[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by 868904

What have Mangiapane, Simon, Leivo done for the top two lines?

More than Bennett on the third line? They haven't been great, but they haven't been a liability. They can say they aren't the clubhouse leader for the green jacket.

Dube has done what you noted above, no matter what line he's been on.

As has Mangiapane. To borrow some baseball parlance, Mangiapane is a great utility player. You can put him anywhere in the lineup and he will get the job done and support the big players be better in all zones. Bennett? He's a zero tool player.

Mangiapane had last year, but hasn't done anything this year. I'd argue Bennett has been just as effective as Mangiapane this year.

And you'd be dead wrong. Mangiapane has been a good supporting role player. We would like to see more, but he's at least being the defensively responsible guy on his line.

We want to give Mangiapane credit for a good last season playing on the 3M line and give him a long leash this year, yet we won't give Bennett the same long leash even though he was our best playoff performer last year?

Bennett was NOT the best player in the post season last year. That was Dube, by a big margin IMO. That was his coming out party, and Lucic and Bennett happened to be there for the ride.

You've got an asset in Bennett, an asset that has a name value in the market, before you go and dump it, at least make sure you have given it the longest rope. Bennett has NEVER had an extended run with the top players on this team, NEVER. Putting a guy on a top line for one game and then putting him back with plugs the next game after he fails to produce is no way to build a players confidence.

Five years. Five freaking years. 371 games to prove himself. What has he done? Watch his career trend in the wrong direction. Mean while we've seen other players come in during that time and earn their way into the line up, surpass Sam Bennett, and become important parts of the team. Hell, we've seen players that performed better get exiled to the bench and then cut loose. But Sam continues to get opportunities he doesn't earn or deserve.

As for the name value, his only value is the fact that he was drafted 4th overall. Beyond that, he's done nothing to earn a name. If anything, his name value is negative because of how little he has done.

There's another reason for putting Bennett on Johnny's line, because he gives that line some size and physical presence, something that Dube, Mangiapane and Simon don't do. Bennett is also faster and quicker than Leivo. Before Lindholm cemented his spot on Johnny's RW, the previous most successful RW was Ferland, an inconsistent power forward with some skills, which is also a fitting description of Bennett.

Problem is Bennett can't play up there with the big boys. It's been tried in the past, and Sam has failed. Jesus, he can barely keep his #### together on the third line, why would they promote him to the 2nd or third line? Bennett has shown NOTHING to deserve ice time up the lineup. The guy can't give or take a pass, has a muffin of a shot, is dumb as a sack of hammers, and believes he can beat the whole opposition team with toe drags. To make matters worse he can't spell defense let alone play it. He needs to be kept as far away from Monahan and Gaudreau as possible. Those three together would spend the whole night in their own end and be a goals against machine.