Trevor Linden used his platform at Thursday's town hall meeting in Coquitlam to officially confirm that Jim Benning has been named the next general manager of the Vancouver Canucks.
Smart move—giving the scoop to the fans first, though judging from their Twitter feeds, it looks like both Brad Ziemer and Jason Botchford were on hand to represent the press. I don't think there was any media at the first town hall event.
Looks like Trevor and Victor DeBonis went of their way to bring a homey, casual approach to the proceedings:
Trevor Linden confirms Jim Benning as new #Canucks GM right here --> http://t.co/yWpeZpGGYN pic.twitter.com/swIkfaPxeM
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) May 22, 2014Digging deep into his Rolodex, Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun brings us some insight into Jim Benning from his brother Brian and father Elmer in this column.
I had forgotten all about Brian Benning, another defenseman who played 568 NHL games from 1985 to 1995. I do like the idea that Benning comes from a multi-generational hockey family—that the game really is in his blood. And it's refreshing to hear that he likes to go to games and scout players. After Torts' half-baked commitment to his job, I really hope the new regime works hard at a grassroots level.
It's worth noting that Trevor offered a big show of support for scout Ron Delorme last night:
Q Will you keep Delorme? Linden: He's picked some good players too. Kevin Bieksa, Alex Edler.
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) May 22, 2014Delorme is a long-time member of the organization who has taken a lot of heat lately. While the Canucks' draft record is certainly spotty, I can also understand Linden's urge to defend his staff member when questioned about it by an outsider. A leader really should present a united front, though I'm not so sure about "proper direction." Delorme has been chief amateur scout since 2000, so he was directed under the Gillis, Nonis and Brian Burke regimes. They were all bad?
Linden: I'm not willing to throw a good scout out the door when he didn't have proper direction
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) May 22, 2014Linden was totally straightforward in his desire to go after Benning, but we have seen him change course on some other statements. Again, I'd think a guy with a scouting mentality like Benning's will be able to make a smart decision on Delorme's future.
Benning's official introduction will be on Friday, with a webcast for fans at 11:15 a.m. on canucks.com, then a press conference at noon. I'll use tomorrow's blog to summarize what Benning and Linden have to say.
It's a clean slate. No mistakes yet. Will be interesting to see where we go from here.
It's great news that Benning will be joining the team immediately.
Benning will join the Canucks immediately, and will be at the NHL combine next week
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) May 22, 2014As far as prospects who could be on the Canucks' radar, we have this:
Linden named maybe six draft prospects he likes. "Virtanen is on our radar." Did not mention ehlers or nylander
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) May 22, 2014We're now five weeks out from the draft. I expect that storyline will now start to come into focus, especially for the lottery teams. It'll be very interesting to see what Dale Tallon decides to do with the first pick overall.
Who's John Weisbrod?
TSN's Bob McKenzie floated the name of John Weisbrod as a potential candidate for assistant GM under Benning.
WHO??
Weisbrod was most recently the assistant general manager of the Calgary Flames for two years, fired last December along with Jay Feaster. Not exactly a glorious resume item.
What's probably pertinent here is that he was a scout for the Boston Bruins, starting in 2006. His arrival would have coincided with Benning's. He was a pro scout based in Tampa for the first two seasons, then became Boston's director of collegiate scouting before moving on to the Flames in 2011.
My first thought—did he find Torey Krug? Well—Krug signed with the Bruins in 2012. Do the Bruins have other players who have come up through the college route that I'm overlooking?
For now, it's another plot to watch, especially with respect to how it could affect incumbents Laurence Gilman and Lorne Henning, who currently holds the title of director of player personnel as well as assistant general manager.
Burrows in at World Championships
As I type this, Canada and Finland are tied 1-1 in the quarterfinal of the World Championships in Minsk. Alex Burrows is back in the lineup after missing two games with his leg injury. The game's live right now on TSN.