Former Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning has been fired from his position. He has been the general manager of the team since 2014. Farhan Lalji of TSN confirmed the news early Monday on the East Coast. This continues the house cleaning that saw head coach Travis Green fired as well.
.@FarhanLaljiTSN confirms GM Jim Benning has been let go by the Vancouver Canucks. pic.twitter.com/e9r1Daip31
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 6, 2021
Jim Benning Fired From the Vancouver Canucks’ Front Office
Benning has a fair share of controversy around his signings. His most notable failures have been Loui Eriksson, Tyler Myers, and Jay Beagle. Eriksson is being paid another $6 million per year through the 2021-22 season, and he was put on waivers in early February. Last season, Eriksson had 13 points in 49 games. Myers has also been another disaster of a contract for Benning. He is being paid $6 million per year through the 2023-24 season. Myers registered 21 points through 68 games last season, and has six points through 17 games this season.
Jay Beagle is another awful contract for the Canucks. They are paying him $3 million through the 2021-22 season. He had eight points through 55 games last season. In total, the Canucks’ fourth line of Eriksson, Beagle, and Jake Virtanen was being paid $11.5 million dollars last season. Virtanen was bought out after some scathing allegations. To put that into perspective, Artemi Panarin has a cap hit of approximately $11.6 million dollars, and Patrick Kane has a contract of $10.5 million.
Looking to the Future
Since 2014, Benning has built a solid young core, drafting Elias Pettersson in 2017, Brock Boeser in 2015, and Quinn Hughes in 2018. All of these players have lived up to their hype and proved to be excellent draft choices. However, these players cannot flourish with the large contracts weighing on the Canucks’ pockets.
The Canucks did manage to re-sign some key pieces like Pettersson, Hughes and Thatcher Demko, but the team is still struggling. With not much projected cap space, the bad contracts Benning offered are a thorn in the Canucks’ side. The team has to find a way to keep pieces like Boeser next season.
