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Originally Posted by btimbit
There's no reason to think he can't turn it around in the future but until he does can we not jump down the throat of anyone that doesn't like what they see?
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I think the only “throat jumping” is occurring when people do exactly what you’re saying not to do: seeing him for what he isn’t, instead of what he is.
What he IS, is a young player who has vastly improved his play away from the puck, and has potential to improve his play with it. What he isn’t is an 80 point player who is underperforming. What he IS is a high draft pick who hasn’t (and probably won’t) meet the potential of his draft year.
The way to deal with that isn’t to trade him away, it’s too revise expectations. If you take away his draft position, he’s an good young player on a good contract. When you add his draft position back in, he’s still both those things, but he’s also a disappointment. I don’t think it’s wise to trade player who are good, but not as good as you thought they’d be, unless they no longer fill a need or are being paid too much. Bennett falls into neither category.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caged Great
Bennett reminds me a lot of Paul Byron. A guy who gets tons of great chances and doesn't score on them.
Once that monkey gets off his back, he'll be fine. Would not be surprised if he becomes a 20+ goal scorer in the same manner that Byron did. Too many chances for him not to have some of them start to go in.
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Yeah, 100% agree. I do think Bennett has a future as a hard nosed 40 point guy, maybe a season of 50+ in his future. To me, that’s a really valuable piece to have.
To the point of the thread, have the Flames held on too long? To trade him (in my mind): yes, absolutely. You are not going to get more value in a trade than you’ll get letting him develop. Revisit whether you need him or not when bigger UFA contracts are in store. No sense in moving him now when he’s a controllable asset.