Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
Here to eat crow. Bennett has found his groove in Florida. A big part of that groove is getting the puck to Huberdeau and Barkov, but he has been very efficient in doing that. Give him props. He's adapted and become a player that can contribute to a winner. Still glad he's gone, but happy for him finding someplace where he can contribute.
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Good on you. But, this'll jinx him for sure; he'll fall back to Earth next game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AC
Benny is clearly playing with a lot of confidence, which is great to see.
He still tries a couple toedrags / dekes each game, and seems to be about 50% with them. He's found a great fit in terms of linemates. Most of his points are "simple" hockey plays where he wins a battle and gives the puck to a teammate in a good position which leads to a goal, as if that's somehow a negative attribute. When he's out with Huberdeau and Duclair primarily you can see why that leads to some offense.
He's as physical as ever, separating opponents from the puck and getting the puck back for his team. He and the Panthers as a whole are a lot of fun to watch. It'll be interesting (and exciting) to see this season plays out for him.
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He certainly had a below average turnover to puck-on-stick ratio in Calgary, but a lot of that seemed like confirmation bias to me (ie. simply noticing it more with him than others). Same with O-zone penalties.
Now that he has the puck on his stick a lot more, he's a lot better. He's one of the options on the PP slingshot the last game or two. And it was a lot less painful to watch him get the Panthers into the zone than the Flames this year.