General manager Jim Benning painted a relatively rosy picture of how the Vancouver Canucks' offseason business is coming along when he joined Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal on their new CHEK-TV show on Friday.
If you're so inclined, here's the 15-minute interview in its entirety:
First and foremost, there finally seems to be some optimism that the club will be able to come to terms on a new deal with goaltending coach Ian Clark. "We'll get that figured out," Benning told Taylor.
He also indicated that he'd be meeting with Travis Green later on Friday to discuss the future of the rest of the coaching staff. It would certainly save a lot of grief for both the fanbase and the organization if these types of negotiations were handled in a more timely manner. But given all the uncertainty of this season and the fact that Green's status would almost certainly have needed to be decided before Clark's could be addressed, it is, I think, understandable.
Assuming everything does come together, I'm hoping this will be a case of 'All's well that ends well,' and that some organizational stability on the coaching side will help anchor the team on the ice next season.
Benning also indicated that he hopes to officially have Daniel and Henrik Sedin on board within the next few weeks, and offered some clarity about what their new jobs would entail:
#Canucks Benning on the Sedins roles: 'they'll help our hockey ops group, team building. They want to learn the business. They'll be in our pro scouting meetings. They're going to be doing the work and help us get better. They don't want to be guys that just have desk jobs'
To be honest, I'm surprised at the backlash that the Sedin news has received. Given the work ethic and level of accountability that we know they have, I think they're being underestimated when it's suggested that they're being brought in primarily for P.R reasons.
From what I can see, the skepticism comes from two places:
• the organization vaulted an inexperienced Trevor Linden directly into the role of President of Hockey Operations in 2014, then abruptly jettisoned him four years later when he preached a slow-and-steady approach to rebuilding the roster
• the organization has never groomed a home-grown star into a major management role
There's no blueprint for success here, but there are some strong examples elsewhere in the league. Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman, Rob Blake, Bill Guerin and others were all top stars who worked there way up through front-office ranks before eventually landing in G.M. positions, and have done well for themselves.
So far, Yzerman has yet to reach the same level of success with Detroit, where he played, as he did in Tampa Bay. But these things take time; he's only two years in with the Red Wings and is amassing a huge stock of young talent. And now that the Washington Capital have been eliminated from the playoffs, I'll argue once again that the haul he received for Anthony Mantha was phenomenal — a slightly younger player in Jakub Vrana who's cheaper and arguably just as good AND a first and second-round pick.
As Sakic looks poised to perhaps climb to the top of the mountain this year, his path is perhaps the most instructive.
After retiring at the end of the 2008-09 season at age 39, he took two years off before re-joining the Avalanche as a senior advisor and alternate governor for the 2011-12 season.
Two years later, he became executive VP of hockey operations. Then, in 2014-15, he added the general manager's title. So he's wrapping up his seventh season at the helm, the same as Benning.
The Avs missed the playoffs in Sakic's first three years in charge, then got bounced by Nashville in Round 1 in 2018 before second-round losses in the following two years.
Now, they're through to the second round again, set to take on Vegas starting Sunday.
Because of the roster he's built and the exciting style of hockey that Colorado plays, it feels like Sakic is virtually bulletproof. I feel like the Avalanche should have the edge over Vegas. But with expectations so high, I wonder how much the conversation might change if they don't make it all the way this year?
That Colorado model is the path that I hope the Canucks will follow with the Sedins. I hope they'll spend some time learning. And I hope their jobs will be structured in such a way that when they speak, their words carry weight inside the organization.
One other fun note on Colorado. When I was doing my list of ex-Canucks in the playoffs for the last blog, I overlooked a famous name who is on the Avs' playoff roster, but has not yet played in the postseason.
Despite that crazy offseason rumour that he was going to work with Willie Desjardins in Medicine Hat, Jayson Megna has actually spent the last two seasons in Colorado. His one-year, two-way contracts have paid the league minimum at the NHL level, but carried a decent wage of over $300,000 in the minor leagues.
He has been up and down for both seasons, playing eight games with the Avs in 2019-20 (no points) and seven this season (two assists).
He was healthy-scratched for all four games of Colorado's first-round sweep of St. Louis, which wrapped up on May 23. But then he was added to the NHL's Covid Protocol list on May 26, where he has remained for the last three days.
Will Megna get himself a Stanley Cup ring later this summer?
And to wrap up today, another player who kind of slipped through the cracks in the last couple of weeks is Vasily Podkolzin.
He did not make Russia's final World Championship roster, and I don't believe there's room for him to be added once Orlov, Samsonov and Tarasenko serve out their quarantines early next week. But he has been posting photos on his Instagram story which suggest that he is still in Latvia with the national team, presumably skating in a Black Ace type role and available if needed.
Benning indicated on Friday that Podkolzin's entry-level deal is all but done. I'd expect the announcement to come after Russia's run at the Worlds is complete. The medal round begins June 3, and the gold-medal game is Sunday, June 6.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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