When word broke that General Manager Jim Benning would be staying on board for the 2021-22 season, there remained quite a bit of uncertainty for the future of the Vancouver Canucks.
The danger wasn’t so much about his past actions throughout his tenure, however; rather, what he could end up doing in another year at the helm.
At the time of this article being published, free agency has been open just over 48 hours. As we all know, majority of the transactions took place in the first few hours, and the Canucks were very much involved in those moves.
And even though the dust is still settling on what next year’s roster will look like, it’s clear that Benning has already and, once again, created irreversible damage to this team.
Early Wednesday morning, it appeared that the organization was able to take care of business in a tidy manner. Jaroslav Halak at $1.5M, Brandon Sutter at $1.125M, Luke Schenn for under one million, and local defencemen Brad Hunt and Kyle Burroughs on team-friendly deals. Again, cheap, smart business moves to fill in holes on the roster. There would be several more of those signings later on, with players like Justin Dowling and Brad Hunt coming in on one-way deals to fill out the Abbotsord roster.
And then the déjà vu.
Let’s start with Tucker Poolman.
A rugged, mediocre defenceman that doesn’t present much outside of his 6’2″, 200 pound figure. Despite this, Poolman was still able to land a four-year, $10 million deal from Vancouver. A gross overpay for this profile, but one that was also expected given Benning’s history with UFA defencemen.
Tucker Poolman, signed 4x$2.5M by VAN, has struggled quite a bit in his short NHL career. Often played elevated minutes this season. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/nJf9eo1C02
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 28, 2021
Second, the Travis Hamonic deal.
The 30-year-old vet was signed to a two year, $6 million extension, another questionable contract for a player that struggled in a top-four role last season. The Canucks took the money they recovered when dealing Nate Schmidt, and reallocated it to two, replacement-level defenders that bring very minimal offence.
Overall, it was a very mixed bag for Wednesday’s free agency decisions.
It appeared that Benning had learned from past mistakes with some of his early day moves, landing players that the team had long-needed; cheap, short contracts for useful players that fill a specific role. Schenn can fit nicely into a bottom-pairing role, Halak can provide stability behind starter Thatcher Demko goalie, and Sutter should nicely round out the team’s centre depth on the fourth line.
But the Poolman and Hamonic contracts are the moves that have long plagued the Canucks. Inflated, longer-term deals for mediocre players that don’t excel at any particular aspect. Both Poolman and Hamonic haven’t shown signs of being electric, puck-moving defenceman, nor are they able to perform at an elite defensive level in their own zone. Both blueliners are middling defencemen with zero offensive output. To put this into perspective, Poolman and goaltender Braden Holtby produced the same amount of points in 39 games – just one.
For many fans, this year’s free agent frenzy presented shades of the 2018 offseason, when Benning handed out similar deals to the likes of Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel, both of which didn’t age very well.
Poolman and Hamonic are also two more names on a long list of mediocre defencemen acquired by Benning during his tenure. Tyler Myers, Erik Gudbranson, Derrick Pouliot, Matt Bartkowski, Luca Sbisa, to name a few. The Canucks have long been hampered by a mediocre defensive core, with the above names contributing significantly.
Now, Vancouver has $18,760,000 tied up into Myers, Hamonic, Poolman and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, with three of those deals carrying weight for the next three seasons. Realistically, there isn’t one top-pairing defenceman among those. Frankly, it’s hard to find a top-four defenceman in that group.
Most fans are likely frustrated with the timeline of this team.
Aside from Myers, the Canucks were just one year away from shedding all of their previous bad contracts, freeing up more money and cap space. But, as the saying goes, a desperate man is a dangerous man, and it’s no surprise that Benning is desperate. Canucks’ ownership wants their team to be a playoff contender, but Benning will likely be out of a job if this can’t be achieved next season. And quite frankly, it might be better for the franchise long-term if that happens.
And let’s not forget, all of this is being accomplished with RFA superstars Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes still without new deals.
What are your thoughts on the team’s most recent offseason decisions? Let us know in the comments!