Canucks Turn To Bruins' Jim Benning For GM Vacancy, Introduction Coming Friday

Bruins Assistant GM Jim Benning "will be the new general manager" of the Canucks, according to Brad Ziemer of the VANCOUVER SUN. Benning had "been the favourite" almost since Canucks President of Hockey Operations Trevor Linden took his current role early last month and will be "officially introduced at a news conference on Friday." Linden said, "Sitting with Jim and talking with him I quickly recognized that our visions and values of how we wanted our organization to be and the direction and the type of players and style of play we wanted, we are very much aligned. It really felt right to me" (VANCOUVER SUN, 5/22). SPORTSNET's Mark Spector wrote Benning is "exactly what the Canucks organization needs." He is a "talent evaluator" who helped the Bruins "collect a gritty, sizeable group" (SPORTSNET.ca, 5/20). Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli in a text message wrote, "You don’t like to lose quality people but you have to respect opportunities that they may encounter along the way." In Boston, Steve Conroy notes Benning "had been with the Bruins for eight years, the last seven as assistant GM" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/22). Also in Boston, Amalie Benjamin noted Benning "interviewed for the Sabres GM job during the season." Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs said of the Canucks hiring Benning, "I think that speaks to what’s now become sort of the Boston model. People do want to copy what you’re doing because of the success we have seen" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/21).