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Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
Sam Bennett has had plenty of time to figure it out. He’s a very confusing player because you see what he can do in the playoffs against NHLers and you think he’s going to be an impact player. But in the mundane regular season, you can’t play balls to the wall, hit everything that moves hockey for 82 games, so Bennett’s impact fades. He still tries hard like a dog on a bone, but the game is called differently so he ends up taking a pile of bad offensive zone penalties which probably doesn’t help his confidence. So ok, he can’t be playoff Sam Bennett in the regular season.
But can he still carve out a solid career from his regular season performances? aaaand therein lies the problem. The answer is a resounding no. His raw tools are good, but nothing spectacular. The toolbox though, the hockey IQ is what flunks Sam Bennett’s game. He works hard, but doesn’t work smart. He can be strong along the boards, can cycle well and can make hard cuts because of his good edgework, but he’d rather try to deke one on one and lose the puck. He takes an incredibly long time to make decisions with the puck too, so the play passes by him and he doesn’t end up using his teammates often enough. On the defensive side, he puck watches a lot, loses his man a lot, spends a lot of time in the box, a career -70. That’s not very helpful to his team’s wins/losses department.
That’s the enigma of Sam Bennett and it has bewildered 5 different coaches so far in his career. Nobody knows what to do with him in the regular season. No linemates seem to stick so he ends up playing lower in the depth chart. Leon Draisaitl on the other hand has always had the hockey IQ and the raw skills to be a premier talent in this league. The only thing that prevented him from reaching his potential was his skating ability and to his credit, he turned that particular weakness into a strength. Now he’s actually one of the few players on his team that can not only keep up with the blazing fast Connor McDavid, but he can think the game at his level too. He can also carry his own line now which have made the Oilers a major threat in our division.
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What do Leon, Ryan Strome, B Schenn, Jason Spezza, Ryan Johansen, RNH have in common (aside from being top 5 picks)?
Also Mikko Koivu, Kadri, Brassard, Couturier, and Zibanejad (aside from being 6/7/8OAs)?
All had stints back in jr. or AHL. Sometimes multiple, sometimes just 20 games and they never looked back. Most of them had shown similar/better than Bennett in their early NHL days.
I'm sure there are lots of other examples. I'm also sure that a lot of these guys were on competitive/contending teams where they probably would have helped their bottom 6.
Bennett's had plenty of time, yes. But a dogfight probably isn't the best place to learn to fly a fighter-jet, even if that's the ultimate goal.