VANCOUVER – A two-day entry draft just isn’t long enough for Jim Benning.
The 2014 National Hockey League draft hadn’t even commenced when the new Vancouver Canucks general manager got started on the 2015 lottery by spending this week’s third-round pick to acquire Derek Dorsett from the New York Rangers last June. In March, Benning gave his 2015 second pick to the Calgary Flames for Sven Baertschi.
The exuberant GM even got a head start on the 2016 draft by sending a future third-round pick to the New York Islanders in November for prospect Andrey Pedan.
Dorsett provided the Canucks grit and 25 points last season, while Baertschi, 22, and Pedan, 21, helped Benning fill a generational gap — like the Grand Canyon is a gap — in the prospect pool caused by previous manager Mike Gillis sacrificing eight picks in the top four rounds over a five-year period when Vancouver was trying to win a Stanley Cup.