Canucks GM Jim Benning made some waves last week when it came out that he had reached out to the Sedins’ agent, J.P. Barry, about the twins’ future.
That came as a bit of a surprise, as the Sedins made it clear heading into the season that they wouldn’t think about re-signing with the Canucks until the end of the year when they had some time to reflect and make a well-considered decision. But Benning suggested that whatever the Sedins indicated to him could affect the team’s decision-making at the trade deadline.
On Tuesday, Trevor Linden downplayed the question of the Sedins’ future during an excellent interview with with Matt Sekeres and Blake Price on TSN 1040. After some tough questions about the direction of the franchise and how soon fans can expect success, Linden talked about the Sedins and the trade deadline.
“I think this has taken on a little bit of a life of its own,” said Linden. “My assumption would be that they would...sit down at the end of the year, take stock of where they are physically and mentally, and sit with their families and see what the future looks like.”
“I think Jim was checking in with J.P. just on kind of what he felt their intention might be,” he continued. “Obviously they have every right to take their time and figure out where they want to be and I’ve always felt that would happen at the end of the year.”
He added that the team was “not going to put any pressure on them to give us an answer by a certain date” and that the team would “make decisions at the deadline based on what’s best for our group moving forward.”
There was an implicit suggestion that the entire thing has been overblown — that this was a routine check-in with an agent that did not have a significant impact on what the Canucks will do at the deadline. The only issue is that it was Benning himself who suggested that it could have a significant impact.
It was initially speculated that Benning might be inquiring into the Sedins’ plans because it could affect whether they trade or re-sign Thomas Vanek, but Benning changed that from speculation to reality in an interview with Andrew Walker and Dan Riccio on Sportsnet 650.
“We contacted their agents last week just to kind of get a feel for where they’re at and what they’re thinking going into the trade deadline, so we kind of know at the end of the year what their plan is for next year,” said Benning. “I haven’t heard back yet from J.P. Barry, but when he gets back to me, we’ll have a better understanding as to what the plan is going forward.”
“You guys brought up Thomas Vanek, who is our second top scorer on our team this year,” he continued. “So say if the Sedins for some reason decided they weren’t going to come back next year, then it makes us maybe think about well, do we want to get Thomas signed going forward?”
While the Sedins’ decision whether or not to re-sign shouldn’t play into the Canucks’ decision-making at the deadline, Benning has now said multiple times — to Iain Macintyre, Ben Kuzma, and on the radio — that it does. If trading Vanek, one of the Canucks’ most important players on the trading block heading into the deadline, is affected by what the Sedins want to do, then it seems pretty imperative to get a solid answer out of them in the next few weeks.
But Linden said, “They’ve earned the right to make the decision when they feel it’s right, and that’s likely a few weeks after the season when they’ve had some time to digest everything.”
This isn’t the first time that Jim Benning and Trevor Linden have made public statements that seem to contradict each other. Considering they’re two different people and not an alien hive mind, that’s not entirely surprising, but it is concerning when the two people in charge of decision-making seem to be so far apart.
Does it matter if the Sedins tell the Canucks their plans before the trade deadline, as Benning suggests, or are the Canucks completely cool with the Sedins waiting until the end of the season to come to a decision, as Linden suggests. Normally I might suggest that the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but that doesn’t seem to apply: either it matters for the Canucks’ trade deadline decisions or it doesn’t.
