I am truly sorry to say that Jim Benning has made a team other than his own – in this case unfortunately, ours – look bad.
When the Flames acquired Vancouver top prospect Hunter Shinkaruk for go-nowhere centre Markus Granlund, it was declared an immediate steal. Shinkaruk was arguably the story of the late 2015-16 season, slotting in with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan on the top line and immediately gelling.
Since then, things have not been great. Shinkaruk was cut from training camp and struggled relative to the season before in the AHL while Granlund stuck in Vancouver and became one of their better players this year.