Jim Benning! Get all those American draft pick signed FAST! Before they realize Vancouver sucks
So, one of many things we've learned about Jim Benning in his term as GM of the Vancouver Canucks has become all the more evident recently.
No, it's not that he has the English language skills of a Thai Hooker, No, it's not that the same Thai Hooker probably could have gotten more for Ryan Kessler, and it is not that, were you to say the term" Thai Hooker" around Benning he would probably say " Is that the new food thing we have at the concession stand this year?.....sounds guuud, can I have some "Thai Hooker" Trev?
No, it's that Jim Benning loves freedom, he loves the U.S.A, more specifically, American players.
I have zero problems with this, I've lived over half my life in the U.S.A and will tell you straight up that I prefer American's to Canadian's (If Americans have a problem, they'll tell you to your face if a Canadian has a problem with you, it will be years before you realize they've been talking behind your back) and while I love the American people I have an "issue" when it comes to American hockey players.
Actually, it's not even American players, its NCAA players.
For those who don't know, an NCAA player can be drafted, decide not to sign, play their four years, earn a degree and sign with any team as a UFA.
When Brock signed, he had played one year, I was nervous about it, lucky for us, but now he's up for another deal and had a chance to think about what he's seen in Vancouver, the coach who scratched him for the first two games last year though he was obviously the team's best player in camp, if Brock signs a bridge deal be afraid....
That brings us to the new kid Quinton Hughes. He's fast, He's confident, he has "No problem" going back to Michigan next year if he and Benning don't reach an agreement. And Benning doesn't seem to be in the least bit serious about signing the kid.
NOW I'm worried, why in the world WOULDN'T a guy like Hughes, who doesn't need the money, if he finds himself sent back to the NCAA next year, wakes up one day and says "Hey! I'm halfway to a college degree and UFA status! I'll just ride this out and write my own ticket1"
American players like Boesser and Hughes should be given the key to the vault at the moment they are willing to sign long-term, they have little reason to want to stay in Vancouver, if the team was good that's one thing, but when the team is bad there is ZERO reason for them to stay, If Brock WILL sign long-term this year then you HAVE to go for the longest term you can get, the same thing with Hughes DO NOT SEND HIM BACK TO COLLEGE, Benning is playing with fire in my opinion, being a GM of a BAD ......REALLY BAD Canadian team, spending our prime assets on American players who aren't going to be enamoured with a crappy Canadian team, that has the worst travel in the league, high taxes, inept management, sky-high cost-of-living expenses, an un-friendly population, year-round rain and is in a different time zone than their friends and family (not all of them, but like Canada there is just a bigger population on the East coast)
Benning is putting ALL his eggs in the baskets of people who have no geographic ties to this city, and Benning is not an intelligent man, he doesn't see problems coming, thus he has no idea how to deal with them.....I feel sorry for Benning sometimes, its not like he comes off like an asshole or anything, he even seems like a good-hearted guy, but he is SO FAR out of his league its silly.
Let just hope he doesn't blunder Boesser and Hughes out of ours.
No, it's not that he has the English language skills of a Thai Hooker, No, it's not that the same Thai Hooker probably could have gotten more for Ryan Kessler, and it is not that, were you to say the term" Thai Hooker" around Benning he would probably say " Is that the new food thing we have at the concession stand this year?.....sounds guuud, can I have some "Thai Hooker" Trev?
No, it's that Jim Benning loves freedom, he loves the U.S.A, more specifically, American players.
I have zero problems with this, I've lived over half my life in the U.S.A and will tell you straight up that I prefer American's to Canadian's (If Americans have a problem, they'll tell you to your face if a Canadian has a problem with you, it will be years before you realize they've been talking behind your back) and while I love the American people I have an "issue" when it comes to American hockey players.
Actually, it's not even American players, its NCAA players.
For those who don't know, an NCAA player can be drafted, decide not to sign, play their four years, earn a degree and sign with any team as a UFA.
When Brock signed, he had played one year, I was nervous about it, lucky for us, but now he's up for another deal and had a chance to think about what he's seen in Vancouver, the coach who scratched him for the first two games last year though he was obviously the team's best player in camp, if Brock signs a bridge deal be afraid....
That brings us to the new kid Quinton Hughes. He's fast, He's confident, he has "No problem" going back to Michigan next year if he and Benning don't reach an agreement. And Benning doesn't seem to be in the least bit serious about signing the kid.
NOW I'm worried, why in the world WOULDN'T a guy like Hughes, who doesn't need the money, if he finds himself sent back to the NCAA next year, wakes up one day and says "Hey! I'm halfway to a college degree and UFA status! I'll just ride this out and write my own ticket1"
American players like Boesser and Hughes should be given the key to the vault at the moment they are willing to sign long-term, they have little reason to want to stay in Vancouver, if the team was good that's one thing, but when the team is bad there is ZERO reason for them to stay, If Brock WILL sign long-term this year then you HAVE to go for the longest term you can get, the same thing with Hughes DO NOT SEND HIM BACK TO COLLEGE, Benning is playing with fire in my opinion, being a GM of a BAD ......REALLY BAD Canadian team, spending our prime assets on American players who aren't going to be enamoured with a crappy Canadian team, that has the worst travel in the league, high taxes, inept management, sky-high cost-of-living expenses, an un-friendly population, year-round rain and is in a different time zone than their friends and family (not all of them, but like Canada there is just a bigger population on the East coast)
Benning is putting ALL his eggs in the baskets of people who have no geographic ties to this city, and Benning is not an intelligent man, he doesn't see problems coming, thus he has no idea how to deal with them.....I feel sorry for Benning sometimes, its not like he comes off like an asshole or anything, he even seems like a good-hearted guy, but he is SO FAR out of his league its silly.
Let just hope he doesn't blunder Boesser and Hughes out of ours.
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