Quote:
Originally Posted by 868904
I'm going to say this again and again until Bennett reads this or someone in the Flames organization reads it and passes it on to him.
Bennett needs to work on his shot. Not just the velocity of the shot but how quickly he gets it off. This kid is fearless and he has the ability to cycle and elude defenders and get into the hard scoring areas but the problem is, he doesn't have an elite shot to score.
Kid needs to just work with heavy pucks all summer long, shooting 1000 times from all kinds of game situations: off the wing, cycling from the boards, one timers, slap shots from the wing.
Kid is fearless and can get to the scoring areas, that's something that you can't teach, problem is he doesn't have the finish right now but he can work on it.
He really is very similar to Kesler, who also didn't put up much points though the first few seasons but really exploded offensively after developing a one timer, he became a power play weapon for the Canucks and the improved shot also gave him all kinds of offensive confidence.
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I can buy some of that but his hockey IQ is holding him back and I am not sure that can improve significantly. I remember a game where Bennett made an extra move in tight which took him from an empty net sitter into traffic without getting a shot. To me it showed that he did not have his head up and instinctively made the wrong move by not being aware of his surroundings.
As well, I can recall most of Bennett's goals this year and in the playoffs last year, and except for a goal when he came off the wall and drove to the middle to score, most of his other goals were not pretty. On the flip side if you compare that to the type of goals Janko scored it is night and day. I seem to recall that Janko's first goal went off his pants but
Some of the others were, blistering slapshots, wired wrist shots, break aways, and dekes in tight.
This is why I am fine with trading Bennett. However, I also realize that players like Kadri, Karlsson, Marchessault, and Backlund were late bloomers.