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Calgary4LIfe · 05-09-2021, 01:01 PM

I think it is awesome that Bennett is doing great in Florida. Yes, the sample size is small. Why is it awesome? Of course it is awesome for Bennett and Florida, but it should also be awesome for Calgary. Why?

Calgary just essentially 'gave away' a really good player. Many of us knew Bennett here - tough, fast, great teammate, sound defensively for the most part, and had underlying metrics that showed his skill (and showed him to be 'unlucky'). Treliving said it, Conroy said it, and heck, even Ward said it. So how did it fail?

I don't know, and you don't exactly know either. I mean, we KNOW Bennett didn't get that opportunity, but WHY he didn't get it remains a mystery. I base it on Gulutzan pigeon-holing him from the start. But that might not be accurate. Conroy was the one voice that kept saying (AFAIK) that Bennett both needed and deserved the opportunity to be a centre and have a lot of rope.

Why Bennett breaking out is specifically good for Calgary? Because it also shows that perhaps Monahan doesn't suddenly suck. Maybe Gaudreau's 99 point season wasn't an outlier, but an expected mark on his development cycle. Maybe Tkachuk didn't suddenly regress. Maybe this team isn't so feeble offensively, but there is something else at play?

I remember the Brent Sutter years well. I specifically remember a lot of people mindlessly regurgitating what Brent Sutter was saying - that the team couldn't score on the rush and needed to cycle and base everything off the boards. Heck, I remember Steinberg even being rude to a caller who stated that playing along the boards seemed to not be working, and that this team looked better off the rush. That caller was not wrong in hindsight - that team went on a bit of a run when they would start playing towards the middle of the ice and off the rush more - they were the oldest team in the NHL and one of the smallest, and Brent forced them to play off the boards. In 3 seasons, it didn't come close to working.

So is that part of the problem? If you watch Florida, they all play with significant pace to their game. I know Sutter has been preaching that too. I am hopeful that next season, that's how they come out (whomever may be left).

Hope Bennett excelling serves as a big wake-up call to this organization. Every time he scores a goal, has an assist, makes a hit, has a fight, makes a strong defensive play that gets lauded, keeps getting used as a face-off specialist, etc., that it makes little alarms go off for the training staff, assistant coaches, head coach, assistant GMs, GM, and up until the owners.

They had something here, but it slipped away. Why? And more importantly, who else may be slipping away?

05-09-2021, 01:01 PM	#2113
Calgary4LIfe Franchise Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Exp:	I think it is awesome that Bennett is doing great in Florida. Yes, the sample size is small. Why is it awesome? Of course it is awesome for Bennett and Florida, but it should also be awesome for Calgary. Why? Calgary just essentially 'gave away' a really good player. Many of us knew Bennett here - tough, fast, great teammate, sound defensively for the most part, and had underlying metrics that showed his skill (and showed him to be 'unlucky'). Treliving said it, Conroy said it, and heck, even Ward said it. So how did it fail? I don't know, and you don't exactly know either. I mean, we KNOW Bennett didn't get that opportunity, but WHY he didn't get it remains a mystery. I base it on Gulutzan pigeon-holing him from the start. But that might not be accurate. Conroy was the one voice that kept saying (AFAIK) that Bennett both needed and deserved the opportunity to be a centre and have a lot of rope. Why Bennett breaking out is specifically good for Calgary? Because it also shows that perhaps Monahan doesn't suddenly suck. Maybe Gaudreau's 99 point season wasn't an outlier, but an expected mark on his development cycle. Maybe Tkachuk didn't suddenly regress. Maybe this team isn't so feeble offensively, but there is something else at play? I remember the Brent Sutter years well. I specifically remember a lot of people mindlessly regurgitating what Brent Sutter was saying - that the team couldn't score on the rush and needed to cycle and base everything off the boards. Heck, I remember Steinberg even being rude to a caller who stated that playing along the boards seemed to not be working, and that this team looked better off the rush. That caller was not wrong in hindsight - that team went on a bit of a run when they would start playing towards the middle of the ice and off the rush more - they were the oldest team in the NHL and one of the smallest, and Brent forced them to play off the boards. In 3 seasons, it didn't come close to working. So is that part of the problem? If you watch Florida, they all play with significant pace to their game. I know Sutter has been preaching that too. I am hopeful that next season, that's how they come out (whomever may be left). Hope Bennett excelling serves as a big wake-up call to this organization. Every time he scores a goal, has an assist, makes a hit, has a fight, makes a strong defensive play that gets lauded, keeps getting used as a face-off specialist, etc., that it makes little alarms go off for the training staff, assistant coaches, head coach, assistant GMs, GM, and up until the owners. They had something here, but it slipped away. Why? And more importantly, who else may be slipping away?