GM rejects the notion of trading one of his young talents despite major losing streak.

The pressure is on in a big way.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 7 years ago
GM rejects the notion of trading one of his young talents despite major losing streak.
Keystone Press

The pressure is on in Vancouver, and with nine consecutive losses it certainly should be.

As a result the rumors around the team have been flying, from speculation to the longevity of both head coach Willie Desjardins and general manager Jim Benning, as well as the tenure of certain players on the roster.

Benning was asked point blank regarding the possibility of trading some of those core players and the Canucks GM was once again very clear he isn't planning to head towards a rebuild, and that includes no possibility of trading the player that would likely net them one of their highest returns, 26 year old defensemn Chris Tanev.

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“Not at this time,” he said as per the Vancouver Province. “We’ve rebuilt our defence over the course of the last two years and we have some depth. Tanev is a big part of our group and we’re not looking to move him. Chris is still young (26) and one of our better defencemen and you saw the other night (Saturday) when Tanev and Edler didn’t play."

It's still early, but if the Canucks continue down this path the reality of the direction the team needs to take to be competitive in the long-term may become readily apparent to ownership if not to Benning himself. One has to wonder if his stubbornness to maintain the status quo may be his eventual undoing in theend.

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