[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

You were in a tiny group, then.

I didn't know there was a majority rule

In fact, whenever he was put at centre, people complained that he was being broken in all wrong.

To which I made this thread in rebuttal (Brevity isn't my strong suite so i've truncated a lot of my digressions):

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Something has nagged away at me for the last year and that's the fact that the Flames abandoned Bennett as a center and decided to make him a full time winger. The reason this is the case is because my eyes keep telling me that Bennett was not only a solid two-way center, but easily one of the three best on this roster (not including Lindholm, who obviously hasn't been here for long).


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But let's set that aside for a moment and get to what I really want to talk about:

Sam Bennett's defensive play. To me, centers are most effective when they:

- support their defensemen below the hash marks, including the net front area
- support all four skaters by creating passing lanes for clean breakouts
- pressure the puck to help clog the neutral zone
- get the puck out of forechecking pressure without throwing it away

And my visual observation was always that Bennett did these things not just well, but especially well. He made it possible for the team to employ guys like Matt Bartkowski because he covered for their shortcomings in the defensive zone. None of these areas have much to do with offensive production. How can you ever use points to evaluate these things?

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The problem the Flames ran into in 2017-18 was that the third line wasn't scoring. Brouwer had worn out his top nine opportunity, Versteeg gave the puck away in the offensive zone multiple times per game before he was finally shut down, Jagr's hands had left him behind, and Bennett's puck luck hit career lows.

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Bennett's edges, puck skills, and general ability to dominate away from the puck - both physically and with positioning - were both limited on the wing

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Finally, I want to remind everyone of how he was arguably our best 5 on 5 player in the 2016-17 playoffs. Treliving even said this in an interview. How can a player be a failed center if he's going head to head against a guy like Ryan Kesler successfully?