Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
I'm skeptical Bennett can translate his playoff success into being a productive 2C or 3C over a full season.
Most of his goals were scored with a ferocious forecheck and by crashing and banging around the net. It's extremely difficult to maintain that kind of relentlessness for 82 games.
The game is refereed differently in the playoffs vs regular season. Bennett would take a couple minors a game if he played that way all the time.
The role of an NHL center is to maintain possession of the puck, use vision and smarts distribute it to wingers, and backcheck down low when he doesn't have the puck. Bennett still doesn't do those things. He's still not a very good passer, and he's not great without the puck.
You have to ask yourself why a guy with his wheels, who plays in the bottom 6, has not been entrusted to kill penalties. It's because his anticipation, patience, and discipline are lacking.
He's fun guy to watch, and his style of play is well-suited to the compressed intensity of the playoffs. But I just don't see him as a line-driving NHL centre.
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You think an NHL centre who can’t maintain possession of the puck, has no smarts and vision to distribute the puck, doesn’t back check and is not great without the puck, and lack anticipation, patience, and discipline... just forechecked his way to 5 goals and 8 points in 10 games in the playoffs? Like *poof* anyone with an aggressive forecheck can run along at a 40 goal pace in the NHL?
Alright. Interesting take.
I will say, I think most people would be happy to see Bennett play a similar game, not even the same, and become a 20-20 guy. That’d be a big step up. I don’t think anyone is looking for the second coming. Bennett is a grinder who has some fantastic offensive pedigree. He’s good on faceoffs, good in the middle, and is underrated across the board.
Anyways, I find some people insistence on the regular season pretty funny. He excelled when the games mattered, but this tweet summed it up for me:
https://twitter.com/user/status/1298328805589659648?s=20