[Signing] Flyers sign Brayden Schenn to 4 year deal ($5.125 mil AAV)

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Last year, AS A 19 YEAR OLD ROOKIE, Bennett got 15 minutes of ice-time and had 18G and 18A. He had what can only be described as terrible puck luck, with multiple posts hit and what? 5 or 6 goals disallowed? Imagining that he will improve from 18 to 22 goals this year, at the veteran age of 20, does not seem like too much of a leap to me.

He also had no wingers. Like none. He might as well have had me on his line. Yet he still managed 18 assists. Despite the fact that his linemates did squat all year. He will have better wingers this year - guaranteed. So it is not hard to imagine that his assist totals will rise. From 18 to 30ish? Not all all difficult to imagine, IMO.

He will also almost certainly get more ice-time this season than he got last year. Getting 15 minutes of TOI as a 19 year old is actually pretty impressive. And he deserved more. He will definitely get more this year and I would bet that it is probably going to be in the 17-18 minute range. And it is probably safe to assume that his PP TOI will rise as well, from the 1:57 he got last year.

Based on these factors, it is not at all unreasonable to assume 50 pts this year. And personally, I would be disappointed if he didn't get at least that many.

Bennett is not a comparable for Schenn. He is on track to be significantly better.

Whose ice time is he going to take?


Monahan 18 (after 19+ minutes the last 160 games) plus
Backlund 16 (after 17:30 in his last 200 games) and
Bennett 16
leaves only 10 minutes for the 4th line.

Have to figure that Gaudreau stays with Monahan and is likely joined by Brouwer.... Backlund and Frolik stay together. So Bennett's line mates will be not be elite scorers.


If you set it as 50 or bust for Bennett you may be setting up for a let down.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Whose ice time is he going to take?


Monahan 18 (after 19+ minutes the last 160 games) plus
Backlund 16 (after 17:30 in his last 200 games) and
Bennett 16
leaves only 10 minutes for the 4th line.

Have to figure that Gaudreau stays with Monahan and is likely joined by Brouwer.... Backlund and Frolik stay together. So Bennett's line mates will be not be elite scorers.


If you set it as 50 or bust for Bennett you may be setting up for a let down.

I think the most pragmatic thing to do will be to award minutes to Bennett's line from the fourth line which should really be doing only spot duty to give the three scoring lines a break. The top three lines should probably all be sharing about 54 mins of ice time in the duration of a game. Moreover, I think given his age and trajectory that it is reasonable to expect Bennett's production/60 mins to improve over the course of the next few years. And I am not at all convinced that Brouwer will be a fixture on the top line. The key to offensive success in the NHL comes predominantly in pairs, and the logical place for him to play at this juncture will be with Bennett:

Monahan · Gaudreau
Backlund · Frolik
Bennett · Brouwer

This fits more clearly with everything said by management and the new coaching staff in their discussions about what was wrong last year, and how best to fix it.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Whose ice time is he going to take?


Monahan 18 (after 19+ minutes the last 160 games) plus
Backlund 16 (after 17:30 in his last 200 games) and
Bennett 16
leaves only 10 minutes for the 4th line.

Have to figure that Gaudreau stays with Monahan and is likely joined by Brouwer.... Backlund and Frolik stay together. So Bennett's line mates will be not be elite scorers.


If you set it as 50 or bust for Bennett you may be setting up for a let down.

As Textcritic suggested, most likely from the 4th line.

If you were the coach, it being your first year with a new team and your 2nd crack at the NHL, would you hang your hat on playing the 4th line, or would you look to up Bennett's ice-time? I know which way I would go.

Also, I suspect Brouwer will be playing with Bennett, not on Monahan's line. I actually had a chance to chat with Bennett recently and I asked him about better line-mates this year. One of the first words out of his mouth was Brouwer. And it just makes sense - Monahan and Gaudreau don't need veteran support, they just need someone that can do their job. Bennett, on the other hand, would benefit greatly by having an experienced - and big - player on his line.

Then add either Shinkaruk or Tkachuk on the left side, and that is a pretty decent line.

As long as he remains healthy, I think he's a pretty safe bet for 50 points.

In fact, I'll make a bet with you (condition being that he plays at least 75 games): if he gets at least 50 points, you agree to never mention Hamilton or Frolik in a post for the entire season.

If he doesn't get 50 (again, with at least 75 games played), what stakes do you want?

[Zevo]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

As Textcritic suggested, most likely from the 4th line.

If you were the coach, it being your first year with a new team and your 2nd crack at the NHL, would you hang your hat on playing the 4th line, or would you look to up Bennett's ice-time? I know which way I would go.

Also, I suspect Brouwer will be playing with Bennett, not on Monahan's line. I actually had a chance to chat with Bennett recently and I asked him about better line-mates this year. One of the first words out of his mouth was Brouwer. And it just makes sense - Monahan and Gaudreau don't need veteran support, they just need someone that can do their job. Bennett, on the other hand, would benefit greatly by having an experienced - and big - player on his line.

Then add either Shinkaruk or Tkachuk on the left side, and that is a pretty decent line.

As long as he remains healthy, I think he's a pretty safe bet for 50 points.

In fact, I'll make a bet with you (condition being that he plays at least 75 games): if he gets at least 50 points, you agree to never mention Hamilton or Frolik in a post for the entire season.

If he doesn't get 50 (again, with at least 75 games played), what stakes do you want?

You have to thank every one of Ricardo's posts for a year.

Too steep?

[Enoch Root]

^ That sounds reasonable to me

Ricardodw?

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

^ That sounds reasonable to me

Ricardodw?

Never going to make even fun bet where I would be put into a position where I was rooting for the Flames or a player on the Flames to fail.

One of the biggest things I predicted wrongly was that the Flames would fall apart when Gio got hurt in 2014-15 . I was extremely glad that I was totally wrong and could join the stretch run and playoff bandwagon.

PS... I would love to post how wrong I was about Hamilton and how he has become a monster in the new system and last year he just didn't fit in with the small high risk game that Hartley wanted him to play.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Hamilton was a monster during the latter part of last year.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Hamilton was a monster during the latter part of last year.

He was good on the PP and put up a lot of points. He was -8 in the 2nd half of the season, Not the team worst over that stretch (Ferland -9 and Bennett -11 were worse).

Absolutely no reason he should not be better 5 on 5 against the players he goes up against.

Schenn had 33 pts in his post All Star 35 games +5 most 2nd half pts on the Flyers <=== attempted to keep thread on topic.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Hamilton was a monster in the latter part of the season. His plus/minus was destroyed by an abysmal where he went - 2 three times in the four game length. I'm not ignoring those games, they count, but it doesn't tell the whole story. That six of your 8 minuses in three games. A blip.

So much upside there. Brodie was an adventure in his own end at 22, - 9 in half a season. Hamilton is the bees knees.