Jim Benning to return as Canucks President and General Manager
It looks like there won’t be any major changes to the Vancouver Canucks front office.
Despite rumours that the organization might move on from President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Jim Benning, Elliotte Friedman reported that won’t be the case.
Not sure what to expect for a timeline of announcements from the Canucks, but word tonight is Jim Benning was given indication in the last 24 hours that he is to return.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) May 19, 2021
The Canucks are coming off of an incredibly disappointing season. They won their play-in round with the Minnesota Wild last summer, took down the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the St. Louis Blues, after that, and then made it to Game 7 with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Vancouver owns a 23-28-4 record right now with one meaningless game against the Calgary Flames left to play. That’s a far cry from the expectations they had heading into the season.
Benning has been the centre of criticism by many Canucks fans. Despite drafting quality players such as @Elias Pettersson and @Quinn Hughes, Benning has hemorrhaged his roster with a wealth of bad contracts. Benning has signed depth players such as @Brandon Sutter, @Erik Gudbranson, @Jay Beagle, @Antoine Roussel, and @Sam Gagner to multi-year deals which ultimately led to quality players in @Chris Tanev, @Tyler Toffoli, and @Jacob Markstrom leaving in free agency.
The Canucks are now in a difficult situation financially. They’re loaded with bad contracts and both Pettersson and Hughes are in need of new deals soon. Though Benning is the one that put the Canucks in this mess, it seems he’ll be given a chance to pull them out of it.