Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
Whether you like the stat or not it's available, and he looked it up.
So he's not really romanticizing anything ... just summarizing the numbers.
There will be better ways to zero in on this stuff in the future, but given the current state of analytics Bennett has always created more value in terms of chance generation than he does in actual goals.
So why?
1. Him - lack of finish? Hard luck?
2. Linemates - once again lack of finish, but also potentially lack of quality he's playing with.
The sample size will need to be repeated in the regular season, but at least we saw a number of games where Bennett played with linemates with better hands (Dube) and what that could mean.
Will be really interesting if he starts the year on the third line, centering better linemates.
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It's almost a given that any player will have better stats if he plays with better line mates. Guys like Neal aside of course.
My comment on the particular stat is simply that I'm not sold on its validity. I'm much more happy to look at other stats that support Bennett being the best player on the Flames.
I'm just not seeing the creativity from Bennett that people are ascribing. I'm much more often seeing him taking advantage of plays commenced by line mates - banging in rebounds, etc. That's a good thing, but IMO he's still the guy he's always been. The team's just gotten deeper around him.