Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Sam Bennett Value: Have the Flames held on TOO long? OR is he awesome?

kyuss275 · 02-10-2018, 08:20 AM

I have seen some posters say that "look at Backlund when having patience". I'm not sure if those circumstances apply to the new NHL. Some of the reasons that Backlund was given a long leash was that the flames had zero center prospects in the system. Hell they didn't have any real forward prospects that could come close to NHL. Back when Backlund was the youngster in NHL it was more norm to have your NHL roster full of vets. Now the NHL seems to be going younger and younger every year. I don't think teams going forward are going to be giving prospects 6-7 years to get their stuff together.

I would also like to add that being patient is a 2way street. Yes flames should be patient with Bennett but he is also going to have to be patient going forward if he wants to remain a flame. I could easily see Bennett and his agent asking for a trade this summer. He might feel he needs a fresh start. What do they see as the long term future with the flames? Even if he starts playing well, he is never going to dethrone Johnny Hockey or Tkachuk on LW. I don't see him as a center and even if he was, he has a long way to go to make it as a top 6 center man. If he does put it togther in the next year or 2, is there even going to be any money left to keep him long term? Johnny, Gio, Mony, Hamilton have been paid. Backs could be getting paid pretty soon and they better be backing up the money trucks for Tkachuk in a years time. ( Tkachuk is my favourite who i see as future captain). Doesnt leave much for Bennett.

02-10-2018, 08:20 AM	#229
kyuss275 Franchise Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Exp:	I have seen some posters say that "look at Backlund when having patience". I'm not sure if those circumstances apply to the new NHL. Some of the reasons that Backlund was given a long leash was that the flames had zero center prospects in the system. Hell they didn't have any real forward prospects that could come close to NHL. Back when Backlund was the youngster in NHL it was more norm to have your NHL roster full of vets. Now the NHL seems to be going younger and younger every year. I don't think teams going forward are going to be giving prospects 6-7 years to get their stuff together. I would also like to add that being patient is a 2way street. Yes flames should be patient with Bennett but he is also going to have to be patient going forward if he wants to remain a flame. I could easily see Bennett and his agent asking for a trade this summer. He might feel he needs a fresh start. What do they see as the long term future with the flames? Even if he starts playing well, he is never going to dethrone Johnny Hockey or Tkachuk on LW. I don't see him as a center and even if he was, he has a long way to go to make it as a top 6 center man. If he does put it togther in the next year or 2, is there even going to be any money left to keep him long term? Johnny, Gio, Mony, Hamilton have been paid. Backs could be getting paid pretty soon and they better be backing up the money trucks for Tkachuk in a years time. ( Tkachuk is my favourite who i see as future captain). Doesnt leave much for Bennett.