from Ian MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

A month ago, the rebuilding Canucks were a surprising 14-10-4 and a contract extension for general manager Jim Benning had been broached with hockey-operations president Trevor Linden and the Aquillini family.

But since first-line forwards Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi joined second-line centre Brandon Sutter on the injured list in the first week of December, the Canucks have gone 2-9-1 and appear to be collapsing again.

And when Linden was asked Wednesday during a mid-season state-of-the-union press scrum about that extension for Benning, his answer was suspiciously non-committal.

“I’m not really going to get too into that at this point,” Linden said. “I think it doesn’t serve anyone, any purpose. I think we’re focussed on having a good second half here. I know that Jim’s focussed on that. He came into a challenging situation and I think we’re trending in the right direction. I like the job Jim’s done. But beyond that, I think we’re focussed on the next couple of months and the deadline, and then finishing and having a good season.”

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