Among the hot topics of the Jim Benning has been the case of Brandon Sutter. Acquired in 2016 for centre Nick Bonino and a 2nd round draft pick, and dubbed a “foundational player” by Benning, the expectations were high. For the first several years, those were largely not met (save for the exception of maybe the 2016-17 campaign, where he played largely out of his depth in the top six but scored a respectable 34 points).
The 2018-19 was the season that many Canucks fans forgot about Sutter. Due to injury, he played just 26 games. In those 26 contests, he scored just four goals and six points.