As the dust settles after the Vancouver Canucks acquired right winger Emerson Etem, I don’t think anyone realizes what kind of potential disaster GM Jim Benning has worked himself into — even “Trader Jim” himself might not know what kind of seismic repercussion the Etem acquisition could bring into his organization. The NHL trade deadline might be in 50 days, but Vancouver’s deadline might be a mere dozen days away.
Before getting ahead of ourselves, let’s establish some common ground here. We all knew that Benning would have to make a trade to ship out a veteran — most likely on an expiring contract — to free up roster space, get youth in return, or get draft picks in return.