Canucks News: Jim Benning Changing Trade Deadline Strategy
The Vancouver Canucks won’t make any moves at the 2017 trade deadline — that’s what Jim Benning said. Wait, did he?
For Vancouver Canucks veterans like Ryan Miller, Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen, the 2017 trade deadline could get interesting. If the Canucks fall out of the playoff race, those players will be expandable and should probably be let go.
Although GM Jim Benning has stated other plans in the past.
Deadline Strategy
J.D. Burke (Canucks Army) — Are the Canucks Changing Their Trade Deadline Tune?
"Going as far back as December, Canucks General Manager Jim Benning indicated to The Province’s Jason Botchford that he wanted the market aware he has no desire to ask players to waive their no-trade clauses to facilitate trades for the March 1st deadline. Taking Benning at his word (which we generally can), that indicated the Canucks would forego selling assets at this year’s deadline."
Wait, is this really news?
Benning may be a good guy who doesn’t want to force veterans into moving across the continent late in their careers. He knows very well how much getting traded sucks when you don’t want it. But he is also the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks and a very smart man who knows his job extremely well.
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If Benning realises the Canucks won’t stay in playoff competition, he will obviously ask guys like Burrows and Hansen to waive their no-trade clauses. That doesn’t mean they’ll actually end up being traded, but he will at least leave the option available.
I never understood all that “Benning said” talk. Sure, Benning said he doesn’t want to ask players to waive their NTCs and I genuinely believe he doesn’t want to do it. But if he thinks it’s what the franchise needs to take the next step, then it is happening.
Plus, anything Benning ever said about his strategy this season was said from a playoff perspective. The Canucks always hoped they would make it and that’s what they communicated with fans and media. Now that things might be changing, so does the trade strategy.
But besides that, we have to keep in mind that we are talking about professional sports here. People say things publicly that are picked up by fans and media as the exact plan of what’s happening, when a lot can change any day. GMs don’t want to share their plans with the competition, which only makes sense.
Next: TCW Trade Deadline Round Table
Sure, Benning is known to publicly say what’s going on, but he is still a part of the business. Anything can happen.
And things will happen.