Benning Upset by Fans Reaction to Canucks Record, Talks Changes

Jim Benning was asked about how it feels to know that the fans are chanting “Fire Benning” at hockey games while the Vancouver Canucks are losing repeatedly and not having nearly the type of season they would have hoped for. Calling it “upsetting”, Benning understands the fan’s frustration and says he and his management team are frustrated too.

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Benning didn’t expect his team to start the season with a 5-10-2 record and be among the worst in the NHL when it comes to special teams’ play, goal scoring, and production from their stars. Yet here they are and there have been meetings between ownership and management, rumors about what changes need to be made, and fans starting to wonder why they’re cheering for a team that seems to give them little reason for optimism.

This is a team that was built to be good. Their core of young stars is supposed to be in their prime, the team dumped a ton of bad depth contracts and added pieces like Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Connor Garland. They still can’t seem to win a game, with another loss coming Wednesday night versus the Colorado Avalanche.

Benning spoke with the media on Thursday and said, “It’s really upsetting because I think as a management team, these last seven-plus years, we’ve worked really hard to draft well, develop our players properly and it’s wearing on all of us.” He added, “I get their frustration, we’re frustrated. But we need to figure this out and get back to track, start winning hockey games and play the way I believe we’re capable of.”

Benning did admit that ownership is not happy about the situation. “We’ve talked about the issues we’re having as a team.” He said he’s tried to give them solutions and offered ideas on how they’re going to figure things out. When asked if Benning is reviewing everything, including changes to the coaching staff, Benning said it’s hard on everyone and this record is unexpected. “We’ve got to find answers”. He didn’t really offer a response to whether or not Travis Green’s job was in jeopardy but his lack of response to saying Green’s job was 100% safe suggests it certainly isn’t should the losing continue.

“I believe in this group of players,” he said. He called the Canucks a fragile team right now and said that anything from a bad bounce to a bad penalty tends to crumble the team and it’s going to take hard work and a commitment from the group to keep working hard. It doesn’t sound like big roster changes are coming, but more losing means something has to get done.

If it were up to the fans, the thing that would change is the GM. Does that mean Benning needs to do something else before ownership finally makes that call and gets someone else to change things up?

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