The Vancouver Canucks fired GM Mike Gillis in 2014, looking to change up the aging lineup and shore up some youth. Jim Benning came and now more than a year into his new job, Trader Jim did well what he was brought here to do — draft and grow young players.
But now that the Canucks have a plethora of youth, Vancouver does not have the roster space to play all of them. Next year’s crop of youth looking to make the jump to the NHL is massive — Brendan Gaunce, Hunter Shinkaruk, Alex Grenier, Alex Friesen and some perhaps pushing for the job like Andrey Pedan.