from Joshua Clipperton of the CP at the Globe and Mail,

Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning identified speed and toughness as two areas the club needed to address this off-season. He’s confident Brandon Sutter and Brandon Prust fit the bill.

The Canucks acquired the forwards in separate July trades in hopes they will help in the continued process of retooling the franchise on the fly while also altering the locker room culture.

“These guys are competitive guys and they’re sore losers,” Benning said earlier this week. “They don’t like losing, so as we transition these young players into our lineup going forward they’re going to watch the Prusts and the Sutters and it’s going to be good to learn from them.”

Vancouver returned to the playoffs last season, finishing second in the Pacific Division with 101 points before suffering a six-game defeat at the hands of the Calgary Flames in the first round.

A lot was made of Calgary’s physicality in the series and Benning said he’s much more comfortable with his roster heading into 2015-16.

“I think we’re going to be able to get in on the fore-check,” he said. “Last year when I watched our team, I felt like we were a little bit in-between. We weren’t fast enough to get in on the fore-check and we didn’t spend enough time in the other team’s end.”

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