[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Maybe they could have given Bennett more rope, but his minutes weren’t bad, and the next year they did exactly what you suggest - they paired him with their other up and coming rookie. It went south.

There’s a real push by a lot of people here to blame coaches and the GM for everything that goes wrong with players they latch onto. Bennett’s flop, Tkachuk’s issues, Monahan’s slump, even Lucic’s odd flubbed pass. And some criticisms are valid. They did struggle trying to find a spot for Bennett and people here argued about what was best for him: C, W, minors, vets, sheltering, top line.

But a lot of it is inconsistent. No one blames coaching for players they hate. No one says a coach ruined Neal and took him from 20 goal man to useless. No one says GG was responsible for Tkachuk’s success or for Backlund and Ferland having career years. Nor should they. Most of the success or failure of a player is on the player. Iginla won the scoring race, and the Pearson, under Greg Gilbert.

ETA: Pairing with Brouwer wasn’t great but, no you couldn’t tell within a week that it wasn’t going to work. And Versteeg was a decent player. But moreover, you can’t tell when a player is working hard and doing good things but being let down by linemates. Bennett was not playing well all on his own. And give him Tkachuk? Demote Tkachuk to third line to help Bennett? I don’t think that’s a good idea at all. And then you play who at LW with Backlund?

But call it the third line, or second scoring line, doesn't make a difference. Backlund would still take the harder matchups, defensive zone draws, etc.