Hearing about a team’s White Collar employees usually means one thing: a GM got fired. Not so with the Vancouver Canucks, where the biggest story over the last couple weeks has been Judd Brackett. Brackett is the Canucks’ Director of Amateur Scouting, which isn’t someone fans normally hear a lot about. Why is the Vancouver Canucks scouting department making headlines?
Welcome to Vancouver!
Vancouver Canucks Scouting Conflict
A recurring theme for Canucks fans is how bad their scouting has been. It’s a favourite bugbear on call-in shows, blog posts, story comments, and more. Heck, it was a three-part series I wrote when I started here at LWOH. The 2010s are too close to do a full evaluation of the Canucks draft choices of just yet, of course. But, for the most part, the impression is that they have improved considerably as the decade progressed. This warrants a closer look.
Has The Canucks Drafting Improved?
At first glance, this is obvious. Between 2007 and 2012, of the 36 picks the team made, only two – Ben Hutton and Cody Hodgson – became NHL regulars, with Kevin Connauton mostly playing between leagues. Between 2013 and 2018 they drafted eight NHL regulars including two All-Stars and their captain. And there are plenty still to come. So yeah, obviously the team has drafted better, right?
Let’s add some context. In 2008-09 the Canucks made it to the second round of the playoffs. They did it again the next year and followed that up with a trip to the finals in 2011. When a team is challenging for the Stanley Cup, the push isn’t to improve the prospect pool, it’s to win the Cup. And with the teams’ success, the Vancouver Canucks scouting department has been challenged. In the 2007-2012 years, the team drafted higher than 22nd exactly once, picking Hodgson tenth overall in 2008. They didn’t have a pick in the first three rounds in 2010. They also had to move an excellent goaltender for the chance to select Bo Horvat in 2013, and a Selke-winning centre to take Jared McCann in 2014, skewing the team’s opportunities in post-2012’s favour.
That the team has been much worse in recent years, at least partially from the lack of upcoming prospects, helps their draft position, too. That being said, a team’s draft position doesn’t matter if the scouts get it wrong. While the General Manager will have final say in who is drafted, they rely heavily on what their scouts report. The apparent crisis in Vancouver right now is in the conflict between head scout Brackett and current GM Jim Benning.
First, a quick look at Judd Bracket’s employment history.
Playoff Brackett
Judd Brackett played four years at the college level and one internationally before becoming a scout. After starting with the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL, he moved on to the Indiana Ice in the USHL where he served as Head Scout and eventually as Vice President of Player Personnel. He can safely be considered an expert at the collegiate and amateur level scouting, particularly in the Eastern US.
Brackett was hired by the Canucks as an amateur scout in 2008-09. It is very difficult to tell how much influence he, or indeed any scout has over a team’s selections. The very nature of the job makes it communal, with a collection of opinions gathered together. We do know that he was successful enough to earn promotion to Director of Amateur Scouting in the Summer of 2015. The Canucks made their last playoff appearance in the 2014-15 season, the year Jim Benning was hired as the Canucks new GM.
Back to the Benning
Jim Benning was also a player (including one year internationally) before he became an amateur scout for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1993. He moved on to the Buffalo Sabres, scouting for four years before serving as their Director of Amateur Scouting. As director (1998-2004), the Sabres did reasonably well at the draft, both with excellent late finds and high-pick misses. One advantage Benning’s time there has compared to Vancouver is the number of picks he was given. The draft was nine rounds then instead of today’s seven, but even discounting those Benning had 51 chances. More than a dozen of those players had solid NHL careers.
Again, it is difficult to compare the picks of different clubs when he held different positions at each. Generally speaking, the GM makes the call on a team’s first pick at the draft. That’s the one with the greatest weight – not only for the club but for that GMs career. Whoever is running the scouting department should be contributing their opinion, and those of their division, but in the end, the GM is the one who announces the name. Usually.
Credit Where Due
Since coming to Vancouver as GM in 2014, there have been seven amateur drafts. Eliminating the most recent two seems fair, as they simply haven’t had time enough to pan out. The exception to that being Quinn Hughes, who there was apparently no debate over selecting.
Benning has been General Manager since 2014; Brackett was named Director of Amateur Scouting in 2015. Where Benning scouted when he was with Buffalo we don’t know. What we do know is that the Canucks made their first USHL picks since 2007. Understandably gun-shy (2007 was the disastrous Patrick White selection) they struck gold, getting both Brock Boeser and Adam Gaudette in 2015. That’s definitely Judd Brackett’s influence, right? That league is right in his wheelhouse. Quite possibly, but it’s not like Benning avoided the USHL or the college ranks, drafting Thatcher Demko from Boston College the year before.
What’s certainly true is that the Canucks have leaned more heavily on the USHL and US College ranks to draft players from. They’ve done well enough at the draft that one of those picks could be used to bring in Tyler Toffoli. But it’s not just the draft where they’ve found success at college. Their current prospects are loaded with signings directly from the college ranks. Highly-touted prospects Brogan Rafferty and Hobey Baker nominee Marc Michaelis are recent additions. Current player Troy Stecher was signed from the NCAA in 2016. Hopefully, Benning asked for input before the signings happened, but how much and from who?
Self-Made Disaster or Business As Usual
Standing on the outside, it’s very difficult to tell why or how the split between the head scout and the GM happened. It could be as simple as a personality clash that has come to a head. It could be as complicated as a power struggle for resources and autonomy. Or it could be about credit and respect. Maybe one kicked the other’s dog four years ago and was never forgiven. We don’t know. Ideally, draft meetings (ones that aren’t for the camera) are places where scouts can push for “their” players. There should be a variety of voices as different perspectives make themselves heard. Some conflict has got to be expected.
On the other hand, if there is any field where a group of people have to work together to accomplish anything, it’s team sports. Differing opinions are fine leading up to a decision, but once the decision is made, it’s done. If there is a conflict of personalities, that can be put aside for the business at hand. If it’s a conflict of ideas, however, that’s far more difficult to ignore. A team can succeed if two players discuss different strategies – but not if they play them. And right now, it sounds like the Vancouver Canucks scouting department has people pushing a bit too hard to run their own plays.
The Verdict
Whatever is happening with the Vancouver Canucks scouting, it has to be resolved before the Draft. So far, the owner has supported Benning in whatever power struggles have happened. The only move Brackett has is walking away from the team once his contract expires this off-season. In a normal year, on a normal sports team, and in a normal city that would be that. But this year, when there are few other distractions for fans to pursue, Brackett may have fan support on his side. And that just might make all the difference.
Main Photo: VANCOUVER, BC – FEBRUARY 28: Vancouver Canucks General Manager Jim Benning speaks to the media after a game between against the Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings. Benning was discussing the recent trades of Vancouver Canucks Left Wing Alexandre Burrows (14) and Vancouver Canucks Right Wing Jannik Hansen (36). February 28, 2017, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC. (Photo by Bob Frid/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
