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Vancouver Canucks announce Jim Benning contract extension, face Panthers

February 14, 2018, 2:30 PM ET [379 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wednesday February 14 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Florida Panthers - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 56 GP, 22-28-6, 50 pts, seventh in Pacific Division
Florida Panthers: 53 GP, 24-23-6, 54 pts, fifth in Atlantic Division

Eight days after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, the Vancouver Canucks will play host as they return to Rogers Arena for a Valentine's Day home game.

But the big news of the day is now official—Jim Benning has signed a contract extension, rumoured to be for three years.




I'm pleased by the timing of the announcement. It gives Benning and his team clarity going into the trade deadline, and should also give the current amateur scouting group the green light to keep going about their business on the way to another high pick in this June's draft.

I've also argued in the past in favour of organizational stability, and the evidence that Benning has made progress along his learning curve as a first-time GM. There have definitely been mistakes, but hopefully there will be less of them going forward as Benning's skillset evolves.

What do you think of the move?

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With a firm eye on the future, I think the extension will give Benning more motivation to wheel and deal at the deadline. An Erik Gudbranson trade, for example (if it happens) can now be positioned as being more about the future-focused pieces that are acquired—something that can't be easily assessed in the short run—rather than being judged entirely by what was surrendered to acquire the big defenseman in the first place.

For now, there's a big game to play tonight.




I assume this assumption is correct.

The Canucks announced the call-up of defenseman Philip Holm on Tuesday—his first of the regular season. Holm is tied for second among defensemen in the AHL with 11 goals this season, to go along with 18 assists. He's 7-7-14 in Utica's 16 games since the beginning of 2018, so the 26-year-old Swede seems to be making a good transition to the North American game in his first year on this side of the pond.

Though he's an extra defenseman tonight, at the rate the Canucks players were getting injured last week, he could see action before long. The Canucks are also kicking off a back-to-back tonight, with a road game tomorrow in San Jose, so they may need to shuffle some bodies.

For now, we do have a timeline for the injured Chris Tanev.




Continuing with the injury updates—as expected, the news is not good for Markus Granlund.




Brendan Gaunce is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with his foot injury. Still no timeline for Sam Gagner and his sprained ankle.

Roberto Luongo has been activated from injured reserve after suffering that nasty groin injury two months ago, but he won't play tonight.




Reimer returned to action from his own groin injury on Monday in Edmonton, giving up five goals but earning the win in a wild 7-5 showdown against the Oilers.

Luongo's last visit was a memorable one, of course. On January 20, 2017, Henrik Sedin scored his 1,000th career point in the Canucks' 2-1 win over the Panthers.

Though Erik Gudbranson has played against his old team twice back in Sunrise, tonight will mark his first game in Vancouver against the Panthers.

As Luongo points out, Canucks fans will have plenty of entry points to tonight's Team Canada men's hockey debut at the Winter Olympics, against Switzerland.




Tune in at 4:10 a.m. to see if Andrew Ebbett, Max Lapierre, Mason Raymond, Derek Roy, Linden Vey, Marc-Andre Gragnani and coach Willie Desjardins can avoid the same fate as Team USA and the Olympic Athletes from Russia, and win their round-robin opening game.

Enjoy the games!
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