Quote:
Originally Posted by GoJetsGo
I'm starting to lose hope Bennett will reach the heights most of us were hoping but at the present time I think it's a far better move to hang on to him and hope he improves vs. selling low. I don't think his trade value could be much lower right now and I just don't see any upside to giving him away as a throw-in. I'd be surprised to see him return anything close to what we hope his value will be. Might as well give him another year. He is still young and that doesn't seem to get factored in enough in most of these discussions about him.
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It's also just part of player development - something the Flames fail at more often than succeed. Bennett may never be the high point producing centre that all the youtube videos we watched made us believe he would be, but that does not mean he won't be a productive, contributing member of the team.
The list of successful internally developed players is rather short for our team.
Tkachuk - instant hit
Monahan - instant hit
Gaudreau - NCAA development
Jankowski - NCAA development
...no one else has done much of anything. We developed Kulak (a 6th d-man), Hathaway (a 14th forward), and TJ Brodie (that's a win...but he's not been very good at all since Gully showed up).
Lazar and Bennett are two players the Flames are actively trying develop at the NHL level - and they're both players who were absolutely rushed into the NHL. They should stick with both players and be patient. Thankfully the team looks to be willing to put in the work, much to the dismay of some posters who love to make snap judgements and refuse to acknowledge that some players simply take time.