It was the summer of 1981 and puck-moving defenceman Jim Benning was one of the biggest things in hockey.

He had just come off a stupendous 139-point season with the Portland Winterhawks, prompting the Toronto Maple Leafs to select him sixth overall in the ’81 entry draft. Maybe he would be the next Bobby Orr. The sky was the limit. Anything was possible.

But Benning, the precious resource, wasn’t given direction by the Leafs on how to prepare for his first camp as a professional. The Leafs didn’t do it, nor did any of the NHL teams of that day. It was still the dark ages. Summer was a time for relaxation in the hockey world.

“You were on your own until you showed up at training camp in the fall,” recalled Benning, the 51-year-old rookie general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. “Teams didn’t have strength and conditioning coaches in those days. I would train during the summer but I did the wrong type of training compared to what they do now. I would go on five-mile runs, or swim a mile in the pool.”

It took almost two more decades for the NHL to get with it. In 1999, the Canucks began flying their top prospects in to teach them about nutrition, off-season training, to show them around town and climb the Grouse Grind. There was no on-ice component back then.

Now the Canucks’ summer development camp is a full-blown, 35-player, seven-day affair with team-building events, off-ice testing, social media training, skating and even (gasp!) daily gab sessions with hockey reporters.

“It’s totally changed now because of the money involved,” said Benning. “Back when I played, in terms of just training, there were a few guys like Darryl Sittler who used to do off-ice conditioning and stuff but, for the most part, training camp in September was the time to get in shape and get ready for the season.

“These summer development camps kind of started about 15 years ago because of the collective bargaining agreement and the fact you don’t have the players as long. You don’t own their rights until they’re 30, like in the old days, so it’s really important that you try to develop them as fast as you can and get them to play for you right away. Teams want to teach their young guys about proper weight training, about nutrition, about all the different things to get them up to speed to where they have to be.

“What these camps do is give the players an understanding of what is needed to become an NHL player,” Benning emphasized. “Then it’s up to them to do the work.”

As the Canucks’ director of player development, Stan Smyl is the man in charge of the weeklong camp that concluded Friday at UBC. The National Hockey League has stipulated that teams are allowed seven days maximum with their prospects and Smyl opted to use the full allotment of hours. He added a new wrinkle by taking the group to Whistler for the first two days where, among other things, they went white-water rafting, had a scavenger hunt, took the Peak-2-Peak gondola and had dinner atop the mountain.

“For me, we need an identity as a group,” Smyl noted. “The only way you’re going to get that identity is by having these young players know what it is to be a Vancouver Canuck. This is a great opportunity for them to spend time together and get to know one another more one-on-one. I made the decision to take the group to Whistler this year because I wanted them to have more of a team-building thing. I wanted to get to know the players a little bit better because, as the camps get bigger in the fall, you don’t see them as much.”