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Jim Benning arrives in Paris to scout players at World Championship |
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We're closing in on the halfway point of the World Championship and at this point, I'd say time is passing too quickly for my liking.
Much like home, the weather has been...shall we say...erratic. There's a pretty major thunderstorm going on outside right now, which may put a wrench into my Friday evening plans.
Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning was at the rink yesterday. I didn't see him as I was focused on writing up the Canada/France game but he was an intermission guest on the TSN Radio broadcast, which is being hosted by Vancouver's own Jon Abbott and Dave Tomlinson.
Jeff Paterson breaks down his comments here:
For better or for worse, this is the quote that has generated the most buzz:
Benning's heart is in the right place here in terms of what the Canucks need, but his approach is a little bit old-school Don Cherry for life in 2017.
Getting specific about who might be the main targets of Benning's focus...
Radim Simek was pretty prominent in Canada's tournament opener against the Czechs. Word is that the 5'10", 205-pound defenseman has already signed an NHL contract, but it has not yet been made public. The Flyers, Rangers and Sharks are being bandied about as possible destinations for the 24-year-old.
If you want to talk about serious long shots, keep an eye on Team Canada's Chris Lee.
We talked about this 36-year-old a bit during Canada's pre-tournament game in Switzerland last week, when the unknown Chris Lee scored a goal. At that time, he was a placeholder on Canada's defense before Marc-Edouard Vlasic was able to make his way over from North America. Last night, he got registered for the tournament and called into game action after Tyson Barrie's tournament-ending off-ice injury.
I expected to see Lee play spot duty, but Canadian coach Jon Cooper leaned on him, giving him more than 20 minutes of ice time and slotting him not just into Barrie's second-pairing spot in the defense rotation, but also into his power-play spot.
Lee took his assignment in stride, moving well across the blue line as he manned the point with the man advantage, and setting up Claude Giroux for an important equalizer that made the score 2-2 at the end of the second period as Canada went on to a 3-2 win over the home side from France.
Lee spent some time in the AHL in his younger days, but he was never drafted and has spent the last four seasons in the KHL. But he had a career year last season with Magnitogorsk Metallurg, setting KHL records for most points by a defenseman in the regular season with 65, and in the playoffs with 21. Metallurg ultimately fell to the stacked SKA St. Petersburg in the Gagarin Cup final.
It's pretty crazy to see a hockey player peak at age 36, but Chris Lee is now having a moment. Jon Cooper told me that he plans to keep him in the lineup as Canada finishes off its preliminary round with three games in four nights, so we'll see whether he can build on what he has started.
Based on Lee's game against France, Benning might do well to focus on a veteran Canadian to shore up the Canucks' blue line next season.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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