Quote:
Originally Posted by tkflames
^Re Bennett back on the checking line....
I am not a fan of this move, but Bennett has not been on a checking line all year. The 3M is our "checking line". They face the hardest competition. What Bennett and Janko are supposed to learn is to produce consistently. Bennett has not been brought in to be a passenger on a scoring line. Bennett is being groomed to run his own producing line that other players want to be on. Whether or not he reaches that potential is a different story, but letting him milk points as a passenger on the first line to drive up his next contract is how you end up paying a German winger $8.5M after one season and maintain a team scoring depth of one line....
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Fair point, but the expectation for Bennett to be able to carry a line at this stage by himself is not realistic. He has been given a constant flow of non-NHL caliber linemates in his time in Calgary. He and Janko were great, until Janko hit that rookie wall (understandable growing pains), and then Bennett started trending backwards to his frustrated/penalty taking version of himself, which is something he needs to outgrow (and I believe he will).
The biggest pain from the inaction yesterday on trade deadline day was that the 3rd line really could use someone to help push Janko over the hump and to keep Bennett going. You can't just plop players on the ice and scream "succeed!!" at them and hope it works. Right now that 3rd line is:
Bennett - needs someone talented to play with right now
Jankowski - hitting the rookie wall
Hathaway - hasn't been effective at the NHL level for more than a month
Adding someone better than both Janko and Bennett to that line could have been a huge "get" for the team. Hopefully Stewart takes off on that first line, and Ferly gets to go on the 3rd...except Ferly hasn't exactly shown to be a play driving player himself either.
Also, I don't think Bennett was leaching points while he was on the 1st line. He was an effective player all over the ice.