[Article] Canucks: Trevor Linden slams former GM Jim Benning in Sportsnet 650 interview

[timberz21]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Hronek said:

 

False. Benning also loved Pettersson but wanted to do a more comprehensive due diligence on all of the prospects.

 

Sounds like what someone would say to cover their ass.  When the "whole" group likes a player and they were always going to draft Pettersson, why is there a need to do due diligence? 

 

Sounds like an excuse to me.  

 

And I've been more of a Pro-Benning than a Benning-hater.   But I'm starting to think I might have been wrong.

[Fan Abroad]

6 hours ago, Miss Korea said:

Aren't there still a bunch of Benning loyalists here who credit him with drafting Pettersson?  Imagine where we'd be with Cody Glass right now.

Benning was the boss and ultimately decided who they took. Benning chose to listen to his scouts and he chose Pettersson. Just like Oli is Benning's choice even if the scouts all thought he was the best pick and Benning listened to them. 

 

Benning's draft picks. Good, bad or ugly. Not a loyalist. That is how a company works

[stawns]

This just in GM hires good scouts and trusts their judgemenr

[KoreanHockeyFan]

Glad I listened to the whole interview, cause it wasn't the draft stuff that stuck out to me the most. 

 

What stood out was Linden pointing out how he was pushing for the organization to realize that it was time for the next chapter. He basically implied that, by 2014/2015, it was time to move on but the rest of the organization thought they could contend. In reality, the Canucks were on the downtrend, and Linden already knew that and had a vision for the long-term.

 

I'm sure a lot of us already know this is what went down, but I found it interesting to hear it from Linden himself again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jeremy Hronek]

29 minutes ago, timberz21 said:

 

 When the "whole" group likes a player and they were always going to draft Pettersson, why is there a need to do due diligence? 

 

 

 

Because, you always need to be sure.  Even if you really love one prospect and are 99% sure that you're going to draft him, you still need to do a comprehensive analysis on other picks and prospects just to be sure. For example, what if Pettersson had been drafted earlier?  Then what?     Doing a comprehensive analysis and proper due diligence is the smart thing to do.

[Jeremy Hronek]

47 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Listen to the interview.    And the questions asked.    Linden was reserved.   Like usual.   He probably has several reasons to throw JB under the bus but isn't.   As for JB, probably best just to keep quiet.    For sure JB needed convincing, nothing wrong with that either. 

 

I'll have a listen right now (just going to be my usual self and go to 7/11 and get some soda, candy, and chips first.  :-p............it's a little later in my part of the world than it is in good ol' VanCity [good morning btw]).   

[Jeremy Hronek]

1 hour ago, LillStrimma said:

So you say the other scouts confirming Lindens word is also full of shit?

 

 

 

Which other scouts claimed that Benning *clearly* wanted someone else (Glass?) over Pettersson?

[WeneedLumme]

49 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Listen to the interview.    And the questions asked.    Linden was reserved.   Like usual.   He probably has several reasons to throw JB under the bus but isn't.   As for JB, probably best just to keep quiet.    For sure JB needed convincing, nothing wrong with that either. 

Yes. The scouts scouted and made recommendations, which was their job, and JB listened to their advice and made the decision, which was his job. I am glad they all did their jobs well on that pick. 

[Alflives]

Just now, Jeremy Hronek said:

Which other scouts claimed that Benning *clearly* wanted someone else (Glass?) over Pettersson?

Scouts like their jobs. They don’t work again if they voice criticism publicly about the process of selection under Benning, or any GM. That’s breaking the code. 

[Alflives]

Just now, WeneedLumme said:

Yes. The scouts scouted and made recommendations, which was their job, and JB listened to their advice and made the decision, which was his job. I am glad they all did their jobs well on that pick. 

That’s not what happened. Benning would have a guy he saw for a weekend and make that his guy. The scouts had no voice in the top picks. 

[Nucker67]

What is Linden doing? Doesn't he have a gym to run or something? This is all hearsay and so irrelevant. Benning was the one who announced Petey, he obviously made the right pick.  

[Jeremy Hronek]

1 hour ago, iinatcc said:

 

 

 other former Canucks scouts that indirectly verified what Linden said. 

 

Do you still the problem with the above statement?  

 

"Indirectly"

[Jeremy Hronek]

1 minute ago, Alflives said:

Scouts like their jobs. They don’t work again if they voice criticism publicly about the process of selection under Benning, or any GM. That’s breaking the code. 

 

So then what actual evidence do we have that our scouts (other than Judd Brackett) were at odds with Benning?    

 

 

[WeneedLumme]

1 minute ago, Alflives said:

That’s not what happened. Benning would have a guy he saw for a weekend and make that his guy. The scouts had no voice in the top picks. 

Fine, so JB did a great job on the Petey pick. The scouts had nothing to do with it. Happy?

[Bob Long]

2 minutes ago, Alflives said:

That’s not what happened. Benning would have a guy he saw for a weekend and make that his guy. The scouts had no voice in the top picks. 

 

32 head scouting jobs on the planet. Yeah, you will probably keep your trap shut if there was something going on that you didn't like.

[SV.]

It's great to see Linden finally have a chance to shed light on this.  A very obvious story that's been circulating for years which many Canucks fans simply refused to believe because it was difficult to fathom the GM was not doing his job as good as they thought he was doing.  I also don't think it's surprising that many former employees who worked for the organization during this time have all but come out to corroborate Linden's version of events in some way, be it through subtle tweet or innocuous comment, almost immediately after this interview.

Nevertheless, I feel this anecdote would have been better shared on a podcast rather than a formal radio hit.  The team is in a good place right now and the talk should be about what's going on in the present.

[DSVII]

The best part about this drama right now is that it's outside the org.

 

Benning is still hoping to find a job. His contract extension monry ran out at the end of the 2023 season so I'm not surprised he broke his silence over this to save face.

 

I'm also not buying the due diligence quote as much considering he heavily weighted drafting Juolevi by his world juniors performance alone.

 

Either way, I was inclined to give him more credit for drafting Petey. Lets just say it's less now. 

 

 

[iinatcc]

53 minutes ago, Jeremy Hronek said:

 

Do you still the problem with the above statement?  

 

"Indirectly"

 

Yeah, I assume they don't want to go too direct on this. But is it a coincidence when this Linden interview hit one of the scouts posted a photo of Linden and Pettersson ? 

[Jeremy Hronek]

5 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

 

 But is it a coincidence when this Linden interview hit one of the scouts posted a photo of Linden and Pettersson ? 

Maybe.....maybe not. 

 

But do you think it's possible that you're reading too far into this?

[Nucker67]

Nothing to see here. Sure, Benning probably wanted another player, like Makar or Heiskanen. 

 

With all of the excitement and positivity surrounding the Canucks this season, I'm surprised Linden would spew this negativity. Maybe Trev needs another Euro bike ride to clear his head.

[1-d]

7 hours ago, iinatcc said:

 

 

I think the lesson here is that communication within the organization is very important and my key takeaway from the interview with Linden is Linden really tried to setup a structure in the Organisation. After the Linden interview the folks in Canucks central mentioned that after Linden left the structure started breaking down and Brackett left not long after. 

 

 

 

And that's when Jim & John's 2 yes-men show began.

[Provost]

4 hours ago, Jeremy Hronek said:

 

False. Benning also loved Pettersson but wanted to do a more comprehensive due diligence on all of the prospects.

There have been so many people attached to the organization and left that have effectively called Benning a snake that I think any right minded person can figure it out.

 

There were so many times he straight up lied if you paid any attention.  Heck, with the Brackett firing he said that Judd wanted 100% autonomy and control over every pick.  You can go back a few months before that and look at the quotes when Benning promoted Chris Gear, he said the reason for it was so that he (Benning) and Weisbrod could spend more time overseeing the day to day operations of the scouting department…. You know, Brackett’s actual job.

 

Benning was a terrible GM and an average at best scout.

[Jeremy Hronek]

5 minutes ago, Nucker67 said:

Nothing to see here. Sure, Benning probably wanted another player, like Makar or Heiskanen. 

 

With all of the excitement and positivity surrounding the Canucks this season, I'm surprised Linden would spew this negativity. Maybe Trev needs another Euro bike ride to clear his head.

 

I don't think Linden deliberately threw Benning under the bus as much as he did in simply expressing his thoughts to a question.  

 

Hilariously enough, I think Linden was subtly far tougher on Boudreau in the interview than he was with Benning or ownership, lol.   

 

But fuck it - who cares now.   

 

It's 2023.

 

Linden and Benning are about as relevant to the Canucks as my uncle's breasts.   

 

Yes, I was a BenningBro back in the day, and I predicted that 2019/2020 would be our 06/07 (surprise 2nd round appearance), 20/21 would be our 07/08 (small step back), and 21/22 would be our 08/09 'we've arrived' party.  

 

I was two years off.  

 

This year looks like it's our 08/09 year with bigger, better, and blacker things to possibly come.  

 

Let's celebrate what's in front of us instead of dwelling on issues from 5+ years ago.

 

 

[LillStrimma]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Hronek said:

Which other scouts claimed that Benning *clearly* wanted someone else (Glass?) over Pettersson?

It’s in the thread, one tweeted the word ”Finally”. 
That is not a word someone tweets if Benning did a good job.

[VforVasili]

I think Linden answered the questions asked honestly and probably felt like it was water under the bridge. The full interview gives a lot more context to his comments and I didn't see anything wrong with it. Just the typical Vancouver gross overreaction. He was respectful but honest. I wish we got more of that in sports media, not less.