Quote:
Originally Posted by robaur
Why is Marner getting ranked ahead of Bennett in all of these rankings ?
I understand that Marner had an amazing 126 point season during his draft year but there were 2 other players on his team who hit 100+ points in the season - Domi (ranked 11th on this list) and Dvorak. He was playing on a stacked London Knights team.
Bennett on the other hand during his draft year had little to no offensive help, and when he played junior this past season after missing pretty much the entire season -- he lit up the OHL to the tune of 24 points in 11 games playing with an offensive plug like Spencer Watson. And then after that, he jumped right into the NHL Playoffs level.....Mitch Marner might not even make the Leafs regular season team...
Being drafted by the Leafs just seems to outweigh any tangible evidence.
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I'm not a junior scout or an expert on NHL propects, but I find it difficult to subjectively argue that Bennett should be any higher than 4th on that list. The fact is, he only played 12 regular season games last year between the Fronts and the Flames. And while he looked promising with the Flames in the series against Vancouver, that again is a very small sample size to judge a player. Missing nearly a full season of hockey at 18 years old will have a negative impact on any prospect when comparing him to his peers.
I'm hopeful that Sam will jump right into an impact role with the Flames, but also recognize that there could be some growing pains. With his aggressive style of play and current injury track record, there is a possibility that an 82 game season in the NHL will be a difficult adjustment.