Quote:
Originally Posted by Kovaz
I think the Bennett vs. Draisaitl comparison really illustrates how important opportunity is when developing a player. You need a young player to feel some offensive success so they can develop a feel for what works at the NHL level. And they need to have room to make mistakes, learn what doesn't work, and the get back out there and try again until they (hopefully) figure it out.
Bennett spent the better part of two years watching every decent play he made die on Troy Brouwer's stick. Is it any wonder he turned into a player that doesn't know how to use his linemates? I distinctly recall being impressed with his ability to win a puck in his own zone and start a breakout when he was first playing C, but it so rarely turned into offence. I think he got stuck in a horrible feedback loop where he couldn't produce, started trying to do too much and put too much pressure on himself. And meanwhile we had two other better lines so making mistakes meant his ice time got cut. Not a recipe for success.
Meanwhile, Draisaitl got 20 minutes a night, tons of open looks created by McDavid, and no matter how badly he played on a given night he's still getting double-shifted in the 3rd because they don't have a plan B. You could hardly create a better situation to develop a player.
You can argue all you want about a difference in talent between the players, but if you could go back in time and give 20yo Draisaitl 12 minutes a night between Versteeg and Brouwer and give 20yo Bennett 20 minutes a night on McDavid's wing, we're talking about very, very different players today.
Of all the things Gulutzan did wrong, Sam Bennett's misdevelopment has to rank at the very top.
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I'm all for putting some blame on his development, but at some point it's the player's own body and they have to take responsibility for their play. Sometimes we all forget that there were various polls on CP during the 2015 playoff run and the grand consensus was that Bennett didn't need any time in the AHL and was ready for full-time NHL duty. A lot of us (myself included) got shut down for saying that even though he had a good playoff run, that entire team was super-lucky and some time in the A would do him well.
Putting their teams aside, it's obviously to anybody that watches both players that Draisatl is the superior player AINEC. It's easy to say that Draisatl got handed big minutes so of course he produced. Yet the Oilers are hardly the standard when it comes to gifting players fresh from the draft big minutes and having them succeed. I think Draisatl would have developed just fine regardless of if he had been put with garbage players like Bennett. At some point when you start using the excuse of the player having terrible linemates, you'll at least see glimpses of the skill and brilliance that made them such a high pick. Those glimpses started out decently with Bennett, then seemed to fade every season. He never shows those flashes when he's gets a chance to play with anyone in the top 6. Had Bennett been gifted more talented linemates since the start, I really do believe he'd have been an anchor like he is now.
He is what he is; a 3rd line player with jam. Nothing more.