Great deal for a good player; stay the course. Bennett is following the Backlund development curve, and there's no question he has more raw talent. Backlund started to show who he was in his 5th season and 3rd contract.
Backlund, years 1-4: 62 pts in 169gp (0.37 ppg)
Bennett, years 1-4: 115 pts in 311gp (0.37 ppg)
I still believe there's a critical spot on the core of a championship-caliber team that Sam can fill. He might not ever be the 80 point player that his pedigree suggested, but we went through these exact same conversations about Mikael, and look how that turned out.
|