Today was the day, Vancouver Canucks fans! The day in which we got to hear general manager Jim Benning’s thoughts on the current season and where the team is headed for the future.
I’m not sure what you were all expecting, but the press conference went as well as I expected. Given Benning’s past interviews, I definitely didn’t think that he was going to drop any bombshells or make any shocking statements, which is exactly what happened.
Here’s a brief recap of worthwhile things that he said during the conference.
On why the team has struggled this year
After advancing to game seven of the second round during last season’s playoffs, expectations were high for the Canucks coming into this year.
As everyone knows by now, the team has fallen short of those projections in a dramatic fashion.
When asked about why Vancouver has struggled so far, Benning blamed it on the team’s condensed schedule and short training camp.
Jim Benning speaks.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) March 5, 2021
"We started the season, had the week training camp, no exhibition games... I think part of our problems early on were we played 16 games in 25 nights."
Insists lack of practice time hurt his club, has been better of late with a less dense schedule. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/klBXhgdix6
He’s not wrong in making those claims, as the Canucks have indeed played the most number of games out of every team in the league. The problem is that fans didn’t want to hear any excuses given, but unfortunately, that was a common theme throughout the press conference.
On when the team will be ready to compete
There’s no doubt that Vancouver has assembled one of the most potent young cores in the NHL, but their cup window will be delayed by the exorbitant amount of cap that has been allocated to the team’s depth players.
When asked about when the Canucks might be ready to compete, Benning gave a very simple reply.
“In two years time, I think we’re going to be real competitive.” #Canucks GM Jim Benning.
— David Quadrelli (@QuadrelliD) March 5, 2021
This isn’t something fans would like to hear, especially considering he said that the team could be turned around in a hurry back in 2014 when he was first hired.
That lack of a cohesive plan and vision is arguably the biggest issue holding the Canucks back. When Benning first took the job, it was obvious that he wanted to do a fast retool and get back into the playoffs to maximize the twilight seasons of Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin’s illustrious careers.
However, even after it became evident that those mid-2010 teams were in desperate need of a full-on rebuild, Benning and the management group continued to trade away draft picks for players that could contribute right away.
As a result, we’re now in year seven of having Benning at the helm, and according to him, it’s going to take another two years before this team’s ready to compete. In other words, it would’ve been almost a decade before Vancouver was competitive again.
Not a great look.