I sometimes think our perspectives have been spoiled with Monahan and Gaudreau, when looking at the career trajectories of Ferland and Bennett.
I think the coaching staff is doing a good job of carefully deploying Bennett at times when he can succeed while giving him a taste of the tough minutes here and there. He plays such a unique game that I think his development path may be a bit rockier than Monahan despite potentially having a higher ceiling. Just because he has a few great shifts, doesn't mean he should be playing 23 mins a night. The constant deployment on the wing does kind of make me wonder though.
As for Ferland, he teases you with such potential, but I think he always was going to be a longer term guy. His playoff performance was an anomaly. He was barely an NHLer last year, this year he is a full time NHLer. I would hope and expect that he takes a big step next year to being the player we all hope he can be.
I think the organization has done a fantastic job of developing young players. Though I suppose it's pretty easy to look good compared to the land of no goodness.
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