The fans and the media love to dissect ex-general manager (GM) Jim Benning’s tenure with the Vancouver Canucks. From his mind-boggling trades, inept signings, and inability to manage the cap, his time with the Canucks was an utter failure. An aspect of his management’s regime that people may overlook due to the countless albatross contracts he handed out is his drafting resume. There are hits, franchise-altering hits at that. Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson are the current faces of the Canucks, but those two players were not the only top-ten picks the Canucks held while Benning was in office. His draft blunders were bad; these are three of the most infamous.
Jake Virtanen: Sixth Overall, 2014 NHL Draft
In Benning’s first draft with the Canucks, the 2014 NHL Draft, he owned the sixth-overall pick. At the time, this was the highest the Canucks had selected since the 1999 Draft when they took Daniel Sedin second overall. They chose Langley, British Columbia-born Jake Virtanen, who played for the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. The hometown kid brought optimism to the Canucks, with some fans hoping he could carry the torch the Sedins were soon to pass on. Unfortunately, the right winger’s promise turned into disappointment. Virtanen spent seven years in the Canucks organization, seeing NHL ice time in six of them. His best season came in 2019-20 when he scored 18 goals and 18 assists for 36 points in 69 games, which were career highs in goals, assists, and points.
Virtanen played only 317 games in the NHL, all with the Canucks. In those games, he only scored 55 goals and 45 assists for 100 points – dismal production for a sixth-overall pick. What adds fuel to the blunder-ridden fire are the players selected after him; William Nylander, Nikolaj Ehlers, and power-forward Nick Ritchie all went in the top ten after him, eighth, ninth, and tenth, respectively.
Benning opted for a big, bruising player rather than the best player available, passing on Nylander and Ehlers. Other players selected in the first round after Virtanen consists of David Pastrnak, Jakub Vrana, Alex Tuch, Dylan Larkin, and Nick Schmaltz, all of who became more quality NHL players. Virtanen’s 6-foot-1 frame and physical style of play proved too tempting for Benning, leading to an unfortunate pick for an executive touted for his scouting ability before joining the Canucks. His inconsistent play and sexual misconduct allegation made it hard for the Canucks to continue giving him a roster spot. They eventually bought him out in the 2021 offseason, and he has not played in the NHL since.
Olli Juolevi: Fifth Overall, 2016 NHL Draft
Headlined by Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the 2016 NHL Entry Draft is one to remember. Benning and the Canucks did their part to make it enjoyable to look back on as they stunned the hockey world. Rather than selecting left-wing power forward Matthew Tkachuk with the fifth-overall pick, he sided with smooth-skating, Finnish defenseman Olli Juolevi. Over his career, Juolevi only played 23 games with the Canucks, scoring two goals and an assist. Tkachuk going one pick later to the Calgary Flames adds salt to the wound. Now with the Florida Panthers, Tkachuk became a Hart Memorial Trophy finalist during the 2022-23 season, eventually leading his team to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. The Canucks did not see the same level of success with Juolevi. Benning eventually traded him to the Panthers for defenseman Noah Juulsen and forward Juho Lammikko.
Two significant injuries to Juolevi’s hip and knee set back his development; however, Benning should have never taken him fifth overall. He played the 2022-23 season in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the San Diego Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks AHL affiliate. In total, he has played in 41 NHL games, his only points still coming from his initial stint with the Canucks.
Ultimately, the Canucks turned the 2016 fifth-overall pick into a depth defenseman and a career AHL forward. Tkachuk, Charlie McAvoy, Clayton Keller, Jakob Chychrun, and Tage Thompson are prominent names taken after Juolevi in Round 1 of the 2016 Draft. Benning taking Juolevi over Tkachuk cost the Canucks a game-breaking, franchise-altering superstar. Once again, similar to Virtanen, his decision to draft for fit instead of taking the best player available hurt his team and reputation.
Vasily Podkolzin: 10th Overall, 2019 NHL Draft
The Canucks held the tenth-overall selection in the 2019 NHL Draft. Benning needed to give the fans something to cheer about with the draft being in Vancouver. The Canucks selected Vasily Podkolkin with their first-round pick. No immediate boos or audible displeasure left the mouths of Canucks fans at the draft, but a mere four years later, Benning’s final first-round pick has yet to establish himself as a formidable top-six player. Podkolzin has scored 18 goals and 15 assists for 33 points in 118 games with the Canucks so far in his career. His offensive output is not what the Canucks expected when they drafted him, but he has developed a solid defensive game.
The issue with the Podkolzin pick stems from the players drafted after the right winger. Matthew Boldy, Cam York, Cole Caufield, Alex Newhook, and Peyton Krebs were all selected within seven picks after Podkolzin. The Canucks drafted Podkolzin, who should become a valuable, defensive-minded middle-six forward in his prime. Still, that mold of player should not be the result of the tenth-overall selection. Benning did draft a player that will be a consistent NHLer, unlike Virtanen and Juolevi, but missed out on players with higher potential in Caufield, Boldy, and to an extent, Newhook and Krebs.
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Benning’s disaster-ridden tenure with the Canucks will haunt fans for years. His mismanagement of the cap still has ramifications for the current-day affairs of the team, while his lacklustre trade history is equally saddening. Perhaps if his spotty draft record were slightly better, the image Canucks fans hold of him would be higher. Time will tell if Benning will get another GM job, or any executive position for that matter, in the NHL; however, he should refrain from using these three draft picks as reference material on his resume.
