Quote:
Originally Posted by Macindoc
At age 21, Boeser, playing with Vanek and Gagner, was scoring at a 0.8 ppg pace before going down with injury. At age 21, Bennett, playing with linemates that would not even make most other NHL rosters, scored approximately 0.3 ppg. Boeser got 1st line PP time, Bennett 2nd line PP. Bennett lost a year of development to shoulder surgery/reconstruction and is 4 months YOUNGER than Boeser, so Boeser is essentially 16 months ahead on the development curve and played with substantially better linemates and in more favourable situations. Boeser is considered to possibly be the future face of the Canucks' franchise, and was possibly the leading candidate for rookie of the year before being injured. And yet people want to use Bennett as a throw-in on a trade or give him away for virtually nothing.
If you want another example, look at Nathan MacKinnon. He is almost 2 years older than Bennett. Two years ago, he scored 38 points (in 64 games), last year he scored 53, and this year 97. Considering the year of development lost, this could be considered to be how Bennett projects to perform 3 years from now. Patience paid off with MacKinnon, and it could with Bennett.
Bennett has 2 main problems: being inserted into the lineup too early in his career instead of maturing in the minors (and as a result, not being able to be sent down for seasoning due to waivers), and being on a team that was fortunate to have 2 players (Monahan and Tkachuk) who were ready to make the step right away, making him seem a disappointment in comparison.
Give him 1-2 more years, and I suspect we will be thinking differently about Bennett. Remember, he is at least 2 years younger than any of the core members aside from Tkachuk, and again, he plays in less favourable situations with inferior linemates, and he lost a year of development due to his shoulder.
Trading away Bennett would possibly be a bigger mistake than the Oilers trading away Hall, because he would only recoup pennies on the dollar. Considering his ceiling, I would rather take a chance that he will still reach his potential, rather than having what little we would get in return for him.
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Wasn't Boeser a 2015 pick? That would make him younger than Bennett. I definitely wouldn't be comparing Bennett to a potential Hart Trophy candidate in Hall either, if anything Bennett is closer to a Yakupov than he is Hall.
People won't want to hear it, but there has to be some intellectual honesty here. Sam is a support player, not a driver of play. He doesn't have the same tools as a guy like Boeser. He doesn't have his shot and he doesn't think the game at the same level. He's been in this league for over 3 years now and we're still seeing wild inconsistencies in his game from his rookie years.
If this team truly wants to be a contender for the next few years while we still have Gio playing at a high level and Johnny still under contract, then we can't wait a few years for Bennett to maybe figure it out. We need a 3rd line that resembles a 2nd line in this league asap or we may be saddled with another awful bottom 6 again that tanks this team.