Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Intentionally? Of course not. But they wouldn't be the first team to overvalue the wrong players and undervalue the right ones. Look back to the Vegas expansion draft and plenty of teams would probably have liked a do-over with the likes of William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Shea Theodore, Colin Miller, Nate Schmidt, Rielly Smith, and Erik Haula. Well, I suppose the Capitals might look at their Stanley Cup and begrudgingly accept losing Schmidt, but not every team protected all the right players.
Role is a huge aspect of perception and even opportunity to advance in this league. So I am not ashamed of my opinion that that the team hasn't ever truly set the player up to succeed. I want the player to succeed because I think he legitimately can help my team succeed. Appeals to the authority of some unsuccessful coaching staffs mean little to me.
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You're right, aside from labelling my response as an appeal to authority. I am a big fan of Sam Bennett, and I am also encouraged by what I saw from him the past month or so. But having said that, I remain convinced that his situation is predominantly of his own making—he has had a propensity to make poor decisions with the puck, and has not done well at utilizing his line mates. He looks MUCH better recently, and the fact that he is finally now doing some of these things from everywhere he is slotted in the lineup is a good sign, but moreover also suggests that his line deployment was most often not the problem.
I would also like to see him centre the fourth line.