During his time as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, Jim Benning made several mistakes that cost his team dearly, but the one he almost made during the 2017 draft would have simply changed the face of the team. organization.
The Canucks have set their sights on young center Elias Pettersson, who is today the catalyst of the Vancouver attack, with the fifth selection. However, Trevor Linden, the club’s former president of hockey operations, revealed that the Swede was not the GM’s choice.
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The former Vancouver captain did everything so that Judd Brackett, the team’s chief recruiter at the time, could make his own choice.
“I didn’t like the way our meetings went [en amont de l’encan amateur l’année précédente], recalled Linden in an interview with Sportsnet on Wednesday. In 2017, I really tried hard to get Judd [Brackett] really engaged and really put together a solid meeting where we could really put our thoughts and feelings on the table.”
“I really pushed hard, in this leadership group, for Judd [Brackett] and his guys make the choice,” he continued.
We will remember that in 2016, the Canucks chose defenseman Olli Juolevi, fifth. The latter has never managed to break through to a National Hockey League team.
Benning denies
Several rumors have also indicated that Benning wanted to choose Cody Glass instead of Pettersson. The main person concerned, however, denied this gossip.
“We were always going to choose Pettersson. The whole group loved Petey,” he told Sportsnet reporter Raja Shergill.
This season, the 24-year-old has six goals and 15 assists for 21 points in 12 games, which is good for second in points on the Bettman Tour.