What would've benefitted Bennett most was just fully embracing the third line bruiser role and then building an offensive game on top of it over time.
After a couple offensive penalties that hurt his team he just abandons the parts of his game that work for him as a preventative measure when they don't have to necessarily go hand in hand. So long as he just learns how to straddle that line without going over it, he could make it work. But that takes some fine tuning. Talking to and learning from guys like Tkachuk who are good at that would be beneficial. Devoting yourself to getting smarter out there with playing on the edge.
But if he's fixating on the fantasy that he's got bonafide top sixer in him and skill that is on par with his draft position then he's fooling himself.
We would've seen that in 6 years if he did. Any high end skill displayed was just a fleeting glimpse, and many depth players have those. He has some great strengths that can work for him, but they're not in that boat.
Whatever job you do, excel at it. That's the mentality that would serve him best. Seems he might think he's not playing where he's supposed to when I think he has all along, but refused to embrace that unless it was playoffs and he was willing to set aside the fantasy and just use his tools in every way possible to help his team secure a W.
That should be his mentality from game 1-82+.
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