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Benning knows he ‘could get criticized’ for trading fan favorite Eddie Lack

Florida Panthers v Vancouver Canucks

Florida Panthers v Vancouver Canucks

NHLI via Getty Images

FORT LAUDERDALE -- With the petition to “Keep Eddie Lack!” approaching 1,500 signatures, Canucks GM Jim Benning knows he could be in for some abuse.

If Lack is traded, there will be a lot of angry fans in Vancouver, a market that’s already had to say good-bye to Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider in the last couple of years.

But Benning’s job is to put the best team on the ice, and he feels that keeping Ryan Miller and trading one of Lack or Jacob Markstrom is the best strategy.

“Sitting in my shoes, and when I talk to my management team, we have to make the decision that’s best for the organization going forward,” said Benning.

“I know if that’s the way we decide to go, I could get criticized. But that’s part of the job. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

Benning reiterated today that Vancouver won’t be trading Miller, because “we want to keep a veteran goalie.”

So it’s either Lack, the fan favorite, or Markstrom, the AHL all-star, who will be dealt.

“I think a big part of our team last year was that we had two good goalies,” said Benning. “Ryan is a proven number-one goalie in the league. So we want to keep Ryan, then we have to make a hard decision on the other two guys.

“Now, part of that decision is going to be based on who we think has the most upside, and part of it’s going to be how he fits in our salary cap situation. That’s just the decision that we have to make to keep moving forward.”

The Buffalo Sabres, armed with a pair of second-round draft picks, are reportedly one of the teams interested in Lack.

Related: Benning confident Canucks can ‘get a fairly high draft pick’ for Lack or Markstrom