Bennett and Tkachuk had similar rookie seasons with similar linemates.
Gulutzan failed to develop Bennett. Last year Tkachuk played with an absolutely excellent centre, Backlund, doing the heavy lifting on the 2 way game, while Bennett spent a lot of time stapled to the corpse of James Neal. Not comparable
Maybe Bennett doesn’t match Tkachuk’s 77 points in that role, but I suspect he would put up good numbers for a top 6 winger on a contending team.
This team is deep and good. Tkachuk is excellent and makes them better, but I believe there are players that can capitalize on opportunities, and this tram is still a playoff team without Tkachuk
Hopefully we don’t have to see that I am right
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