I'm really not worried about Sam Bennett's production this season as he has shown flashes of offensive brilliance in the past. We can probably just chalk this one up as a sophomore jinx season which in terms of timing, sort of works out financially as his next contract should be a very reasonable cap hit.
To me, Sam Bennett has struggled mightily transitioning the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone. He's had a hard time distributing the puck to his wingers or carrying the puck into the offensive zone and creating from there. As we saw in the last game, when Sam Bennett isn't responsible to be the main puck distributor, he can be extremely effective as he can just read and react rather than think the game so much.
At this point I'm all for playing Sam Bennett as a winger because the game seems to come to him more naturally there. I don't know why the organization is so adamant on keeping him at center when we have a perfectly developing 3rd line center in Mark Jankowski performaning admirably down in Stockton. He's a bigger body who skates well and is actually older than Sam Bennett. I ultimately see Jankowski being the team's #3 centerman which pushes Bennett to wing.
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