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Willes' Musings: Is Ken Holland a candidate to replace Canucks' GM Jim Benning?

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The Vancouver Canucks might be headed for a five-day break but the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports never rests.

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The media, like nature, abhors a vacuum and the longer Jim Benning’s contractual situation goes unresolved, the louder the conjecture will grow about his future.

As of this writing, the most popular scenario is Detroit GM Ken Holland, who’s also on the last year of his deal, moving to Vancouver as the hockey overlord in a restructured organization. That would leave a role for Benning in player personnel. It would also add that thing which has been missing from the Canucks’ front office since Trevor Linden and Benning were hired: the experienced voice of an executive with championship experience.

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Now, we can argue the relative merits of this move from now until doomsday but if the Canucks continue to hover around 28th-place in the NHL change would appear to be inevitable. This has become less about the plan and more about consumer confidence in the brand. Bringing in Holland would go a long way toward calming the masses.

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The problem — and this wouldn’t be a Canucks’ story if there wasn’t  a problem — is the native of Vernon might be at the top of the wish list for the new Seattle franchise. But barring a dramatic turnaround in the next couple of months, it appears the status quo is no longer an option for the Canucks.


Vancouver Giants forward Ty Ronning celebrates his 40th goal of the season with goalie Davis Tendeck in the second period of Saturday’s win over the Kelowna Rockets at the Langley Events Centre.
Vancouver Giants forward Ty Ronning celebrates his 40th goal of the season with goalie Davis Tendeck in the second period of Saturday’s win over the Kelowna Rockets at the Langley Events Centre. Photo by Gerry Kahrmann /PNG

Nice to see the Vancouver Giants back and relevant in the Lower Mainland. Saturday night, they provided a wildly entertaining night of hockey with a 3-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets, leaving them one point behind the first-place Rockets in the B.C. Division standings.

Don’t know if the Giants have enough to hang with the WHL’s heavyweights — front-runners Moose Jaw, Regina, Portland and Tri-City all made huge moves at the league’s trading deadline. But they’re 15-5-2 over their last 22 games, they have two legitimate stars in Ty Ronning and Tyler Benson, depth in the lineup and a first-rate goalie in David Tendeck.

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There haven’t been a lot of happy hockey stories in this market lately. This season, the Giants are writing one in Langley.


Kelowna Rockets forward Kole Lind on the ice during the pregame skate prior to playing the Vancouver Giants on Saturday in Langley.
Kelowna Rockets forward Kole Lind on the ice during the pregame skate prior to playing the Vancouver Giants on Saturday in Langley. Photo by Gerry Kahrmann /PNG

Canucks second-rounder Kole Lind didn’t have the loudest game on Saturday night but he remains a solid A-minus prospect.

The skill set is obvious. Lind plays the wing, handles it like a centre and makes high-end plays in traffic.

But this is what you really like about him. Lind was gutted after he was cut from the Team Canada selection camp for the World Juniors. Since returning to Kelowna he has eight goals and 20 points over 11 games.

“We talked about it,” said Rockets head coach Jason Smith, a veteran of over 1,000 NHL games as a hard-rock defenceman. “The message was don’t be disappointed and down on yourself. Just getting invited to that camp is something to be proud of.”

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Listed at a slender 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, Lind needs to add some muscle. But, depending on how you rate him next to Jonah Gadjovich, he ranks fifth or sixth among Canucks’ prospects and if the Canucks have four or five better than Lind, it’s an encouraging sign.

“He has elite offensive skills at the junior level,” said Smith. “It will be about the work he puts in going forward. That will determine how much success he has at the next level.”


Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles (5) scrambles out of the pocket during the second half of an NFL divisional football AFC playoff game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles (5) scrambles out of the pocket during the second half of an NFL divisional football AFC playoff game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018. Photo by Don Wright /AP

Hands up if you saw Crazy Legs Bortles going into Pittsburgh and outduelling Ben Roethlisberger on a day when Big Ben set a Steelers’ franchise record for yards passing in the playoffs? Hands up if you saw Bortles and the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offence put up 45 on the Steelers a week after they scored 10 against Buffalo? And hands up if you predicted a Bortles-Tom Brady showdown for the AFC championship?

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Yes, all that was pretty good on Sunday. But the Vikings-Saints? What on earth was that? The Vikings had it won, then lost, then won, then lost, then won on a play that doesn’t even qualify as a Hail Mary. I know it’s right there with any NFL playoff game ever played and the Stephon Diggs’ last-play touchdown will go down in history as one of the most memorable plays in the postseason. But for me, this is the best part. It sets up a Case Keenum-Nick Foles showdown in the NFC title game.

Who doesn’t want to see that, unless it’s Bortles vs. Foles in the Super Bowl.


Hockey Canada Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney announced that Willie Desjardins will coach Canada’s national men’s ice hockey team into the 2018 Olympic games in Pyeongchang.
Hockey Canada Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney announced that Willie Desjardins will coach Canada’s national men’s ice hockey team into the 2018 Olympic games in Pyeongchang. Photo by AL Charest /Al Charest/Postmedia

And finally, no matter how you look at this issue, the NHL’s decision to forego the Olympics in South Korea is a massive cheat for hockey fans. The cynicism of that play will also be revealed in four more years when Gary Bettman and boys show up in Beijing to plant their flag in the Chinese market.

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But, the more you think about it, the more you’re drawn to the Canadian team for Pyeongchang and everything it represents.

The Olympics, despite the assertions of many, are not about amateurs but they are about great stories and there isn’t a player or coach on Team Canada who doesn’t represent an endlessly compelling story. Go down the list and, whether it’s the NHL or Europe, they’ve all played the game in the shadows and now they step to centre stage in the world’s biggest sporting event.

They won’t get this moment again but, for two weeks, they’ll be stars and they’ll represent this country in the best possible way. I’ll be pulling for Willie Desjardins and Gilbert Brule and Linden Vey and so many others in a different way than I ever pulled for the NHLers.

I suspect I won’t be alone there.

ewilles@postmedia.com

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