NHL insider believes Jim Benning's days are numbered in Vancouver
Speaking on Sportsnet FAN590 radio this morning, Elliotte Friedman said he believes Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning's time with the team may be coming to an end.
«I do think the timetable has been moved forward,» Friedman said. «I do think there's a possibility of a change coming soon.»
Prior to the 2020-21 season, expectations were quite high for the Canucks who finished third place in the Pacific division the year before with a 36-27-6 record. Unfortunately, things have unraveled very quickly this season, and they are putting themselves in a very big hole early on. After last night's loss to the Calgary Flames, the Canucks are now losers of six straight and find themselves in sixth place in the North Division despite playing the most games.
While the Canucks' downfall this season cannot all be placed on Benning, he is certainly a big part of it. He elected to let many of the team's top players in Jacob Markstrom, Chris Tanev, and Tyler Toffoli all leave via free agency, choosing instead to bring in players like Braden Holtby and Travis Hamonic, which clearly hasn't worked out the way he planned. On top of all this, stud defenceman Quinn Hughes made what many saw as a jab at Benning during a postgame media session earlier this week. It almost feels inevitable the Canucks will make a change here sooner than later.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brayden Point | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Bryan Rust | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pavel Zacha | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Quinn Hughes | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Carter Verhaeghe | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Erik Karlsson | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Elias Lindholm | - | 3 | 3 | |
| David Pastrnak | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Adam Gaudette | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Dylan Holloway | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brad Marchand | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sam Bennett | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex DeBrincat | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 22 | 18 | 4 | - | 36 | |
Devils | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 32 | |
Hurricanes | 21 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 31 | |
Wild | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 30 | |
Golden Knights | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 30 | |
Capitals | 21 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 29 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 20 | 13 | 7 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||