It took him a few years to put it all together, but Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning has finally assembled a promising young core — led by the likes of Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser.
But when you consider that a handful of this team’s prospects haven’t even made the NHL yet, it only provides more optimism for the future. 2016 and 2018 first rounders — Olli Juolevi and Quinn Hughes, respectively — figure to join Pettersson and co. in building up one of the NHL’s next great cores.