[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Bingo

So the team ... management, coaches all want him at center and to succeed, but then changed their mind and decided to tank his season?

Does that honestly make sense for you?

I think management doesn't interfere with coaches.

I think the coaches are not invested in the player because they lack any creativity. This has been the case with the last three coaches. The last coach with any creativity was Hartley.

He started camp on the third line with Dube and Lucic. It didn't click.

What?

Are you seriously saying a few scrimmages is a good basis for line construction? This line literally clicked in actual NHL games. Actual NHL playoff games.

They moved him to center on the fourth line and the line got filled in.

Exactly. Moving a player to the fourth line and expecting better than fourth line results is asinine. And then putting AHL caliber talent like Nordstrom on that line opposite a lug like Lucic? It's a horrible line, and I'm saying that in defense of Derek Ryan who has to drag them around every night. They got filled in? No DUH. You could put McDavid in between Nordstrom and Lucic and they'd get filled in.

They moved him to the third line with quality players and kept him there because he wasn't getting out played for the most part, but couldn't produce.

He has as many points as Andrew Mangiapane, but the narrative around here, and the usage, would suggest mangiapane's on pace for 30 goals.

That's not tanking a player.

Bennett has never played well on the wing. He doesn't use the boards well and does use the middle of the ice well. He's much like Backlund in this regard. Gluing Backlund to Monahan's wing for most of last season tanked Backlund, too.

My point though was the group of players around him suggest he gets the chances based on shot metrics but he's an undeniable presence on lines that don't put the puck in the net. That can't be bad luck year over year.

Who said anything about bad luck?

He was playing with guys like Tobias Reider, not exactly guys who put the puck in the net. James Neal in his lone year as a Flame looked like he couldn't score on a shooter tutor, and he was getting some pretty damn good feeds that year. Alex Chiasson wasn't exactly a sniper either.

Those are simply bad finishers.

Bennett had bad luck exactly one year - 2017-18 - when his individual shooting percentages plumetted. And as expected, his percentages went right back up every other year from that.

He's had bad linemates just about every year. That's not bad luck though. It's the Flames love of bottom six plugs.

And yeah, the Backlund-Bennett line has underproduced so far. That's on both of them, and whoever else is there. But I don't believe the chances have been there either, they're simply playing poorly over a small sample size. The bigger issue is that even if they get hot, Bennett is still stuck on the wing where he cannot play to his strengths.