Quote:
Originally Posted by gilligans_off
You remember that Curtis Lazar was a first round selection also right? And he’s only 1 year older than Sam. Sometimes players just don’t pan out. Not that I think Sam won’t. Just saying.
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Bennett, while being younger than Lazar, had more than twice as many points as him while suffering from a shooting percentage half of the average of the rest of his NHL career.
At this point, they're in no way comparable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by looooob
I actually agree with many of your points. this is becoming a big year for Bennett. at some point for top 5 picks, excuses need to go away (mind you I'm still firmly in the camp that he can be a useful player to us even if he never ends up being what he was projected to be)
but just regarding St. Louis (and no at this point Bennett isn't going to have a HOF career like MSL) , he was 27 years old in that 70 point season
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His draft position is no longer relevant, the only thing that matters is what he brings to the team. He is no more or less valuable to the team than a college free agent signing with similar skills and production, and we should evaluate him similarly. Imagine if Foo (who is two years older) had made the team last year and scored 26 points while playing with the likes of Brouwer. Would we be out there with pitchforks calling for him to be traded?
As you wrote, he can be useful to the team regardless of whether he reaches his projected ceiling. I love the fact that 2/3 of our forwards are natural centres, it provides more lineup options and allows us to ice the best available players, regardless of forward position, even in the when the inevitable injuries occur.