Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
They wanted to move Bennett back to his natural Center position in his second season which is fine.
If anything the argument should have been why didn’t they give him Tkachuk as his winger and shelter the crap out of them.
From pretty much the get go of that season they went 3M line, and Bennett got to play with useless Troy Brouwer.
In the 16-17 season you had two young players that could have established another great pairing like Gaudreau and Monahan. Instead Gulutzan was probably too afraid to play the two young guys together and Tkachuk and Bennett played a grand total of 61 minutes together at 5v5 that year.
Tkachuk flourished playing 785 of his minutes with Backlund.
Bennett floundered playing majority of his time with Brouwer who was just an anchor. Bennett was 52% xGF without Brouwer that season, and 39% with Brouwer.
Those two key development seasons are why Bennett didn’t become they player we thought he could be. Tkachuk-Bennett-Versteeg or Tkachuk-Backlund-Bennett or Gaudreau-Monahan-Bennett could have all been tried but weren’t. Ferland only had 25 points that year so not like moving him or Chiasson off that line should have been unheard of.
This.
Gulutzan hammered Bennett on puck management and not taking too many risks with the Puck. It killed his confidence and he stopped trying to do any of the creative stuff that was part of his game. They tried to turn him into more of a North-South grinder.
And I worry the same thing is happening to Dube now. Ward benched him for taking a penalty and for his puck management. And he’s just been brutal since then looking very passive on the ice and like he’s afraid to make a mistake.
Young guys need the freedom to make a mistake and still be trusted next shift.
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We can all remember fondly how many times Gaudreau gave the puck away at his own blue line yet was sent right back out there because they wanted him using his skills. The argument that these are just highlights by some is just silly since we could make a much bigger one of all of Johnny's turnovers.
I totally agree with your comment that Bennett should have played with Tkachuk and, or Johnny and Monahan. They could have used Bennett on the top line to do the heavy lifting while the other 2 focused on scoring goals and gradually eased Bennett into the offensive scheme of things.
To Bennett's disadvantage, instead of development the Flames started focusing on win now mode. I have often wondered how Johnny would have faired if he was only allowed on the 1st or 2nd line occasionally and then shifted to the forth line with Brouwer and Jankowski? How would Johnny have felt if they gave Brouwer all the pp time while Johnny was sheltered and not used? Would that have affected his confidence, would he have asked for a trade?
While he struggled with his confidence and lousy line-mates, I bet we would be polarizing Johnny for not being a good player and always turning over the puck! The Flames thought they could stick Bennett on the 3 or 4th line and have a pretty good player without having to pay him! Just my opinion! Brutal!