[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

What’s brutal about it?

These parts are brutal about it:

Originally Posted by transplant99

As for Bennett...well i dont see him anywhere near 2nd line minutes and being effective since he has never shown that capability and particularly at C.

Because Bennett has most certainly been effective the only time he was given 2nd line minutes (2015-16).

Bennett has never so much as received an opportunity as a second line centre, so it's arguing a false premise. Of course he hasn't produced a ton centering guys like Brouwer, Chiasson, Bouma, and Lazar - but that's a role I'm not sure anyone would realistically be expected to produce a lot outside of hot streaks.

You have to have solid hockey IQ and decision making capabilities at that spot regardless of what some believe, and he just doesn't.

I mean, this is wrong.

If it weren't:

-Someone like Bob Hartley would not have compared him to Peter Forsberg following his D+1 year

-Someone like Bob Hartley would not have excitededly mentioned he was comfortable matching Bennett up to guys like Anze Kopitar down the middle following his D+2 year (just before we fired him)

-Someone like Brad Treliving would not have isolated his strong play down the middle following his D+3 year playoffs

-Someone like Glen Gulutzan would not have compared the player's ostensible development curve to Tyler Seguin following his D+3 year

-Someone like Geoff Ward would not have kept him steady at centre in the top 9 during his D+7 year playoffs, along with playing (and producing) on his #1PP unit in Matthew Tkachuk's absense, especially when he had a productive and healthy Derek Ryan available

-Someone like Craig Conroy would not insist that the player has always been viewed by the organization as a centre following his D+7 year.

- He would not be one of the better shot generators, chance generators, and shot assist generators on this roster

I mean, there's a lot of video evidence of Bennett showing strong IQ, once you look past the occasional failed toedrag (and he's far from the only player to botch toedrags)

One of the few players who is more effective when played less,

This is simply an unsubstantiated claim. The player had his least effective year when played less, in fact in Transplant99's own words was outproduced by Zac Rinaldo when played less. He has his most effective year when played more.

he can't kill penalties

This is false, considering he has been successfully used on the PK in the past.

nor really play top line PP....

And yet another poor take, considering he was literally, and productively playing top line PP in this year's playoffs after Tkachuk's injury. He can play top line PP. Perhaps the Flames don't have a niche for him on their PP, but that's probably because of the Flames' highly skilled, left-shot-heavy top six forward group.

If he can't play top line PP, why was he selected to play top line PP in the most important games of the year?