Vancouver Canucks clear out front office; owner explains next steps

We won't be hearing any more "Fire Benning" chants during Vancouver Canucks' home games. Fans that have been hoping for general manager Jim Benning to be canned have gotten their wish, with the Canucks clearing out just about it's entire front office.

"General Manager Jim Benning, Assistant GM John Weisbrod, Head Coach Travis Green and Assistant Coach Nolan Baumgartner have been relieved of their duties," said the team in a release.

"Bruce Boudreau has been named the 20th Head Coach in Vancouver Canucks history and Scott Walker has been named Assistant Coach. Stan Smyl has been named Interim General Manager and Ryan Johnson has been named Interim Assistant GM while the search for new Hockey Operations leadership has begun."

Benning had been in the GM position since 2014. Green had been coach of the Canucks since April 2017.

"These are difficult decisions, but we believed we would have a competitive group this year. As a result, I'm extremely disappointed in how the team has performed so far," said owner Francesco Aquilini. "I'm making these changes because we want to build a team that competes for championships and it's time for new leadership to help take us there."

Aquilini said the search for new "Hockey Operations leadership" is underway and more will be said about that in the near future. Vancouver becomes the second team this season to fire it's GM after the Montreal Canadiens canned Marc Bergevin on November 28th.

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