entry-level deal gives them, arguably, the best goaltending prospect in the game. There are others in the conversation, but Demko goes 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds and this year had a .935 save percentage and 1.88 goals against average while leading Boston College to the Frozen Four.
He joins a group that includes defencemen Ben Hutton (OK, he was drafted in ’12 but this was still his rookie NHL season) and Nikita Tryamkin and forwards Bo Horvat, Jake Virtanen, Jared McCann, Sven Baertschi and Brock Boeser. Behind them is another layer, with Emerson Etem, Brendan Gaunce and Markus Granlund, and while not all those players will develop into NHLers, it stands to reason one of them will emerge as a regular with the Canucks.
Now, the common denominator in most of these cases is Canucks GM Jim Benning who, like his team, had an eventful season in 2015-16. Benning was roundly criticized for his inability to trade Dan Hamhuis and Radim Vrbata at the deadline. He was also knocked for losing defenceman Frank Corrado to Toronto on waivers. And, lest we forget, the contracts handed to Derek Dorsett, Luca Sbisa and Brandon Sutter weren’t warmly received by the chattering classes. Uh, did we mention Linden Vey? Now, we’re not going to tell you Benning’s record is spotless and errorfree. There isn’t a GM in hockey who can make that claim. But we will say that in the big things — and for a GM nothing is bigger than the draft — he’s delivered the goods, which is why the Canucks can sell a future.
As it happens, Benning has been in Grand Forks at the World Under-18s, where he scouted Finnish uber-prospect Jesse Puljujarvi, the third-rated player on most boards in this summer’s draft. The Canucks are also sitting in the three-hole as of this writing, which is a happy coincidence if they can stay there through the draft lottery.
But wherever they draft, they figure to add a high-end prospect to their existing group. If it happens to be Auston Matthews or Patrik Laine, it changes a lot of things for the organization. If it isn’t, there are worse things than picking fifth or sixth this year.
The one area Benning has to address isn’t exactly a state secret because the Canucks’ blue-line has been an issue for most of the 46 years of its existence. That might present a couple of interesting scenarios this summer, but defencemen are also a different animal. They can be found anywhere — of the top 20 scorers among defencemen this season, just two were taken with the first five picks — and if Benning really is a draft whisperer, he’ll find a high-end prospect in the later rounds.
As it is, he’s done all right, and if there is confusion over his record, it could be because this market has never seen a GM who can draft.