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

Linden stated if Benning “had his selection, he in all probability would’ve taken a special participant” than Elias Pettersson on the 2017 NHL draft

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Rumours have swirled. Questions have been requested.

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Was it actually Jim Benning’s name to draft famous person ahead Elias Pettersson with the fifth-overall decide in 2017, or did the previous normal supervisor favor another person?

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Former Vancouver Canucks nice Trevor Linden tried to clear the air in an eye-opening interview on Sportsnet 650 on Wednesday afternoon — and his tackle what occurred behind the scenes main as much as that fateful draft for the Canucks is just not beneficial in the direction of Benning.

On Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satiar Shah, Linden, who as group president employed Benning in 2014, stated if the previous Boston Bruins assistant GM “had his selection, he in all probability would’ve taken a special participant.”

“I wasn’t proud of the way in which our course of was in 2016 and that was the primary yr Judd (Brackett) had taken over the reins and I didn’t like how our conferences went,” Linden stated. “So in 2017, I actually pushed arduous to have Judd actually step up and actually run a robust-type assembly in that we will actually put our ideas and emotions on the desk.

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“I actually pushed arduous in that administration group to have Judd and his guys make the decide. And Judd — and provides Ronnie Delorme loads of credit score as nicely — they cherished this man and so, Jim wasn’t offered.”

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The yr earlier than Pettersson was chosen, Benning took Olli Juolevi with the sixth-overall decide. Juolevi turned out to be a bust in Vancouver and is presently taking part in in Sweden.

Just a few hours after the Linden interview, Sportsnet producer Raja Shergill posted on X that he had spoken to Benning, who refuted the feedback.

“We have been at all times going to draft Pettersson. The entire group favored Petey.”

Benning additionally instructed Shergill that he felt the scouting group hadn’t watched different gamers sufficient and needed them to do their due diligence.

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Benning’s feedback are regarded as the primary to be made publicly since he was fired by the Canucks in December of 2021 — on the identical day the group relieved head coach Travis Inexperienced of his duties in a home cleansing transfer.

Brackett, in the meantime, signed with the Minnesota Wild to be their head scout in July of 2020.

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