[belsarius]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Panicking to win some games is yet again coming at the cost of player development.

Remember when Monahan was a rookie and he played extremely sheltered minutes to learn the game as a Centre? The priority was on teaching Monahan.

Last year, Hartley had Bennett on the wing because the team needed to win, and the focus on the standings didn't allow the team to take the bumps that naturally occur when such a young player is developing at centre.

This year, rather than sheltering Bennett - Gulutzan fed him to the wolves. Now that he's struggled against the likes of Getzlaf, Toews, Thornton, Pavelski, Kopitar, Seguin etc., Gulutzan is taking a shortcut, shuffling Bennett off to the wing and hoping it results in a few quick wins right now.

That playoff series win against Vancouver seems to have cut short this team's "teaching" phase of the rebuild. Now, it's a win now mentality, and teaching is no longer the most important thing. This will hurt the team, and the young developing players on the team. There are no shortcuts. I really wish the team trusted the process on the ice, rather than just paying it lip service.

Bennett has had to face a lot of those guys on the road, where the opposing coach was doing the matching, so I can't really blame GG too much for that. I think Bennett has been identified as a weakness defensively and attacked. Putting Stajan with him fills that hole, and putting Bennett on the wing helps him see and feel how Stajan is playing the center position and mentor what needs to be done.

This is a very good developmental move in my head. Stajan plays a simple game and has very good defensive positioning. Bennett will be free to have his offense but he will also get a feel of where Stajan is on the ice so when he is ready to move to center again he will have a mold to work off of.