Quote:
Originally Posted by yourbestfriend
The thing with Marchand is that he didn't over night turn into an 80pt player. Since entering the league he got better every single year and has now established himself as a premier LWer in the game.
Bennett on the other hand had a great rookie season but has since gotten worse and worse, which is why it's difficult to see him turn it around and play to his draft potential all of a sudden. Players don't generally go from 26pt playes in their 3rd season to consistent 60pt+ players later in their careers.
Even if he manages to turn it around to be a 40pt player it'll still be a tough pill to swallow as he was our highest ever draft pick. I think most fans are willing to give more rope to a #71 pick than a #4 pick.
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Bennett was put into a position to develop correctly and succeed in his rookie year.
In his 2nd year, he got absolutely screwed by playing with a player so bad that he's actually capable of neutering Gaudreau and Monahan, as well as 4th line players who aren't terribly effective 5v5 players - and oh, he was also playing as a centre for the 1st time.
In his 3rd year, his first 10 games were a wash as he played under the same circumstances as he did in year 2. Then Jankowski arrived and Sam Bennett got his first decent linemate in over a year and that linemate was rookie who suffered through a great deal of growing pains himself. When that's the best linemate Bennett has had since Tkachuk moved onto Backlund's line...well I think it's exactly why this team has had no success. You know how you fix bad depth? It's not by subtracting the best player you have in your bottom 6, it's by adding players around him. I think Tree will do just that. If you actually believe that Bennett has been set up for success during the 2 years under Gulutzan, I ask why you believe that? If you look around the league can you find a comparable young, promising, developing player like Bennett that has played centre with wingers worse than Brouwer? I'm not saying Bennett is outstanding - the dude is young and needs development time, but to develop players at the NHL level you need patience and be able to provide them with half decent linemates.
The fans "giving more rope to a #71 pick than a #4 pick." is just the stupidity of fandom, which hey - people love to be negative, some love to be positive.
A little bit of consistency and a better team system will provide Bennett with the chance to break out this year. I really do think Bennett has been the victim of a bad coach, a bad team system, and bad team depth.