The new Vancouver Canucks General Manager, Jim Benning was officially introduced today at a press conference at 12:00 p.m.
Trevor Linden, President, Hockey Operations, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, formally welcomed Benning before the pair answered questions from the Vancouver media for the first time since Benning was named the 11th General Manager in club history.
“I wanted someone with experience, someone who is an exceptional talent evaluator, a leader and a hard worker, with a proven track record. Over all, I wanted a builder. Jim checked all those boxes,” said Linden in his introductory speech.
Fifty-one-year-old Benning, a former Canucks defenseman in his playing years, joins Vancouver after serving in the capacity of the Boston Bruin assistant GM for the past seven years.
Benning’s first order of business will be to hire a new head coach after John Tortorella was fired by Linden following a tumultuous season.
“Before last season, this team had a relentless attitude that they were going to skate and to wear team downs and to score and for whatever reason that didn’t happen last year,” says Benning. “But I’m hoping that with Trevor, we hire the right coach for this group and we can recapture that going forward.”
Re-watch the rest of the live press conference here:
