Vancouver Canucks “Tampering” Fine Reaction

On Tuesday the Vancouver Canucks were assessed a fine of $50,000 for Jim Benning’s comments prior to the NHL Entry Draft.

Prior to the NHL Entry Draft, Vancouver Canucks general manager

Jim Benning

was interviewed on TSN Radio Vancouver to discuss draft picks, potential trades, and possible free agent signings. In the course of the interview, Benning stated outright that he had contacted the Montreal Canadiens about defenseman

P.K. Subban

, and intended to court pending unrestricted free agent

Steven Stamkos

.

In the case of Stamkos, Benning was simply a bit premature, as the window for speaking with pending free agents was still a day or two away.

The bigger error was in mentioning that the Canucks had tried to orchestrate a deal for P.K Subban. It certainly drew the ire of Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, who filed a complaint with the league, which prompted investigation of “tampering.”

Several days later, the NHL assessed a fine of $50,000 to Vancouver Canucks for a violation of NHL Bylaw 15, and a chastened Jim Benning issued a brief statement accepting the ruling:

“Tampering” controversies are rare, but this is the second time in recent years the Vancouver Canucks have been involved in one. Back in 2009 Mike Gillis, who was the Canucks’ GM at the time, made a similar complaint to the NHL about comments made by Toronto Maple Leafs then-head coach Ron Wilson.

The NHL apparently takes “tampering” of this kind very seriously — you can tell by their assessing the Canucks a fine equivalent to between-period hot dog sales at Rogers Arena.

NHL coaches, players and executives all generally answer inquiries with some combination of milquetoast platitudes, outright evasions, or else open hostility. It’s a bit sad that Jim Benning, who is at least willing to repay questions with actual information, is being punished for being willing to deviate from the same old boring script.

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You might assume — if for no other reason than the sinister-sounding word “tampering” — that the criteria for this sort of violation would involve the complaining team having to show that their negotiating position with their players was materially affected by the alleged “tampering”.

Apparently that is untrue. The only real criteria seems to be that one NHL executive or another feel that the criteria was met. Even Marc Bergevin admitted that, while he thought Jim Benning had “crossed the line” when naming Subban, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he had done so.

However, the ruling does make a sort of perverse sense. There is a chance, however slight, that a loose-lipped GM might “accidentally on purpose” let slip information that undermines contract negotiations for a rival GM. NHL general managers are friends and colleagues — but they are also business rivals.

And like any rivalry, managers are always trying to turn their colleague’s losses into their own gains. As such, the NHL obviously does have to take some steps to restrict a general manager from interfering with another GMs business plans, even if it means that petty infractions such as this will occasionally become the story.

For Canucks fans and writers, I suppose there’s a trade-off. On the one hand, Jim Benning, one of the few candid interviews in the NHL, will be giving us less fodder for what we really want to talk about, which is trades and free agents.

Next: Canucks Free Agency: Brouwer, Fiddler, Lucic

On the other hand, we did get to pass the time by talking about how much the NHL doesn’t want general managers to talk publicly about trades and free agents.

In any case, all’s well that ends well — as long as your employer has an extra $50,000.