[ComixZone]

You can’t look at his draft spot without the draft year in mind, that’s completely disconnecting the abstract from reality. We have the 4th round pick in THAT year. Not any year. That year. Sam Bennett was the runaway “brain dead” pick at that spot, just like Monahan was before him (at 6) and Tkachuk was 2 years later (at 6). So because we got dealt a not so great draft year with our “highest pick ever”, we should just abandon the player and not try to make the best of a somewhat unlucky situation simply due to expectations that are disconnected from reality?

So when saying “the asset we gave up for him” is in fact the 4th round pick in that draft year, well...it is what it is. Bennett was the right pick at that moment in time, and when given proper circumstances he has performed well. I do think there is a player/coach mismatch, which is why I’m all for holding onto Sam. Gully, I’d say, is unlikely to be here beyond next season given his track record during the first 50% of his contract, so yeah - you hold onto Sam and get him someone good to play with, and we may very well be rewarded handsomely.

Yours, and my, expectations mean absolutely nothing. They’re not real. Sam Bennett is real, and he’s on the team. With drafting you take the good and you take the lesser good, and the bad alike. Bennett needing more time does not make Bennett bad, it just makes him un-extraordinary, which in no way excludes him from being able to develop into a very good hockey player. When you hit a home run in the 4th round, it makes hitting a single or a double in the 1st round a lot more palatable as well.

Look at how an older Ferland teased us for a few years before finally, largely due to circumstance, started nailing it this season. Patience is not a bad thing, and just because he was selected 4th overall doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be given patience.