Are the Edmonton Oilers seriously considering Jim Benning for their GM position?

Another day and another name to watch in the Edmonton Oilers general manager search. This time it’s former Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning. 

Now it must be highly noted that this rumor is coming from Twitter and potentially from an unreliable source. It may not even be appropriate to call this a source but the following tweet was making the rounds last night: 

Sources close to the #LetsGoOilers are starting to buzz with potential GM candidates.

Former #Canucks GM Jim Benning – who grew up in North East Edmonton – is potentially among names gaining traction with Jeff Jackson.

— The King of Blind Bay (@ImRealGoode) July 4, 2024

That being said, if true, the Oilers would be 0/2 on potential GM names they are looking to hire.

Benning blunders

The team had previously been linked to former Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman at the start of free agency, which did not go over well with many fans. While Bowman was a decent GM during his tenure with the team, he was undoubtedly a terrible human being.

Benning, on the other hand, is a much better human being, but his track record as GM is abysmal. 

It’s hard to even know where to being with Benning who during his tenure with the Canucks made awful draft decisions, lopsided trades, and mismanaged the salary cap to a hilarious degree. 

Starting with his draft record, he selected Jake Virtanen over William Nylander and Nikolaj Ehlers as well as drafting Olli Juolevi over Matthew Tkachuk, Clayton Keller, and Mikhail Sergachev. Those alone are pretty damning, but that is before we even get to the real meat and potatoes. 

He traded Jared McCann for Erik Gudbranson, as well as including additional picks in the deal, and even traded away Gustav Forsling for Adam Clendenign. Yes, the Gustav Forsling who just signed a large extension with the Stanley Cup Champions.

Benning was also highly criticized for spending a ton of assets to acquire Tyler Toffoli, have him shine in 20 games with the club, and then not even offer him a contract. This was also the same season in which he let Jacob Markstrom, Chris Tanev, and Troy Stecher walk for nothing in the offseason. 

Moving to the deals he made, he handed out absolute anchor contracts to Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, Sam Gagner, and Tyler Myers, and even went out and acquired Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s massive deal when they were already in cap hell. 

Sprinkle in the fact that he was fined for publicly talking about other team’s pending free agents and the fact that during his tenure other key Canucks hockey operations staff left suddenly and this just has a red flag all over it.

We could go on forever about Benning as a GM, but safe to say that this would be a terrible and out-of-character hire for Jeff Jackson and the Oilers.