Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
I am really happy for Bennett. I always liked him and always rooted for him. And I never felt that he got the opportunities and direction here that he needed. I always felt that he was a better player than what we were seeing.
What surprises me about this thread though, is how few people are looking at Bennett and asking if the same is true, more or less, for the whole team. For a year and a half, we have been debating about whether this is a talented team that is playing poorly and under-achieving, or a talentless team that needs to be blown up.
IMO, Gaudreau is instantly an 80-100 point guy, if/when he is traded. People talk about Huberdeau like he is better than anyone on the Flames, but Gaudreau is just as good, if not better. Tkachuk and Lindholm have shown how good they can be. At one point, Monahan was a great player. We can go on down the list.
Another way to look at it is with the acquisitions. Leivo was a solid player before coming here. Simon was a useful player. And again, go back as far as you like... Neal had flaws, but he was a better player in Vegas than what we saw. Brouwer was a solid player in WAS and STL (not saying they were stars, but they were better than they were in Calgary). This list too, goes on and on.
The 64,000 question here, is why the hell is Calgary such a black hole for player talent?
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give you everything except Neal. He just fell off a cliff as his play in Edmonton shows.
From an outsider point of view. I don't think Bennett really did get a fair shot on the top two lines. It seemed he's get thrown on there for a game or two and not ever be given time to develop chemistry.
Not to mention that the Flames seemed to give up on him as a center. Seems that if he didn't have instant success, down he'd go. Never got the chance to work through any struggles. Just how I felt, anyway.
I took a quick look and it seems that in the last 5 years, Bennett had over 18 minutes of ice time in a game only twice.