Jim Benning
Todays' birthday boy.
Selected in first round
by Toronto Maple Leafs 6th overall in the 1981 NHL Draft.
It was Benning's misfortune to be selected by Toronto. He was rushed to the NHL in 1981-82 and lost much of his confidence while playing on one of the league's sad sack teams. He showed flashes of potential, registering 24 assists, but would have been better off developing in the minors. Benning spent five years in Toronto and had a career best 51 points in 1983-84.
Jim never fulfilled his potential, and never even came close to being a memorable Leaf blueliner, let alone the greatest defenseman in team history. Why is this? He, like so many other junior sensations, was rushed into the NHL destined to fail and quickly was labelled as a just another junior star who failed at the NHL level. While he likely never would have reached superstar status, with proper upbringing he could have developed into a top 4 defenseman with better point production. With all that said, Jim had a fairly good career playing with some very poor teams.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment