Canucks' Benning on trade deadline, Kassian, vision for future

Canucks GM Jim Benning was on Vancouver’s TSN 1040 on Friday morning.

On how active it is out there as far as the trade deadline, and how busy his phone is:

"Well, I think there's lot of teams just talking to other teams and finding out where they're at and finding out what their plan is going into the trade deadline. I think this next 5-8 games is going to dictate if teams are sellers or buyers. There's so many teams close to or on the cusp of being in the playoffs or can't make the playoffs.

"So I think there's a lot of chatter, but I think as we get closer to the deadline there will be more teams that will know where they're at, whether they're buyers or sellers, and I think it could be an active trade deadline."

On Pierre LeBrun’s Insider Trading report that the Canucks are looking for a top-6 forward, and how Benning has previously said he won’t be trading picks or prospects, and if that means he’s willing to ask anyone on the Canucks with a no-trade clause to waive it if there’s a potential fit for a trade:

“I think when I took the job and sat down and talked with Trevor – we’re responsible for doing whatever is best for the organization. So if something came up and we thought that we were going to improve our team going forward, then we’re not afraid to go to players to ask them to waive a no-trade contract. But as of right now, we have no plans on trading anyone with a no-trade contract.”

On how his goal going forward doesn’t change his vision for the organization, regardless of what the trade market dictates:

“Yeah, that’s correct. When you’re building a team, you want to do everything that you can in the present to help your team be successful. But it’s more than that. It’s futures. It's what your future team is going to look like.

"I thought we had a real good draft last year. With Jake, and with Jared McCann, and with Thatcher Demko, and Tryamkin. Forsling was real good at the world juniors. So I think we can get four, maybe five NHL out of that group. And I think the team did a real good job the year before with the draft with Bo Horvat.

"So we got some young prospects right now. Our team in Utica is playing really well. Our kids are developing properly down there in a winning situation. Travis Green has done an excellent job walking the fine line of winning, plus developing our kids. We got Pedan, that we traded for. He's starting to develop into what we envisioned when we traded for him.

"So we got some good prospects coming. We're going to do everything we can do to make the team better now, but with an eye on the future. I think with another good draft this year, the future looks real bright for us."

On if he's working on signing Jordan Subban, and his thoughts on having an under-sized player on the blueline in the NHL:

"Yeah, we have until June 1 to get him signed. We've talked to his agent a few times, and we're going to get him signed. He's going to be part of our group going forward. He's had a real good year this year. He still needs to continue to work to get stronger, to defend in his own end and stuff. But as far as skating the puck up the ice, dragging the puck into the middle, getting shots on net - all the things that Torey Krug is good at - Subban does all those same things too.

"We're excited about him. We're excited about his future. But he's still going to have to get physically stronger for a D-man to play at his size. The thing with the Subbans is they always seem to grow. I remember P.K. in his draft year was 5'10", and now he's 6'. When I was in Boston and we drafted Malcolm, we drafted him at 18 when he was 6'1", and now he's 6'3". So they seem to always have a little growth spurt later on.

"He might not be done growing yet. It's not about his height. It's going to be about having the physical strength to compete with the NHL players."

On how many times Zack Kassian's name has come up in trade conversations:

"Well, teams have phoned to inquire about him. Zack's a young player. He's a power forward style player. We'll listen to what teams say, but he's not unlike a lot of our other players that teams phone and inquire about. If something comes up, where we think it's a good deal for us or something, we'll do it if we make the organization better.

"I thought coming back off the injury those first two games he played really well. What happens sometimes when you're out for five weeks, the drudge of the everyday pounding catches up with you a little bit and your game conditioning. So the next two games he was okay. I don't think he was as good as he was in the first two games. So he didn't play last night, but he'll get his opportunity to get back in the lineup and play."

On if he's open to negotiation a contract extension with pending RFA Chris Tanev during the season:

"Yeah, we've had preliminary talks with his agent. We'll continue with those talks. He's played real well for us. With him and Alex Edler, they've been a real good match-up pair for us, playing against the other team's top lines. So we'll get something figured out with him."

Source: TSN 1040/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

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Nichols on Hockey

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