19-year old Sam Bennett - Expectations for 15/16 season

[Lanny_McDonald]

I see Bennett on the third line for the vast majority of the season. I expect him to chip in here and there, but not be a major cog in the machine at this point. 25-30 points is a good year for a third liner. If Bennett lights it up from the third line, 35 points would be a great season.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by New Era

I see Bennett on the third line for the vast majority of the season. I expect him to chip in here and there, but not be a major cog in the machine at this point. 25-30 points is a good year for a third liner. If Bennett lights it up from the third line, 35 points would be a great season.

Bennett might be on the 3rd line but he's going to get PP time. No way he gets less than 40 points on one of the top offensive teams in the league.

[handgroen]

Originally Posted by Pacem

What i would like to see.

Bennet Backlund and Frolik to start.

15-20 games in move Bennet to a 3c sheltered position with some PP time.

I like the idea of him getting a taste with a couple of two way players.

i would really like to see frolik and backlund split up.
if they are both truly possession monsters they should be playing one on the 2nd and the other on the 3rd line.
my personal druthers would be:

line A
Ferland - Bennett - Frolik

line B
Bouma - Backlund - Jones

line B starts the season as the second line, by mid season line A takes the second line duties.

Both lines are going to be hell on wheels to deal with for the opposition. The flames have drool worthy depth for the upcoming year.

EDIT:
In addition I really like that unlike monahan, and gaudreau, bennett is a real P.O.S. to play against. that is going to become very apparent this season IMO. Would not at all be surprised to see a suspension from this kid. Gonna be a fun line if he gets to play with Ferland.

[GGG]

1 point more than McDavid.

[Neeper]

30/30 for me. This kid is a gamer!

[T@T]

I hollered to Hartley yesterday and got a grin back.

give Bennett #39 so I can buy another jersey

I have Gilmores 89/90 one.

[TheDebaser]

We talking about Sam Bennett or Bo Horvat here?

50 points baby, 50 points

[dying4acup]

I would like to temper expectations. In the last 20years, how many 40point rookies have we seen? 2?

Iginla and Gaudreau are all I can think of.

I think Bennett can be that good, but slow down a bit. Monahan is a full on success and he only had 31?

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by dying4acup

I would like to temper expectations. In the last 20years, how many 40point rookies have we seen? 2?

Iginla and Gaudreau are all I can think of.

Phaneuf as well, he had 49.

Your point is a good one but how many top 5 draft picks have the Flames had as a rookie in the last 20 years, ever? Bennett is the highest ever draft pick for this team and he's going to live up to that billing IMO. As good as Gaudreau and Monahan have been (offensively) Bennett is only going to add to that. He'll probably beat Monahan's point total easily and while he might not hit Gaudreau's mark of 53 I wouldn't count out 40.

The kid is about as legit as it gets. Statistically he was on par with Matt Duchene in their draft years.

Duchene: 1.39 PPG, .54 GPG (18.4 yr old at the draft)
Bennett : 1.60 PPG, .63 GPG (18.0 yr old at the draft)

Wouldn't bet against this kid coming in and impressing. He's not McDavid/Eichel level but he's a potential franchise player.

[dying4acup]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Phaneuf as well, he had 49.

Your point is a good one but how many top 5 draft picks have the Flames had as a rookie in the last 20 years, ever? Bennett is the highest ever draft pick for this team and he's going to live up to that billing IMO. As good as Gaudreau and Monahan have been (offensively) Bennett is only going to add to that. He'll probably beat Monahan's point total easily and while he might not hit Gaudreau's mark of 53 I wouldn't count out 40.

The kid is about as legit as it gets. Statistically he was on par with Matt Duchene in their draft years.


Wouldn't bet against this kid coming in and impressing. He's not McDavid/Eichel level but he's a potential franchise player.

Fair point, but sometimes it's harder for a prospect breaking in on a deeper playoff team. He either gets a start at 3rd line center or 2nd line LW. In either case he would have to carry his line to get 40.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Phaneuf as well, he had 49.

Your point is a good one but how many top 5 draft picks have the Flames had as a rookie in the last 20 years, ever? Bennett is the highest ever draft pick for this team and he's going to live up to that billing IMO. As good as Gaudreau and Monahan have been (offensively) Bennett is only going to add to that. He'll probably beat Monahan's point total easily and while he might not hit Gaudreau's mark of 53 I wouldn't count out 40.

The kid is about as legit as it gets. Statistically he was on par with Matt Duchene in their draft years.


Wouldn't bet against this kid coming in and impressing. He's not McDavid/Eichel level but he's a potential franchise player.

Gaudreau had 64 pts, Not likely Bennett could reach that but 45-50 isn't out of the question considering Hartley loves him.

[Enoch Root]

Bennett's NHLe from his pre-draft season is 39.4

Consiidering that he has had a year to mature, a year to practice with the team, an NHL playoffs to participate in, and has added about 15 lbs to his frame since then, it seems fairly reasonable to suggest that he could get north of 40.

[Enoch Root]

by the way...

Monahan's NHLe was 33 - he got 34

Gaudreau's NHLe was 67 and he got 64

[SebC]

43.5 weighted NHLE for '14-'15 (including playoffs), but that's using a 1.0 factor for his NHL games, whereas he should be expected to improve.

[BrownDrake]

Bennett is 19, has played and practiced with the team for a year. He played in the post season in suffocating hard nose hockey and didn't look out of place, actually was our best forward at times.

Most skilled player with highest ceiling we have ever drafted. If you remove Ekblad he is drafted number one about 75% of the time (without the pull up thing).

Hartley won't have Bennett sheltered on the third line very long, he won't have his most skilled player logging 10-12 minutes a game.

Probably plays the wing on second line - even that gets him a couple of draws a game. Next year he slots in at center on second line.

Over 50 points is a lock.

[Vinny01]

The team has matured so much from Monahan's rookie season. Also I think Bennett has a much higher offensive ceiling than Monny.

Monahan's rookie season was spent developing the culture and really learning to play the style Hartley wanted them to play. Last year the team picked up from where they left off and results showed on the scoreboard. This coming season the bar has been raised by adding a top pairing D, and top 6 winger without subtracting from last years group.

Bennett is joining a team with a ton of speed (which he has plenty) and the most mobile defense in the league that will push the play and jump up in the rush. I am not concerned about the Flamea scoring goals and actually think the offense will increase next year.

Lastly I wouldn't be shocked if Bennett and Johnny get paired together at some point next year and really click.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Bennett is joining a team with a ton of speed (which he has plenty) and the most mobile defense in the league that will push the play and jump up in the rush. I am not concerned about the Flamea scoring goals and actually think the offense will increase next year.

Lastly I wouldn't be shocked if Bennett and Johnny get paired together at some point next year and really click.

I believe Hartley tried the two together in Anaheim during round 2 and they clicked pretty well. As soon as Bennett was drafted I penciled Johnny and Poirier in as his future linemates.

[Bootsy]

I'd be content with a 40 pt rookie season , anything above that is bonus.

[Journey17]

I think 0.5 PPG with a combo of PP time with sheltered offensive zone times. I think we could see Stajan or if we get rid of him then Backlund taking the "traditional" third line defensive responsibilities so that Bennett and Monahan can get the prime offensive zone times. With this type of game plan then I see reasonable chance at 40-50 points depending on the number of games he plays.

[FlamesAddiction]

I think around 35 points is reasonable. This is a better and more deep team than we have seen over the past couple of seasons. I think Bennett is going to be fighting for ice-time more than Monahan had to.

A lot will depend on injuries obviously.