NHL considers penalizing Canucks GM Jim Benning for alleged tampering

BUFFALO — NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the decision on whether the Vancouver Canucks will be penalized for general manager Jim Benning’s alleged tampering will be made in “a couple of days.”

"What I’ll say is I have a discussion both with Jim and (Vancouver president) Trevor Linden,” Daly said. “They understand where we are in this situation and have talked about announcing something early next week with respect to what we intend to do.”

On Thursday, Benning was a guest on TSN 1040 radio and said he had talked to the Montreal Canadiens about acquiring defenseman P.K. Subban. “We haven’t gone down the path to make believe there would be something that’s real or not,” Benning said. “It’s a high price.”

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Then Benning said he would be getting involved in the Steven Stamkos Sweepstakes if Stamkos goes to the open market as a free agent on July 1.

In both instances, Benning appears to violate the NHL’s rules about discussing players who are under contract with other teams.

Daly said more than one team complained about Benning’s comments. “I received a number of concerns, not solely from the team involved,” Daly said. “It was a matter of general concern.”

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Daly hasn’t decided whether the league’s handling of the matter will be made public.

"We’ve had a couple of instances where team people have spoken out of school,” Daly said. “I’m not sure how often we’ve announced penalties associated with them. There’s a lot of different factors involved in something like that. You have to see if there was damage done by the comments. Typically, if it’s more of a violation and no damage done, the penalty might be less. Depends on the circumstances.”

Daly wasn’t specific about what punishments he would consider, but the range is likely a fine at the low end and loss of draft picks at the high end. “There’s a sliding scale,” Benning said.