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Vancouver Canucks: Brock Boeser Promoted to First Line, How Benning Thinks
August 6, 2015, 2:19 PM ET [455 Comments]
Carol Schram
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Once again, I'll start with good news from the World Junior Development Camps.

Brock Boeser continues to shine—and to work his way up the depth chart—in Lake Placid with Team USA.

The man with the big shot pulled another trick out his bag, setting up teammate Zach Werenski in overtime to give the U.S. a 5-4 sudden-death win over Finland.



Boeser's being rewarded for all his strong play this week. He has been moved up to a super-talented first line for today's game against Sweden:




Wednesday was not as successful for Jake Virtanen and Team Canada, who dropped their first game in the Summer Showcase tournament with a 3-2 shootout loss to Russia.

After playing a strong game against the Czechs on Tuesday, Virtanen didn't generate much offense against Russia on Wednesday—stymied, at times, when he tried to beat Russian defenders along the boards, which seems to be a go-to move for him.

That nasty flu he suffered in Utica during the AHL playoffs aside, it sounds like Virtanen is trying to lean down for his shot at making the Canucks this fall:




Here's more on the chance for the Abbotsford boy with Finnish ancestry to possibly return to his homeland for his second World Junior experience:




Wednesday's game may end up being best remembered for the hullaballoo in the handshake line after the game. For a friendly summer exhibition content, emotions ran high...




The big Russian defenseman who was so hot that he was ultimately wrestled to the ice by the officials was Nikita Zhuldikov—the same player who knocked Jared McCann out of the tournament with that big hit on Monday night.

The two teams don't play each other again in this tournament, but that certainly sets the stage for an even-more-emotional Canada-Russia matchup in Helsinki—especially if Zhuldikov, who turns 19 later this month, makes the team.

Canada wraps up its tournament with a return matchup against the Czechs today at 4 p.m. PT. Virtanen is not expected to play.




Benning Shares His Thoughts

If you're ready to go inside the brain of Jim Benning, Iain MacIntyre takes you there with a substantial Q&A in today's Vancouver Sun.




For all the people who have asked, "What are the Canucks doing?"—this summarizes Benning's philosophy pretty nicely, I'd say:

What we’re trying to do is build a team that can play whatever style the game dictates. So we’ve made some changes this summer. I thought maybe in the playoffs we didn’t play with the intensity and emotion to step up in a playoff series and win, so we brought in Brandon Prust and Brandon Sutter. We’ve got some good, young, skill players coming up. But we want to surround them with players who fit.


Benning also offers some potentially positive words about Jared McCann's health after that hit on Monday:

We don’t know how bad it is. He flew in today with Stan Smyl and he told Stan he’s feeling a lot better.


There's lots more in the article, including some insight into the role of new chief scout Judd Brackett and more on the background of new scout Mike Adessa—the one with the racial slur on his record from back in 1989 at RPI. Benning points out that in the time that has passed since that incident, Adessa spent 15 years on the very highly-regarded scouting staff with the Detroit Red Wings.

And as if we didn't know this already—Benning *really* has high hopes for Brandon Sutter:

You win with players like Brandon Sutter. I’m not comparing him to Patrice Bergeron, but when I was in Boston, Bergeron was a great two-way player for us. Look at Jonathan Toews (in Chicago). That’s how you win in the playoffs. When we look at Brandon Sutter and all the things he brings, he’s going to be in our next wave of core players. I believe his best hockey is still ahead of him.


Benning's currently at his summer home in Oregon, but says he'll be back in Vancouver next week. Say what you will about the man, you can't fault his work ethic.

Today's final note: if you're planning on being in the Prince George area during training camp in September, here's how you can get passes to the Canucks on-ice sessions:


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