Quote:
Originally Posted by FanIn80
I keep thinking about this "Bennett never gets a chance" argument. It seems to be the most commonly used claim, but my counter would be this...
Everyone gets their chances. Nobody drafts a #4 overall pick and then permanently staples him to the fourth line. Look at Mangiapane and Dube. Look at Andersson. Look at Giordano. Brodie. Backlund. Tkachuk. Monahan.
Everyone of them started off on the 3rd or 4th line (or bottom pair). How long they stayed on those lines depended solely on them. They all proved they could be trusted with greater responsibilities and respond properly to higher pressure situations.
Some proved it in training camp as a rookie and therefore started their first season on the 2nd line, and some had to take the ball in their own hands and go to Russia to prove to both themselves and the Flames what they could do.
In the NHL, one bad penalty or giveaway can literally lose your team the game, and depending on which game it is can even cost the team a playoff spot.
Some of that stuff can potentially be forgiven if you bring something substantial to the table. Brian Burke went on record as saying Gaudreau was so good and did so many things right that they literally told him not to worry about turnovers. He created so much offence that it dwarfed the intercepted passes etc.
The point being that Bennett was given the same chances everyone else was given, but he consistently took bad penalties and brought nothing substantial enough to the table to over look them. Tkachuk took bad penalties too in the beginning, but he drew more than he took and he also displayed an amazingly high hockey IQ -- it was obvious to everyone that he was going to get control of his penalties over time.
Final point: If you're a 4th overall pick, the thing you bring to the table can't be "yeah, but I play better with All-Stars than I do on my own line."
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Agree with a lot of this. People say Sam Bennett never gets a chance or enough opportunities, but the thing is, in this league, your opportunities can be short. To a rebuilding team, the leash is long, to a bubble playoff team, the opportunity is short.
Just like James Neal, the coaches didn't give him a lot of time to find chemistry on the top line. It ended up being just a couple of preseason games because Lindholm gelled right away. That's the thing with Sam Bennett, he has had his chances over the years.
But other guys proved that they belonged together faster. Hudler, Ferland and Lindholm just worked with the top line almost from day one. The chemistry was immediate, that's something Sam Bennett has had trouble with his entire career, finding the right fit. Even Mangiapane who started out on the bottom line and then with his work ethic and strong play, pushed his way to the top six and hasn't really relented.
Throughout my time watching Bennett, there's only ever been two lines that I would say really gelled with him and that Was Jagr-Jankowski and Lucic-Dube. But even right now, Bennett has played with Lucic and Dube a lot this season and he's had trouble recreating the same magic. #93 is an absolute enigma in the regular season.