Quote:
Originally Posted by BigErnSalute_16
^ that's the only Bennett Trade I'd be ok with (Josh Anderson) unless he was thrown in to get an elite player.
The argument goes around and around every time his name gets brought up. He'd get more points if he had more time with better line mates, but he has to earn that time and capitalize when he does.
For me I see two things as the main factors in why Bennett hasn't been what we hoped. (or just one if you want to combine them into mismanagement.) But the first is position. He was drafted to be the teams future first line centre and after a strong rookie season he still didn't get tried as a centre. You can say that is for a whole bunch of reasons similar to what was mentioned above but what I saw this past season when he covered for injured Ryan was he seems to be far more comfortable playing down the middle and I think it suits his game much better. That was the best hockey I have seen from Bennett outside the playoffs as a flame. It's time to make him a permanent centre.
The second is consistency of line mates. And when I say this I mean consistency in who he is playing with and consistently getting to play with decent players. Again it said a lot that the best he has played outside of the playoffs was when he got multiple games with Dube and Lucic. they aren't even world beaters but he got to be the centre on a line with good players and it showed a glimpse of what he could do.
So, I think Bennett needs to be the 3rd line centre to start in the playoffs for two reasons. 1. We already know that he elevates in the playoffs but he also has chemistry with Dube and Lucic. 2. Ryan may make that line slightly better but the numbers were actually very close, but Ryan has also already proved that he can elevate guys into an effective 4th line. I'd like to see him do it again giving the flames 4 trusted lines.
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I agree with this fully!
He looked great down the middle with those 2.
Jankowski and Reider are not players who have played well enough to be considered regulars and given that Ryan is going to be 34 next season we really should be taking longer looks of Bennett at C.