GM Jim Benning is a Confident Scout
What was Jim Benning thinking when he traded away two picks, one of which is essentially a high second rounder that is just as good as a late first? Is this draft not packed deep with talent that the Canucks need? What happened to “building from the draft”?
With one of Matthew Tkachuk or Pierre-Luc Dubois sure to be available at the number five selection, the Canucks were looking to draft a defenseman with their second pick. But in getting Gudbranson, a top-four material, the Canucks have relieved themselves of the duty to draft a defenseman with the 33rd pick, and hence relinquished the pick in the trade.
Benning is confident in his assessment of Gudbranson and deemed the potential defenseman at 33rd-overall a surplus.
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The issue that I would raise, however, is that of much finer detail. The Canucks lack scoring defensemen. Although a Nikita Tryamkin-like Gudbranson certainly stabilizes the defense and makes netminders’ lives easier, it doesn’t help the offense a whole lot.
And yet this draft is almost littered with offensive defensemen, starting with top picks Olli Juolevi and Dante Fabbro to late first-round guys like Kyle Clague and Samuel Girard.
Jim Benning quotes the deal that saw his former club, the Boston Bruins, say goodbye to then-RFA Dougie Hamilton. Calgary had acquired Hamilton for their first-round pick (#15) in the 2015 NHL Draft and the two second-round picks (#45 and #52).
Although a Gudbranson-to-Hamilton comparison may not be the most suitable, the Canucks did essentially send two late first-round picks for Gudbranson; think of the fourth-to-fifth round trade down and the early second collectively as equal value to a late first, and couple that with McCann.
Compare that to the price the Flames had to pay and consider the fact that Hamilton was a free agent bound for a mega deal, this deal is definitely not the worst one the NHL has seen draft pick-wise.
Next: Who cares what Jared McCann becomes?