Canucks name Jim Benning General Manager
Posted May 21, 2014 8:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Vancouver Canucks have made it official, confirming that Jim Benning has been hired as the team’s new general manager. Benning replaces the fired Mike Gillis and becomes the 11th GM in franchise history.
President of Hockey Operations Trevor Linden confirmed the news to season ticket holders at an event on Wednesday night, while a press release was simultaneously sent out.
Benning has spent the past eight seasons with the Boston Bruins, serving the last seven of them as the assistant GM to Peter Chiarelli. Prior to working in Boston, Benning spent time as the director of amateur scouting for the Buffalo Sabres.
Linden and Benning have a brief history together in Vancouver, which dates back to 1988. Benning played defense for the Canucks for four seasons, which his final two being the first two years of Linden’s career.
The Canucks new general manager will waste no time in getting to work, according to Linden.
“Jim recognizes that there’s a lot of work to do and I think we’ve got some big decisions to make heading into the draft and certainly the summer. We’re going to get to work on that, obviously the combine is next week and the great thing about this situation is Jim is able to start immediately with us, so he’ll be in Toronto for the combine with us.”
Vancouver holds the sixth overall selection at the entry draft in June.
With a new general manager in place, Linden’s focus can now shift to finding a new head coach. John Torterella was fired from the post after just one season in Vancouver.
Benning will be officially introduced at a press conference on Friday at Rogers Arena.
