Blob Mckenzie wrote:
Look at how teams like Phoenix and Toronto are doing it by acquiring EXTRA picks.
Those teams have far better young players/prospects than Vancouver. THAT should be the goal.
Hey, if Benning was able to re-stock the cupboards in 3 years of re-building to the same level as teams like Toronto (out of playoffs for a decade except for one hiccup), Arizona (no playoffs for 5 years) and Carolina (playoffs once in a decade), even you would have to agree he's a genius!
But as I was attempting to point out, the Canucks were in a win-now mode up until the year before Benning took over. Really, I would argue they were in win-now mode for a solid decade, from WCE to 2013. Arizona's best player is Ekman-Larson, drafted in 1st round in 2009. Carolina's best player is Jeff Skinner, drafted in 1st round 2010 - compare that to the Canucks, who only had Schroeder, Rodin and Connauton picked in the first 3 rounds of those 2 years.
And by the way, Arizona had 2 more picks than the Canucks from 2013-2016. The Laffs have had 4 more.
Canucks have picked 6th, 23rd and 5th over the last 3 drafts, the Laffs have had 8th, 4th and 1st. That right there explains the difference in quality of prospects/youth between the Laffs and the Canucks. With those 3 high picks, the Laffs got a first line. With our 3 picks, we got Virtanen, Boeser and Olli - only one of whom has had an opportunity to make an impact on the team.