Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
Not sure who the "haters" are but it is indisputable that he hasnt been very good this season
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He hasn't been very "bad" either.
And he's barely missed out on at least a few assists for scoring plays he has participated in. He's under the microscope right now, but let's not forget Mikael "Selke" Backlund had 1 point in his first 13 games two seasons ago
and an 8 game pointless streak last year. Due to the added responsibilities, Center is a tough position to consistently score -
even for our best center. I know you can point at Monahan's production, but he's arguably gotten away with his share of "cheating" throughout his career. Let's also not forget that at the exact same age, Johnny Gaudreau on the
wing had 0 points in his first 5 games, too. Or looking to a player that Bennett in some ways resembles style-wise, Jonathan Toews last year had 2 assists in his first seven games - and that's while averaging 21:32 of ice time making 10 million a year.
Other than Bennett taking penalties (not
all of which are necessarily "bad"/"undsiciplined" penalties, though some certainly are), his overall contribution hasn't been costing the team. Not that goal differentials are goalie/luck-
independant, but he has been on for just as many 5-on-5 goals for (2) as he has against(2). That's the exact same as Gaudreau (4 for, 4 against) but people only remember the offense without respect to ice time or 200-foot contributions. As for the power play, Bennett is 7th among forwards on the team in PP ice time with Jagr gaining on him rapidly. He's played 38.8% of the PP minutes Monahan has, and that's mostly a classic 3F-2D unit rather than the proven-more-effective 1D-4F umbrella. The 2nd unit has played about ten minutes with him and five without him, and have only scored once (he was on the ice). I just don't think that 10 PP minutes is enough PP time to be analyzing anything. Additionally, Bennett is one of our better penalty killers, probably our best forward after the Backlund-Frolik pair. He's finding ways to contribute elsewhere while the offense isn't there.
I just think the exaggerated analysis around this kid - things like he is a bust and we need to pull out before too late and he loses all value, or that he uses his linemates poorly, or that he's somehow botching his responsibilities at center and needs to be moved to wing - are nothing short of petulance, confirmation bias, and expecting his draft position to supersede his actual role on the team. If he were not a high draft pick people would not be complaining about his net contributions as 3C, outside of the aforementioned penalties. As I pointed out, last year he was playing .5PPG hockey before being taken off the power play to appease certain Pro-Frolik articles that were written, and that demotion caused an extended slump in his play.
If it sounds like I'm making excuses for Bennett - I'm not. Clearly he's botched his share of plays in the offensive zone and clearly he isn't shooting half as much as he needs to be. Defensively he like others hasn't been as strong as he was last year either. 0-0-0 is a tough stat line across six games. But for a young guy like him, points do tend to come in bunches once you get a bounce. Last year Bennett started with 0-0-0 in his first five and then had 3-3-6 in his next four.
Slumps happen. Dylan Larkin struggled just as much last year as Bennett did, also playing his first full year at center, and he's opened this season at a point-a-game pace. I wish that were Bennett right now, but we are not. But piling on a guy during a slump is the worst. I don't think of a guy who's ever had it "comfortable" in the NHL - since his rookie year he's been put into tough positions, whether it was starting on the 2nd line in the playoffs against the Sedins and co, or being forced to be Markus Granlund's LW for a big chunk of his rookie year, or dealing with Troy Brouwer's awful season last year - he's experienced offensive futility seemingly every step of the way. Even this year, Gulutzan is more interested in getting Johnny/Monny/Jagr going than giving Bennett some time to build chemistry with someone whose career high is not 6 goals and 20 points. Which might be correct, but also justifies the reason not to have your 3rd line center on a microscope. The coach doesn't.
Finally, regarding penalties. Bennett is a player who plays a certain chippy, undisciplined style. Guys like Kesler and Getzlaf are also known to play this style and sometimes it gets them into trouble. I don't know if it's "right" compared to the style of a Sean Monahan or Mikael Backlund - but you can't have it both ways. Either you want this team to be full of ****-disturbers or you don't. What I do know is that Bennett had a pretty darn positive penalty differential under Hartley and an overwhelmingly negative one under Gulutzan. Is that a co-incidence? I don't know definitively but personally I don't think it is.