[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Come on folks, enough.

Bennett has been played up with Gaudreau before, let's not pretend they haven't tried it. It was always short lived, not because they cut off his opportunities intentionally, but because he couldn't run with it and make a case for himself to stay there. .

the right wingers in Bennett's three stints centering Gaudreau have been:

2015-16 - Michael Frolik/Josh Jooris
2016-17 - Alex Chiasson
2017-18 - Curtis Lazar

I would not call any of these situations "playing up with Gaudreau".

The one exception is the ever-brief period with Frolik. You may however note that Bennett had 5 pts in those 4 games and strong underlying numbers. To say he couldn't run with it would be a bold lie. Hartley chose to reconstruct the Gaudreau - Monahan - Hudler line, but perhaps that had more to do with the struggles of those other two during that stretch away from Gaudreau.

Originally Posted by TOfan

Good post.

I’ll keep it short; If Sam Bennett truly is this mishandled diamond in the rough, why hasn’t any other GM over the course of 3,4,5 years traded for him? why isn’t Steve Yzerman, for example, offering up a compelling enough package to land a natural 24 year old first or second line center?

Because it takes two sides to make a trade.

And one of those sides, is a general manager who has not traded the player away. Why has Brad Treliving not traded this player away?

Have you considered that there are very few packages more compelling than Sam Bennett's own upside? The upside he shows time after time when the playoffs roll around, despite limited minutes and roles and utilization?

Sean Monahan isn't Anze Kopitar. Mikael Backlund isn't Patrice Bergeron. Those are not the hills any GM wants to die on. That's why we continue to acquire centres (Elias Lindholm), draft centres (Dillon Dube, Connor Zary), and most likely why we continue to hang on to Sam Bennett.

Or any other team for that matter? Don’t think any other team could have used him? Baffling, isn’t it?

You're operating on this assumption that no one is interested in him. This is a league where a general manager traded a first round pick (Matthew Barzal) for Griffin Reinhart. Where a general manager traded a second round pick (Alex Formenton) for Curtis Lazar. Where a general manager traded a second round pick (Rasmus Andersson) for Sven Baertschi. You sincerely think no general managers have ever made an offer for Sam Bennett?

Maybe NHL executives, across the board, don’t see him as a center?

The only executives who've ever commented on Sam Bennett to my knowledge are Brad Treliving and Craig Conroy. Both of them have explicitly stated that they see him as a centre.